Christmas

Christmas traditions are important to me. Until I was in college, my family always went to my grandparents home Christmas Eve to attend a party at their house. That evening, we would go outside to see if there was any sign of Santa in the sky, my parents always said there was, so then it was time to travel back home and go to bed quickly so that Santa could come visit us. My brother, sister and I would always sleep in my sister's room together....not sure how that became part of the tradition, but my guess is that it had something to do with the fact that my little brother always threatened to stay awake so he could see Santa or he would say he was going to sleep downstairs behind the couch and "catch" Santa during his big delivery....I am thinking my parents needed our help to keep the little escapee in one place. Christmas morning would arrive, Santa always came through, there was a huge breakfast to be cooked, family came over, presents were opened and that was the end until the next year. Tradition. It is important to me to try to create traditions for my children. Christmas Eve we now invite friends over who are in town for a chilli dinner after church, we feed the reindeer, we decorate a Gingerbread House, we decorate cookies for Santa and we always read the Christmas story before going to bed. We are also always very excited to have my parents join us for Christmas Eve and Day....the children LOVE that part, someone to entertain, two more people around to give them extra attention, it is great. Christmas Day is a big hit, gifts are everywhere, the children open some, play with some, open more, eat (this Christmas my parents brought "snowman" donuts and that was a huge hit), eat more, open more, some of us get a nap, others stay awake to take it all in. So that is what has become our "tradition" for Christmas. This Christmas was extra special....two years ago we were dreaming of our little girl in China, wondering when we would be lucky enough to meet her, wondering what she would look like, praying for her; last year, we had a picture, three pictures to just stare at actually, we carried those around telling anyone who would listen about our 11 month old baby girl waiting for us in China and we prayed for her; this year, she is here in the middle of it all, thrilled by opening gifts for her and others, loving the lights, loving the sounds....unbelievable, really, that she is here with us. This year the prayers for Mason-Kate were answered and new ones have begun.

Up at 6:00 AM....

The boys discovered the trampoline as the sun was rising.

Rock Band has us all rocking!

MK saying "WOW!"

MK spent the day doing everyone's hair....

she was right, we all needed a little help in that dept.