TRADITIONS, TRADITIONS…

Christmas Eve means McDonald’s at noon.

Christmas Eve means being with family.

… acting out the birth of our Savior.

… and eating tomales with (or this year with out) Udine.

… eating all of our favorite snacks.

… tracking Santa as he travels around the world and gets closer and closer to us.

… and drinking too much Guatemalan punch. (again missed out on this year)

… basking in the excitement of all the kids and cousins.

… new pajamas.

… the only night of the year the children actually WANT to go to bed.

We got to have a special get together with Grandma and Grandpa and exchange gifts and eat treats and just enjoy being together:

I think my Father in Law was the picture man for this event because this is all I’ve got. This has become one of our favorite Christmas Traditions and valued time with grandparents.

This was Tuesday the 23rd. The 3 oldest kids went to the dentist in the morning and then we had Christmas with the Grandparents and then we had to go to the salvage yard and say goodbye to the Mitsubishi.

Friday – 12/19 – LAST DAY OF SCHOOL – happy kids! The kids enjoyed playing outside a little, Packer taught us the joys of push pin art. Millie and her dog – one of 3 words she can say. Boys getting out some of their craziness. And Benji lost a tooth – he wanted Santa and the Fairy to come on the same night but he pulled it a day early.

Monday the 22nd of December we had the Netty Families over to decorate Gingerbread houses! Ben told me to remind him to make a double batch of dough and to make the houses 3-5 days early because they have been too soft the last 2 years and caved from the weight of the candy.

This was also the day that I went out to get Pizza and got in a car wreck on State Street. I was turning left and the other car ran the red light pretty late and I was sitting in the intersection. I was blessed to walk away with a bruised knee. The two women in the other car were taken to the hospital but I heard they were ok. That was the first major accident I’ve been in and it was a little crazy. I knew the car was going to hit me so I just braked and braced for impact, I then pushed my car out of the road and went to check on the other vehicle that didn’t stop until it ran into a building! Ben’s car was crunched enough to be considered a total loss. So, not a Christmas miracle, but I’m grateful that no one was seriously injured and that I didn’t have any of my kids in the car with me. We are searching to replace Ben’s car… let me know if you find a great deal!