A Dollar Goes A Long Way

I found this beard and hat set for $1 at Daiso and it has provided plenty of entertainment in the Kaetzel household!

HO!



HO!

HO!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Santa Train and Christmas Tree

This morning, and by morning I mean eaaaaarly morning, we headed to North Bend to the Northwest Railway Museum to take a ride on the Santa Train. This is something we've never done before and decided we'd give it a try. It was great, but Mark and I both agreed there would be no need to turn it into a tradition. The gist of the Santa Train is this: you take a 20 minute ride on an old diesel train up to the depot in Snoqualimie. The train is decked out in festive colors, with tinsel and stockings and lights all around. There's a (possibly crazy) old man who leads Christmas carols (or actually just one...Rudolph...over and over) during the trip. Once there, you get to meet with Santa (after a hefty wait in line) and pass through an old kitchen car where they use an old coal stove to bake fresh cookies and make hot chocolate. Then you get back on the train and head back to North Bend. Like I said, really fun but definitely not tradition-worthy. As a side note, there were a ton of crying kids at that thing and boy did I have to give my boys extra big hugs for being troopers and not complaining, even once. Normally I try not to do the whole 'wow, my kids are so awesome compared to everyone else's' thing, but after watching a much-too-old boy throw a mammoth, 15-minute long screaming, kicking, nearly foaming-at-the-mouth tantrum while waiting to see Santa, well yeah, I did that whole 'wow, my kids are so awesome compared to everyone else's' thing.

Here are the boys waiting to board the train:



All aboard!

Happy faces:

Gus stood the entire train ride, both ways:

In a rail car, enjoying our freshly baked cookies:

Max sat on Santa's lap and told him he wants a DS game:

Gus didn't want to sit with him, but he still told him he wants a Samurai playset:

Jack just gave Santa a knuckle-smash and left it at that. It's okay, Santa was cool with it.

After the Santa Train and a yummy brunch in Snoqualmie, we headed to a local tree farm in search of our tree. The freezing cold tempurature helped us choose this little beauty. We said 'yep, it's great. Cut it down and let's get out of here!'

And that's just what we did:

Here she is in her lovely, warm new home. We think she fits in just fine.

Kicking off the Season

Yesterday after picking up Max from school, I decided to start December off with a festive trip downtown. The boys and I headed to the Seattle Center House to take a peek at the big model train and Victorian village that they put up every year. This was Jack's first time really seeing it and he absolutely loved it! He especially loved watching the hot air balloon go up, up and away. We were literally one of the only families there, so the boys got to take a good long upclose look at everything. They loved finding all the little details that they've missed in years past. I didn't get any photos, but I'm sure you get the picture. Little boys, trains, Christmas...it was adorable.

Next we took a ride on the Monorail. Again, no one was there so the boys got the pick of the train. They chose to sit in the very back and watch Seattle Center disappear.



When we got to Westlake Center we took a look at the big Christmas tree and the Macys star. Jack literally screamed with delight at the sight of it all. Max pointed out the carousel and said he'd like to go for a spin. Now, if you remember just a few short years ago when I tried to get him to ride it he screamed, like bloody-murder screamed, as though I was in fact trying to kill him by putting him on a horse. When he suggested we go for a ride I nearly fell over. Once again, we were the only people on the ride. It was great having no line and the pick of any horses we wanted. I had to laugh a little when we found the horses we wanted and I suggested Max take the big one and Gus take the small one. They both paused and then looked at each other as if reading one another's minds and quickly switched horses. I should have known my cautious 7-year old would prefer the safe, reasonably-sized black horse while my daring 4-year old would take nothing less than the huge brown horse that was too large for him to even reach the little stirrup thing that is meant to help you up.

Around and around we went.

Jack was pretty serious about that whole thing. At first I was worried he was going to panic when his horse began moving, but by the end he was saying, "more horse" over and over again.

