Christmas

At the beginning of December we sat down as a family and talked about what we could do to make Christmas especially meaningful this year. We decided to cut back on a number of our usual traditions to minimize stress while keeping others. Those included the annual excursion to cut a tree, putting up some house decorations, and making just one variety of our usual baked goods. Here's a peek:

Christmas Eve we enjoyed our tradition of acting out the Christmas story after a dinner of soup and bread with some friends.

As usual, the shepherds added some dramatic flair:


The next morning was a first - we actually had to wake the kids up so they could open presents before we had to leave for church. They weren't too hard to convince . . .

The video may be best appreciated by the grandparents :-)

Later that afternoon we visited a nursing home with some friends from church where we caroled for the residents. That's one tradition we're hanging onto for sure.


We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, full of meaning and surrounded by those you love most. Best wishes for a peaceful and productive 2012!