CHRISTMAS :)

WOW! Christmas has already come and gone. It is amazing to me how fast time flies!

We were so busy that updating this blog did not even cross my mind until today :)

The kids and I went out the week before Christmas to look at lights. This is one of our favorite family traditions! We love it! However this year there did not seem to be as many lights up... its kinda sad to see people lose that fun Christmas spirit.... not to mention lose sight of the true meaning of Christmas. The lack of lights did not put a damper on our Christmas cheer though. We drove around our favorite neighborhoods and checked out all the displays that were available, listened to Christmas carols, talked about Jesus and what he meant to each of us all while drinking hot chocolate!!!!

This year we discovered that one of our favorite traditions is no more. There was a local church that did a live renactment of scenes from our Saviors life called "The Life of Christ" Every year we load up in the car and drive through the church parking lot listening to the audio about each of the scenes that are acted out right before our very eyes. The church that sponsered this event decided to use the funds from that project for missionary work instead. It was so sad to have this special tradition come to an end but missionary work is very important.

We decided to try out a new tradition this year as well. Instead of the HUGE traditional Christmas meal on Christmas Eve we adopted a Harreld family tradition and went to McDonalds. It was GREAT! There was no stress, the kids liked the food, we had more time as a family and clean up was as easy as throwing trash away!! :) Then we went back to the house and opened our family gifts as is our tradition.

We even had our own Santa to pass out presents! Aaron has always loved Santa Claus and when he was a little boy the only thing he asked for one year was 'Santa clothes with the hat and beard'. We found some that year but the little moose barely fit in them that one year and finding a Santa costume complete with facial hair for a 5 year old is not that easy. So last year I found one after Christmas on clearance and picked it up thinking Aaron would get a chuckle out of it. Well when we pulled the Christmas decorations down and he discovered the Santa suit... he rushed upstairs to put it on. Little did I know that that child still wanted to be Santa! :) So of course when Christmas eve rolled around Aaron could not wait to put his santa suit on and pass out presents.

We had so much fun hanging out as a family and laughing about our 'santa'! Everyone stayed up for a while oohing and ahhing about the gifts the each recieved. Then we put everything away, watched "the Christmas Story" then read some Christmas Stories.... and after that everyone went to bed.

Then....


Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house not a creature was stiring not even a mouse.....

SANTA CAME!!!!!

We have a predictable pattern for gifts in our house. We get the kids 3 things. (Jesus only got 3 gifts and it is His birthday after all... also this is a very easy way to remind them of the real reason for Christmas!!! I love to hear them explain to their friends about our 3 gifts when the friends will say something like 'YOU ONLY GET 3 THINGS????.... which btw is not how it ends up with siblings, grandparents aunts uncles and friends.....) then they will usually get each of their siblings something. Then Santa usually does one of a couple things. He either brings everyone two gifts plus stockings or if there is a larger family gift he brings them one gift plus stockings. Well this year he brought all family gifts in addition to the stockings. We got a couple games, two big boxes with several puzzles in them, movies and a couple books. All things we can enjoy as a family. :)

THEY LOVE THEIR STOCKINGS!!!!!

(weirdos have always told me that one of thier favorite things are the stockings... talk about pressure! :)

For Christmas dinner we once again opted to pass on the traditional meal of Turkey, Ham, 1,000 sides and tons of pies. Instead I made a couple of quiches (which are so super easy to make and the kids love.... so i have no idea why I rarely make them) and some pinwheel sandwiches my dad told me about. It was all VERY YUMMY. We did not have a TON of leftovers or CLEAN UP! it was great. Again this made more time for family!!! We played a game of life (which Santa brought us) Chilled out and watched movies all day....

The Traylor Family had an AMAZING CHRISTmas 2008...

The LOVES of my life:)

New years eve is tomorrow... Ill try to tell you what we decided to do before Valentines day :)