After the carousel we headed into Starbucks to warm up a bit. I treated the boys to hot chocolate and these little mini whoppie pies that were only a $1. Gus thought getting the chocolate stuck in his teeth was hilarious and made him look like a pirate.

Max drank his peppermint hot chocolate the "grown up way", meaning without a straw. I love this photo of him for so many reasons. He's really growing up, becoming a city kid but he's still got that sparkle in those big brown eyes of his that say "at any moment I believe something magical could happen."

Gus loved watching the barista in action:

Jack wore his whoppie pie on his nose:

Before heading back to the monorail I told the boys I wanted to get a photo of them with the big tree. Pretty cute, right?

This is how most of them looked:

As I was taking the photos a man came up to me and said, "Hey Mom, do you know what's always missing from photos?"
"What's that?" I asked him.
"Mom" he replied and then kindly offered to take a photo for us.
I have to admit my first thought was, "please don't steal my camera," but he was just a genuinely nice man who captured a wonderful moment for me.

I love the holidays. More than that, I love spending it with my three fabulous boys for whom I am so unbelievably grateful.

I am the 13%

Recently, I read an article on the Seattle P.I. blog that stated the cost of living in Seattle has increased 13% since 2009. I almost felt relieved when I read it, only because it put to rest my confusion over why, despite Mark's raise and my cutting back on our spending, we were still feeling pinched to make ends meet. I'm not squandering our funds recklessly after all...things just cost more, a lot more.

Take, for example, our heating bill. When we moved into our home 7 years ago, the cost of a gallon of oil was $1.99. We just had our tank filled a couple weeks ago and paid a mind-blowing $4.20/gallon. That's a 105% increase! We just received a quote to convert to a heat pump in an attempt to save on our energy bill, but it would cost us $12,000 upfront to make the change, something we simply can’t afford right now. Those are big, scary numbers. But thankfully, we are okay. We can make it work. We may have to dip into our savings to cover our heating bill this month, but I'm not forced to make a choice between paying for heat or feeding my children. This is not the case, however, for thousands of families across the city who are facing these tough decisions and running out of options.

As I was cleaning my kitchen this morning, I was thinking about Christmas coming up and how much I love picking out gifts for everyone in my family. I was mentally calculating a Christmas budget, knowing that we need to cut back a bit this year and it struck me that many people in our community won't have any funds this year for gifts or, in the worst cases, even for food. That number, 13%, kept running through my head. I added up what 13% of our Christmas budget would be and wondered if perhaps I should take that amount and reallocate it to something else, a food bank, a women's shelter, something that would make a difference. What if I could be that 13% difference for someone? As I scrubbed up the dishes the idea kept forming, getting bigger, becoming more doable until I finally said aloud, "Yes! We can do this!"

So what if we did it? What if we committed to giving 13% of our Christmas budget away to a local crisis organization? I know that there are other programs out there like Advent Conspiracy encouraging people to do a similar thing, but many of those programs go toward things like clean water wells in Africa. Please don't get me wrong, those are wonderful programs and third world nations definitely need our help. I've been to Africa and witnessed the devastation there firsthand and I greatly admire the work that is being done by so many organizations to help those who are in need. But there are people here in our own city who desperately need help too. These are our neighbors who are trying to hold on to their homes; our co-workers who don't have health care and are facing mounting bills; the person we sit next to on the bus who can't afford to fix their car; the parents at our PTSA meetings who are wondering how to explain to their kids why there won't be gifts this year under the tree. These are people we talk to everyday at the grocery store or the bank or the cleaners without ever knowing the pain, fear and struggle going on under the surface.

Jesus said in Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."
As Christians, we should be following Jesus' example by offering to carry the burdens of others to free them from their weariness. How much more easily a person can come to hear and accept the Gospel if those who are sharing it with them have first relieved some of their worry and stress. How much more genuine an invitation to a transformed life in Christ when we lead by humbly following Christ's example.

