The Gift of Family

I really wanted to have a family portrait in my Christmas card this year. It just didn't happen. I have many excuses as to why it didn't happen. But it boils down to I over plan and not everything gets done. I opened many beautiful cards containing awesome pictures of my friends and their families. As I treasured each one, I was saddened that I didn't have an equally beautiful photo to share. In the last few days, I have made good use of my new camera and if I had it to do over again, I would choose these pictures to place in my Christmas cards this year.

My girls on Christmas Eve! All dressed up and ready to visit with Omi and PopPop!

I love that you can see the excitement in their eyes.
Mom with her girls in front of our new tree. It ROTATES! I love our tree and our new house. We are really feeling at home here and making use of all the space.
My handsome husband with my darlings. We love having Daddy home from work with us for a few extra days. He works hard during the week and with his long commute we often miss having him around with us. Holidays give us more time with him. Yeah!

Our Christmas always starts at the Bradner's house on Christmas Eve. Our German tradition is to have a nice sit down meal in the early evening and then open gifts. The last gift is for whoever can find the pickle ornament on the tree. Then we sip wine and eat some more while we play with our new toys. The drive home is always long enough to rock the kids off to sleep. Ray and I tuck them in and then prepare the house for Santa's visit.
Our greatest gift this year was Oma's fantastic recovery after a major health scare. This day we found she was back to being her old self. Christmas is her favorite holiday. We all agree that she is the biggest kid in the house. She loves tearing open the packages as much as Ella does. After spending her 93rd birthday and Thanksgiving in the hospital, we thank the good Lord above that she was able to spend Christmas at home with us. She is our own Christmas Miracle.
We traditionally spend Christmas day with the Goulden family. This was baby Adam's first Christmas. The chaos continues to grow with the addition of each grandchild. It took us over four hours again this year to get the gifts open. The three ring circus provides lots of laughs and many memories for each of us. Considering that as our families are growing, our schedules get more and more complicated; it was wonderful that we could all be together in the same place at the same time! No school. No work. Just quality time together. Priceless.

I look at each of these photos and smile. Christmas gifts are not always found under the tree. The greatest gifts are the love we share. I want to share these pictures because they depict the love I have for my family and the love they have for me.

The greatest thing about having this blog is that it gives me a second chance to send out my Christmas pictures. So, here they are. Take your pick as to which one you like the best. I love them ALL. Merry Christmas!

Little Holiday Celebrations

The month of December finds us celebrating Christmas in many ways. We bake cookies. We trim the tree. We hang lights outside the house.

We attend the family social at our church hosted by the choir. This year I was asked to read the Night Before Christmas story to the children just prior to the arrival of Santa.
The youth choir did perform one song! I can't remember the song, but I thought this picture was funny. The children are all motioning "asleep." Perhaps it was Away in a Manger??? Take notice that Ella is right out in front, center of attention, performing her little heart out. The child loves to be on stage. She is already talking about going to theater camp again this summer. She is only 5!!! Marley is in the background cracking up laughing because the older kids were making up their own lyrics to the song. I don't think I want to know what the lyrics were.
The last week at school before Christmas break is filled with fun activities. On Thursday, I was invited in to Marley's classroom to help out with the second grade Polar Express Event. Each class traveled to six stations where they participated in different activities related to the book/movie. The students were encouraged to wear their pajamas. I did not wear mine.
Assistant Principal Mr. Rudisill joins Marley's class at one of the stations. The students are eager to answer the teacher's questions when he is in the room. Marley is concentrating hard on her crossword puzzle.
This is Marley's teacher Mrs. Abrisch. She had the best Polar Express station. It was the reading station. Doesn't sound that great until you find out that not only did we read the book, but we served hot cocoa and donuts! The children really seemed to enjoy the activity and I was glad I could be there to help out.

On Friday the kindergarten class performed in the school caroling event. Ella's group did Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. This carol included costumes of antler hats and lipstick painted noses. This is Ella with her boyfriend, Sam. They are such a cute couple.
And not to be out done...is cousin Abby and her young male friend, Tyler. It is fun having Ella and Abby in school together. What a special treat it is to get to see two of my favorite kids when I go into help out.
And here is our favorite kindergarten teacher, Ms. Gunther. I caught her taking pictures of her adorable students. No doubt she is making special memories as she reaches the half way mark in her first year of teaching. Ella loves her and I enjoy volunteering in her classroom. I was very happy to be included in this day as the kids were so excited for Christmas and for sharing special gifts with their teacher and treats for their classmates.
It was a crazy kind of fun!