Santa Claus Came to Town

It was a very different Christmas this year around our house.  My sister was travelling with her boyfriend on Christmas (first Christmas ever she wasn't home...sad), my brother and Jessica were with Jessica's family (also sad), my mom was dreadfully sick and didn't get out of bed for 3 days (YUCK!), and due to weather issues, husband's family was only here for 2 hours Christmas day (and it takes 2 hours to get here from their house).  So for the most part, it was just our immediate family on Christmas day.  That made for a slightly disjointed "Christmas" as we had several "Christmases" with various parts of the family when they got home from their travels.

That being said, the children had a great Christmas.  I think all the disjointedness (is that even a word) is harder on me, the traditions person, than it is on them.  For them the important parts of Christmas, church on Christmas Eve, Santa's visit, opening stockings and presents, and lots of food, staying up late, extra television, were still there, just more spread out this year than in previous years.  

So here is a brief photo tour of Christmas Day 2012

Traditional Christmas morning photo on the stairs.  

This is a family tradition that was passed down from my Mom's family and is something she did as a child.  There are decades worth of Christmas morning photographs of all the family gathered on the stairs, usually in pajamas, while first my grandfather, then my father, and now my husband took the traditional photo.

Santa Claus came and brought scooters, a bike, and helmets of course.  Safety first!

A princess scooter...she's in heaven.

A cars scooter....Santa knows Harrison so well.

A big boy bike....and it's red too.  Just what he wanted.

Board games....yeah!

 A new charm for her charm bracelet.  It's a lady bug just in case you couldn't tell from the fabulous photo.

 

A new lunch box.  Now he's ready for kindergarten.

I have to tell you that this and the bike were the only things he wanted for Christmas.  He was so excited over the lunch box he immediately packed it with crackers and some dried citron fruit I had in the kitchen for cookies and ritz crackers and put it in his backpack ready to go.

Woody, Buzz, and Jessie...with Ava photo bombing in the back.

Ava getting in on the action.  You have to have at least one "bow on the head" photo don't you.

It was a very Merry Christmas all around, and although I missed our extended families, it was kind of nice just getting to be with my children and see the joy on their faces.