Christmas Traditions

Christmas has come and gone again for another year. It has been a very busy but good week. It also feels very nice to be home. From the 15th until the 23rd I was housesitting for Andrew and Aimee and then I have been at my parent's this past week for various Christmas gatherings, etc.
I love our Christmas traditions. I know there will be a day when things will have to change due to our family growing and accomodating my brother's girlfriend's sides of the family, but for right now I am enjoying our familiar and comforting traditions. This is probably one of the first years in a long time that I have not felt stessed and anxious over Christmas. Rather, it was a season of refreshment and joy as I attempted to keep my heart and eyes focused on Jesus rather than getting consumed within all of the hussle and bussle that the season can often bring with it.


Christmas Eve
On Christmas Eve we go to my Grandma's for a delicious christmas dinner - turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, hot veggies, yummy salads, fresh, homemade buns and christmas baking for dessert. It is the one meal over Christmas that I completely indulged in and just ate until I was soooo full. It was great - very worth it!





















After supper we go to church as a family for the Christmas Eve service to my parent's church and then head back to my Grandma's to open gifts and play games for the rest of the evening.

Every year we take turns reading the Christmas story and leading the devotional. This used to be my Grandpa's job, but ever since he died 6 years ago, we have all taken turns. We have some pretty big shoes to fill, but I think we're doing a pretty good job and it's neat to hear the thoughts of some people who ordinarily probably wouldn't have shared.











































I love Starbucks. That is no secret to most people, but this year was an exceptional year for gift cards and Starbucks products. I raked in the mugs and gift cards. Most of the gift cards came from various gift exchanges and draws. On Christmas Eve, 10 out of the 13 people received mugs of some sort and a Starbucks gift card. It appears that I come from a family with some serious coffee addictions and a general love for Starbucks! Bring on the Raspberry Iced Tea Lemonades and the Latte's.





This year we expanded our horizons and played Balderdash instead of the usual Rook. It was a much welcomed change :)









Christmas Day
Christmas morning has and will forever remain our immediate family Christmas. I love waking up at my parent's place to the dog licking my hand and trying to drag me out of bed and the wafting smell of my mom's Christmas bread baking in the oven. This year instead of asking for things I want rather than things I need (which I normally do), I tried giving ideas to people for things that I need. I am definitely not in lack of anything and that was extremely evident again on Christmas morning. My family was very good to me.

My mom LOVED her gift from us kids (the blown up pictures of us as little kids and now of us as we have grown up). She even had tears in her eyes.

Dominika LOVES the Barefoot Contessa. She adores her, so Derek and I got her some of Ina's cookbooks to add to her collection. The screams of pure joy and excitement that left Dom's mouth were quite something at 9:30 in the morning.

Me with all of my Starbucks gifs so far

Another great traditon that goes on in our family on Christmas day is that my mom's extended family (her cousins, my second cousins, etc) all go to the Fairmont for Christmas brunch. The food is delicious and it's a good time to catch up with cousins I haven't seen since the previous Christmas. I love that we all get to dress up nice and go and eat a very delicious meal together. This year we had the most people there that we have had in years. I think there was somewhere around 75-80 people who showed up. It was great!

For the remainder of Christmas day my family laid low around the house, played games and ate little finger foods. We were originally supposed to have a fondue, but due to 7 VERY FULL bellies, we had to cut some food out of our original menu plan. Heidi, I still have your cheese fondue recipe and I intend on using it soon!

For Christmas this year, my brothers and I got my dad an awesome crokinole board, which got a lot of use already by everyone on Christmas day. Even Kitty joined in on the fun. He really is quite the strange cat!