Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Christmas 2010

On Christmas Eve, I posted all of our traditions.  So I thought I would re-post them here with an attached picture.......

* 1st we will be heading to church for our Christmas Eve service
* Then we head home to our traditional CE dinner (shrimp, cheese...yummy good cheeses, summer sausage, crackers) and talk about all the ways that God has blessed us this year.
* after dinner my kids will share their letters to their siblings and exchange their gifts (I will cry!)


and yes, I did cry!
This is a tradition we started when they were little.  They each write a letter to the other telling them why they love them and what they appreciate about them. We started when they were too young to write, so they drew a picture at first...so sweet.   It is one of the best traditions we ever started and I am praying that as they get older, they will continue it no matter where they live!

* We will enjoy the evening and then send the kids to their rooms (they all start out sleeping in one room every year, but end up in their own beds...even now and it cracks me up)
 
*  Steve and I will put their stockings together and then exchange our gifts to each other and of course, our love letters to each other....my favorite part!
Guess what's in mine?!
this tradition was started when Steve and I were poor seminary students.  We couldn't afford presents one year and unbeknownst to the other, we each put a piece of fruit and a love letter in their stocking...and it became a tradition!!! This is also what started the kids letter writing years later.

* Christmas morning, we will get up early (the kids STILL get up by 7:00am....no kidding..college kids!) and make coffee...I will get one chugged down so I can be pleasant...
 You don't want to see this picture...it wasn't pretty!  
Steve woke me up at 6:55 AM, from a DEAD sleep, to tell me the kids would most likely be coming in in a few minutes.  It wasn't 5 seconds later that they all came in and jumped on me!
They are lucky to be alive.

* the kids will do the "Bowyer dance" out to the advent calendar and put the angel on top


 This year we got sprayed with confetti poppers as the kids danced by!!

* We will start with stockings and Santa bags (from my mom)
* and then head to the gifts

 Jared wanted a new robe.  This kid is always cold...maybe it is the fact that he has zero body fat?


 Jason was pretty excited about some gadget for his guitar.


 it's amazing how fast a room can get destroyed!

* and the BEST part....hear how each person gave their $$ away!!



 stories to come in another post!!!
This one is already getting long!

* then we will eat our cinnamon roll Christmas tree
* hang out all day in our PJs
 Alyssa watching some movie she got, while popping the bubble wrap.


 Jason got new strings for his guitar....love this



 board games...always a must for the Bowyer house.

* and end the day with a wonderful dinner of beef tenderloin
After cooking, I didn't get ONE picture of the dinner!!  
But it was DEElish!!

What a wonderful Christmas we had....full of fun and lots of memories.
But now I am done with all the Christmas stuff and we took it all down yesterday!!  The house always seem a bit bare without the decorations but at the same time seems cleaner and neater.

Now on to New Years!

13 comments:

Rita said...

Lovely . . . and it looks like a lot of fun! Thanks for sharing, can't wait to hear how you all spent your Christmas $$!

Willys and Elizabeth (Lizzie) said...

I love your traditions!
Looking forward to hearding how the Christmas $$ was spent and BTW - thanks for the Christmas picture.. it is going into my holiday scrapbook.
Happy New Year!

Sara@iSass said...

I love hearing about your family's Christmas, and can't wait for the post about the "gifts".
WOW, I am impressed you got all your decorations down! That is something! I am dreading doing the tree, re wrapping the ornaments is my least favorite part of Christmas.

Rebecca Jo said...

Can I become a member of your family???? You all are so much fun!!! & so darn sweet!!! What an amazing tradition with the letters!!! And the money? I gotta go check out what they decided to do... you are all just a special family!!!!

Rebecca Jo said...

Ohhh. its in another post... OK - now I'm on pins & needles waiting!

And BTW - popping Bubble Wrap is the best present of all! :)

Robin Lambright said...

What a wonderful day you had!

Love all the traditions and family sharing!

We love a good board game at our house as well, at least all the girls do. We can manage to get a few minutes from he hubs and the son before they bail, then it's just the girls!

Blessings
r

RaD said...

We almost wore our pj's all day too. But then right at the end we decided to go visit friends for a few hours, so we had to get dressed then. I love the idea of letter writing, we may just "borrow" that idea from ya next year.

StephieAnne said...

Practically perfect in every way! I love your family!

Mocha with Linda said...

What a wonderful Christmas! Can't wait to hear about the money!

Johnna said...

Sara, this is a beautiful, beautiful blog!!! I have enjoyed it so much. It was kind of you to visit mine -- the display was at Garvan Gardens in Hot Springs. I think we will make time for it again next year.

I want to see your blurb book!

Mimi said...

What great traditions! It looks like you had a blessed Christmas.

Hugs & love,
Mimi

PS ~ is project 365 starting this week or next?

riTa Koch said...

Thank you for allowing us a look into your family Christmas traditions. Awesome!

Rhonda said...

I LOVE the idea of letters to siblings and the spouses!! Love it. I want to start that tradition now!