A Month of Traditions

A new house means a new place for our big tree, but the traditional ornaments stay the same.  My poor husband has to listen to me tell stories of ornaments each year.  There are the 32 year old ones that were mine when I was a baby, the 13 year old one that I gave Grant for our first Christmas together and so many more.  I do have a few favorites on my tree and those are the frames that grow each year.  We have new pictures of baby girls and pictures of those that we keep in our memories.  It is amazing how one 9 foot tree can make me smile and cry at the same time.  I will tell you that this was the first year that my tree wasn't completely in the way and I wish that I could keep it up all year long.

 We also had Grandma in town for all of these moments in December.

 Adelaide learned all about Elf on a Shelf which was a great benefit to the parents of one child who would rather talk then eat.  It's just a little harder to keep up with all of the flying then I thought it would be.

We have a very crafty family and Aunt Marilyn took the cake this year.  When a shoe sized box arrived on our doorstep I thought it was a gift that was supposed to put under the tree until Christmas.  It wasn't until a few days later that I noticed a sticker that said Open Me Now.  So I followed the directions and inside were all of the ingredients for funny Christmas cookies.  Sadly I am not exactly a cook or a baker so this task had it's entertaining moments.

There is one event during the holidays that Grant and I are never invited to and that is Breakfast with Santa at the Golf Club.  For the last few years my folks have been taking the girls on their own and in no way are we invited.  Since we aren't invited I don't have any pictures from the event, but I heard they had a fabulous time.