Christmas Traditions

I am grateful for the neighbor who let me borrow her sons for a reindeer food bar because I was facing the first Christmas in twenty-four years without someone watching the sky for the big guy in red. I recognize I am the luckiest to have had so many wonder-filled years and yet, somehow it still wasn't quite enough. These boys made my Monday morning.

He wanted to put out reindeer food before church Christmas Eve and it delighted me.

This portion of our group went to a candlelight Christmas Eve service before an evening spent laughing in the kitchen around appetizers and desserts.

Ty put himself to bed to escape the rowdiness so I never had the opportunity to ask him if he wanted to put out cookies and milk. Going to bed without making our traditional crumbs and tracking ash from the fireplace into the living room with Greg's work boots felt odd. This Christmas with big kids was strange but we enjoyed watching little ones squirm in church and remembered that joy came with a certain level of exhaustion.

This moment was my favorite. When her neurologist asked her what Santa was bringing her for Christmas, I laughed, "a helmet" and he had to sit down he was laughing so hard. Everyone thought I was kidding.

Our youtuber got a GoPro he can use underwater and rumor has it he will be creating epic videos in a buddy's pool this summer. We are looking forward to him learning how to edit videos.

This Christmas included unseasonably warm weather and I couldn't be more thrilled. I spent hours holding down my porch swing and took a walk Christmas Day.

We went to Erin's this afternoon so Greg could assemble some furniture and install her new light fixture. Her place is adorable. Once it's finished, I will share images of her condo now that it has the Erin touch. But this teepee was added for her cat today. She amuses me.

But Kate is quickly catching up to Erin's pet craziness.  Pip has his own Instagram account and needed a Christmas photoshoot recently. He has twinkle lights and a stocking.

And tonight, after grilled steaks for dinner we walked outside in time to see this......

If all Christmases could be this beautiful, I suppose I could lose the tradition of packing away the decor on Christmas Day. Because today, I selected a post sunshine nap instead. Perhaps I will manage it tomorrow. Maybe.