Times are tough for everyone. We live in an expensive city that desperately needs God. We can't solve all of our city's problems, but we can make a difference for some who are struggling. We can be their 13%. I hope we can join together this Christmas in blessing our neighbors.

Ideas for where to donate:

Northwest Harvest

North Helpline

Union Gospel Mission

New Horizons Ministries

YWCA Emergency Shelter

Ryther Child Center

Solid Ground

A Few Things

*I am really loving this whole "boys getting older" thing. Case in point--last night as we were putting Max and Gus to bed, I commented that their room was getting a bit too messy. Max offered to clean it right then and there which I took to simply be a bedtime stall-tactic. I told him he could deal with it in the morning, which he assured me he would do first thing. I was fairly certain this declaration would be forgotten after a night's sleep, but at 6am this morning I awoke to the sound of quiet footsteps interspersed amongst the clangs and crashes of toys. I realized that Max was up at the crack of dawn, making good on his word and cleaning his room. I rolled back over and went back to sleep, figuring it was just a matter of minutes before the boys came into our room. When Jack started crying nearly an hour later, Mark got up and found Max and Gus in the living room, quietly watching a program on Netflix, eating breakfast which they had gotten for themselves. I could definitely get used to this! Well, maybe not completely. After all, a couple months ago Max announced he was officially too old to give his mom a kiss. A small piece of my heart died upon hearing those words. I have just a sliver of understanding now what it must feel like to let your child go out into the world and become something separate from yourself.

*In art class Max is working on a Day of the Dead project. Apparently they had a discussion about ancestors, because yesterday when he got off the school bus, he wanted to know if he had any. I named a few of his ancestors for him and we talked about how people came from many different places to the United States looking for a better life which is how we ended up living here so many years later. That evening, out of the blue Max said to Mark and I that Ms. Mackin, his art teacher, doesn't know who her ancestors are because she was adopted. I asked Max if he knew what that meant and he shook his head. I (rather clumsily) started to explain the concept, but let Mark take over when I saw the puzzled look on Max's face at my overly wordy answer. After Mark finished up his much-clearer explanation, I asked Max very seriously, "Did you know you're adopted?" You should have seen the look on his face! I then explained that while he was born from my body, he was adopted in a different way...into God's family. We explained how even though he isn't God's son the same way Jesus is, that because he loves God with all his heart, he is one of God's children and God cares for him like a father. "What do you think about that?" I asked. "Cooooool!" he responded.


*This is what I found inside my boot this morning when I tried to put it on:

Pumpkins!

Yesterday we headed all the way out to Issaquah to go to a pumpkin farm. I had purchased a coupon for a farm out there, but when we arrived, it was so crowded and the parking was so bad that we bailed and went a couple miles down the road to a much smaller place called Trinity Tree Farm. As you can probably guess from the name, it's actually a Christmas tree farm, but this is the second year they have opened for pumpkin season. It was a blast!

First we hunted for pumpkins. The boys announced that they were going to find the biggest possible pumpkins this year. Apparently last year's pumpkins did not meet their expectations. We had to talk them away from a few huge ones given that they cost $0.55/lb! Even still, they picked 3 pumpkins that weighed nearly 50 lbs. We haven't cut them open yet, but at that price I'm hoping they're filled with treasure or something!

I tried multiple times to get a good shot of the boys together. I finally got one but my darn flash went off for some reason so it's a bit washed out. I really need to get into a photo class so I can stop using the automatic settings on my camera. No use having such a nice one if I don't even know how to use it! Even still, the photo is really sweet, don't you think?

Next we took a tractor ride. The boys loved that they got to sit on hay bales.

Jack wasn't so sure about this and opted to sit in my lap.

Here's Max enjoying the ride:

Gus too:

The boys really wanted to ride the little train and thought it was so cool that it took them through the Christmas trees. Smart marketing if you ask me. See something you like? Well just come on back in December and cut it down.

All in all, a really fun day!

small moment

loved when i walked in on this today.