Christmas....

As we take down all of our Christmas decorations, I wanted to take a moment and remember how wonderful this Christmas was! There were three weddings since last Christmas so our family grew. It is a wonderful thing the way that love grows right along with the additions to a family, so that we never run out.

As always, we started our Christmas Eve traditions with Chad sharing the story of the first Christmas. The incite that the kids bring grows each year and I always look forward to what they are going to say about that special story of the birth of the Christ child.

Then for fun we always read "The Night Before Christmas". Why it captivates us year after year is something I'm not even going to mess with!

In past years the kids would exchange gifts, but this year they got Christmas pajamas from mom and dad. Its something we started last year with the Polar Express, that I think is now to be an established tradition.

Christmas morning we wake the kids up (yes I know totally reverse of everyone else's house...). Take the picture of everyone waiting in the hall, and then let the shower of paper begin. There is screaming and "Thank You's" when the dust settles, everyone is happy ( I know, a small miracle!) And we get ready for round two...

Out the door we go and off to Gilbert. (sing with me)"Through the construction and down the road to Grammy and Umpa's we go..."

We arrive. Hug and visit. Then, have a wonderful breakfast with the highly acclaimed, CREAM CHEESE ROLL-UPS. If you don't know what that is, my friend, you live a deprived existence!

We organize the gifts and then, from youngest to oldest, it begins again. Now some think this has changed over the years, but its pretty consistent. A little twist that isn't to every one's benefit, sorry Tara and Riley, is that the spouses are stuck with their Roussel counterpart's age to determine their order of unveiling....

We love to see others faces as they are opening gifts picked out just for them. That is definitely one of the highlights for me anyways...


Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!!!

Twelve Days of Christmas...

This is one of my new favorite Christmas Medleys!

The Christmas Tree Nazi....

( NOTE: Not a personal account, but I didn't want my

children to write a version of this in the future!)

"My mother is The Christmas Tree Nazi. Where most families decorate the Christmas tree as a family, my mom does not like anybody decorating the tree other than herself. As a kid I would decorate the Christmas tree and then my mother would say:
"Oh Baby that looks nice. You did a wonderful job. But you know if you just move this piece here and this piece there...."
And before you know it the whole tree would be rearranged as mom saw fit. It was disheartening. My poor little feelings would be hurt. Now I don't even try to decorate the tree. I have learned that there is no hope that I will ever decorate another Christmas tree as long as I am at home with my mother. It's just not possible.
We (well my mom) just managed to decorate the tree tonight even though the tree has been up for a couple of weeks. And what can I say, she stayed true to form. She put the kids to be, begin to decorate the tree, and didn't ask for my help until she needed me to fill in some holes on the side and the back of the tree. You know the areas where no one is going to look.
Yep. That's my mom. The Christmas Tree Nazi."

I read this and decided that I needed to relinquish my throne. The kids are having a blast, and they definitely have some of my obsessive tendencies. Our tree is looking better than it ever has!