Christmas 2011

We are one of those families rooted in traditions:

- Filet mignon on Christmas Eve, either preceded or followed by church, at which there is the very-much-anticipated candle lighting. 
- Lasagna on Christmas Day, with appetizers to include shrimp and punch, among other things. 
- Crumb cake on Christmas morning. 
- Stockings first, presents second. 
- Ice cream cake to celebrate my grandma's birthday, which is on Christmas Day. 
- My mom's handwritten notes to each of us kids on our Christmas cards; they recap our year and usually take up the whole back of a card.
- Homemade cinnamon rolls made by my sister.
- Lights in milk jugs out in front of our house, lit on Christmas Eve by my dad, illuminating the way down our street (we're going to try and get our whole street to do it next year).
- A quick drive on Christmas Eve - with everyone packed in one car - to see lights in other neighborhoods.

But throughout the years, traditions have changed. Some have been welcomed and others... well.... haven't. This year my mom couldn't find our stockings, so she put our goodies in gift bags. And this year Grandma wasn't with us - she passed away in August. And Christmas was on Sunday, so we went to church, which just adjusted schedules a bit. And our Christmas here at "home" was smaller - just mom, dad, and me, since both my siblings are married. But the food was the same. The note on the card was there and written in red. The lights outside on Christmas Eve were pretty. And we again rejoiced in Christ's birth many years ago.

Sometimes I have mixed emotions with taking pictures on Christmas. I like enjoying watching everyone else and don't want to be caught up with my eyes behind the lens. But I tried to snap a few, and have some stories behind a few.

Each year I give the boys the newest Hess truck/car series. They look forward to it each year.

They also love Pez candies. This year my mom stumbled upon HUGE Pez
dispensers and they were in love.

Kids these days...they are getting so familiar with technology. Grant (especially) has been asking for a Nintendo DS
for years now, and each year he doesn't get one. This year all the boys got a DS. I am sure
they will be kept busy for hours and hours.

While they don't glorify Santa, the boys leave cookies for Santa.
Santa graciously writes them a note back and tries to disguise his handwriting.

Crazy Rudy with his bone. This is the dog that swallows socks, so you can imagine the horror when we
found out that he swallowed one of those ends of the bone WHOLE.

Fritz with his bone. He is a lot more quiet and looked apprehensive when someone would approach.

One of Santa's little helpers. :-)

It was tough on my emotions to know Grandma wouldn't be with us this Christmas, especially compounded
because her birthday is on Christmas Day.  There are a number of possessions my grandma had that my
sister now has - including this Christmas cactus. While my grandma had it, there were many a pink
flower that could be seen blooming around Christmas, but since my sister has had it, there haven't been too many.
But a few weeks ago, the pink flowers started popping up. What a joy to see
new life coming out of sadness in the loss of her life. We remembered her throughout the day and
thought of her as we had our ice cream cake, although this year minus the singing of "Happy Birthday."