Christmas

Our Family Photos

A big thank you to the fabulous Janelle Bradshaw who takes pictures every year that actually include me. We joke that it will be the only proof that I was around for their childhood. This year I asked specifically for photos of myself with every child since such a thing is hardly to be found at our house.

So here is a sampling of this year's family photos. From our family to yours, we hope you have a wonderful Christmas that is full of joy because of the Son sent to earth to rescue us who had gone astray.

Michigan Trip & A Choir Concert

First, the trip my kids look forward to all year long...

Then after a full visit, a plane ride, and a car drive back from Baltimore, the boys were champs at their choir concert the night we got home...

Deck the Halls

Both Steven and I were raised in families that were rich with traditions. It's something we treasure from our childhoods. And many of those exact same traditions are now part of my children's lives. At Easter time you can find my kids hunting for a golden egg in the exact same woods that their daddy did or having brunch at Great Uncle Dick's home just like Steven always has. At Christmas, they will listen excitedly to my father as he begins gift-opening time by reading the same passage in Luke that I heard each year as a small child and munch on the same recipe of my mom's cinnamon raisin bread that I woke up to every Christmas morning.

But Steven and I wanted to start our own traditions. Ones that involve just our little family. We hope our kids look back with fond memories on Christmas Eve as a fun-filled family pajama day beginning with a bagel breakfast in front of Charlie Brown Christmas. Another one of our special tradition days is the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It's the day we decorate house for Christmas and put up the tree. We end the day with a "fireplace meal" involving only foods that can be toasted the fireplace and setting up the nativity while Steven reads the Christmas story.

So here are a scant amount of photos from this year's day of decorating...

{d8 night} October & November

Playing catch-up on Dinner at Eight posts over here...

October's d8 night was a picnic under what I was hoping would be the stars but ended up being the clouds. Still the candle-lit picnic of stew, lemon biscuits, and hot chocolate, was every bit as snuggly and dreamy as I had hoped. We spent a long time just laying on our backs, looking up at the sky, and analyzing life.




November's d8 night was my least imaginative yet; but if you had been around to see our November, you would have forgiven me in the same understanding way my husband did. Simple and sweet, it was an indoor picnic with some taco soup and popcorn in front of a roaring fire. And better yet, it was a needed opportunity to just sit and talk.

Halloween 2011

Little Bo Peep & her Michigan crazed siblings...

{d8 night} Breakfast in Bed

The September theme for Dinner at Eight was simply "Breakfast in Bed".





The above photo tells you to what depths I love my husband. Seriously. I hate bacon. In my mind it's a toxic substance that contaminates any food. My kids think it's a treat you only get on Easter morning at Uncle Dick's. But I shall now pat my own self on the back as I announce to you that I cooked bacon for my man.



As we chatted and snuggled together, we munched on cream cheese omelets, frozen grapes, asparagus, and Kahlua lattes. Ooh, and I also made some Paula Deen cinnamon rolls which I forgot to photograph. But don't worry; if you want to see them, you can just look at my thighs the next time I come around.

And that's the end of the photographs because, after all, it was breakfast in bed.

Mt. Vernon

In hopes of building more memories with the kids, we started "D.C. Days" this summer. We let the kids pick out places in D.C. that sounded like fun. Then with Ava in an Ergo and all our necessities in a backpack, we made memories seeing places like Ford's Theater (my Lincoln-obsessed 9-year-old's choice), the huge Lego exhibit at the building museum (Elijah's choice), Chinatown, and more. Early this month we varied our D.C. day by heading to Mt. Vernon for the 230th anniversary of Washington's soldiers encamping there. Reenactors were everywhere; and after a summer of learning about the Revolutionary War, the kids were in awe.