christmas 2010

 Used a delicious sugar cookie recipe from a friend this year, best cookies so far!

Best tradition ever - siblings draw names and do secret service for them during the month of December and then reveal their identity on Christmas Eve when they give them a gift.

Christmas Eve at Grandmother and Grandpa's house

Allie got about a dozen books for Christmas, and has read 1/2 of them already.

 Connor asked for two things from Santa this year Eclipse gum and a DS.

Christmas Traditions that carry on

Thanks to mom and dad instilling the importance of traditions while I was growing up our family continues to enjoy many of the same traditions. Many of them happen during the Christmas season. Some of the traditions we carry on from my childhood: Delivering Christmas goodie plates (sorry no picture, but just imagine a some delicious treats on a plate)

acting out the Nativity on Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve pizza dinner

Opening one present on Christmas Eve

All the kids sleeping in the same room Christmas Eve night

Decorating the tree together, everyone placing their own ornaments

David looking like a crazy person shooting airsoft guns in the backyard on Christmas day....Ok, I guess that's not a tradition.

One tradition that we started that our kids love is they draw from a hat one of their siblings names and that person is their secret person for the weeks before Christmas. They are supposed to do little acts of service or be extra kind and they get to buy a present for them too. Then on Christmas morning they give their present to their secret person, revealing their identity.

Tree decorating

Sydney asked me to take a picture of her holding her favorite ornament.

Can you see something around Connor's waist? Usually that would be some kind of belt to hold his light saber, but on this day it was a home made safety patrol badge --something he desperately wants to be next year.

Next Christmas our tree will have to find a new room to shine in as we are finally after 19 years of marriage going to get dining room furniture. In both the houses we've lived in our tree has always been in our empty dining room, or shall I say "christmas tree room", with plenty of space to pile up all the presents.

I'm glad we have a big tree for all the hundreds of ornaments we have to hang. And yet they still seem to get bunched up in a few areas.