My family’s Christmas mornings have usually been pretty relaxed …
Neither Kevin nor I was allowed to open anything until everyone was up…. In the middle of the night (4am or so) I would wake up and walk down the long hallway to peek at all the presents under the tree. Somehow, knowing they were there let me sleep a little better for the next few hours …
As he got older, Kevin would make breakfast for the rest of us. I don’t know if it was something to do while he …

My family has always had very set Christmas Eve traditions.
Usually we spend the day just hanging out. Watching Christmas movies, wrapping gifts, maybe some more baking…. No food or party traditions. Our church didn’t really have a Christmas Eve service…. so we just spent all day hanging out.
Then, at night we all come together to start the festivities.
My dad would always read the Christmas story out of the Bible. From Matthew, I think. And even though we all knew the story, and heard it all the time, re-reading it was …

We didn’t watch nearly as many movies for Christmas as we did for Halloween … but still some good ones…
Although, please notice – many (kids) Christmas movies operate on the basic assumption that Santa Claus is real.
After watching all these movies, I kinda wish he was.

Elf – Possibly my favorite Christmas movie. I’ve watched it so many times. I’ve cried at the end so many times. I’ve quoted it so many times. If you haven’t seen this – you must.
Fred Claus – Sweet, heartwarming Vince Vaughn movie. It’s nice to …

Even though it’s December 22, I don’t really feel that I have gotten my fill of Christmas music.
I listened to several CDs on my drive over to Phoenix and back this past weekend. I listen to Christmas music when I’m home and in my car …
Some staples of my holiday collection …

Frank Sinatra – somehow I have 3 (three!) Frank Sinatra Christmas CDs

That is not even counting my favorite – The Rat Pack Christmas. Dean+Sammy+Frank. So fun. So old-fashioned and great.

Harry Connick, Jr. – my FAVORITE

When My Heart Finds Christmas …

I know these photos aren’t gorgeous, and certainly aren’t up to my usual standard (technically, compositionally, artistically, etc). I know those boxes in the corner are kind of ugly, and our feet are cut off in a couple of photos … but I LOVE them…
Christmas is the best excuse for family photos. And everyone should have family photos.
I love that the Thompson’s do this every year – set up a tripod and just take a few photos….
We did this Sunday night – I set up the tripod, put it on …

Sunday afternoon – in between tree buying and tree decorating – we decorated the christmas cookies … but only a small part of them because we made soo much.

One guess who made this one …

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When I was growing up, I would bake ALL THE TIME. … ask to see my wrists/hands if you don’t believe. Covered w/ burn scars from the oven.
Haven’t baked in a long time, but this year Julie and I made it happen.
First though, is Andrew’s Amish friendship bread.
We got friendship bread from Maggie, and Andrew did all the hard work…
It turned out SO well. …

Then, last Saturday Julie and I spent a good part of the day baking cookies.
We made … a million batches of sugar cookies. Seriously. 400 billion …

Growing up, every year on December 26 my family would pile in a car and drive to Arizona.
Every year.
It was always a rental car (my dad worked for Budget Rent-a-Car) so Kevin and I never knew if we would have to sleep leaning against a car door, or curled up as small as possible on a bench seat.
I remember on the drives (to or from AZ), trying to look UP out the window to see all the stars visible when we were in the desert.
I remember driving across the desert, …

Later Sunday night, Julie got out the ornaments …. and we finished decorating the tree …

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Sunday morning we had a family outing .. .
First through Coffee Kiosk, and then with Julie to get the Christmas tree (!!)…. Daniel and Jenae came along too – but we brought Hazel and she wasn’t allowed in, so D&J took her for a walk.

I wanted this tree, but Andrew said no …

The tree lot was actually a little sad … Julie said it’s usually mostly high-school boys working there (carrying your tree for you, etc) … but this time there was a lot of … men. 30-40 year old …

Julie has been putting up the decor around the house …
Here is the living room — the tree is going to be on the left (where that table is now) ….

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Potluck +Secret Santa gift exchange +laughing +too much dessert +photos =
Holiday party

WAAAAY too much dessert …

From my Secret Santa …

My dish for the potluck – Spinach Artichoke dip –

group photo:

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Secret Santa – basically just a game of chance.
Every year you commit to participate in a Secret Santa (or similar) gift exchange, always always thinking about whose name you are going to choose. It all builds up to that moment. That couple seconds that you put your hand in and pull out a slip of paper. Who will it be? What have I got myself into?
The actual shopping and gifting is kind of anti-climactic after that.
I’ve participated in Secret Santa activities ALL OVER the place … school, work, GCT. … …

As you all know by now, I NEED to get the bulk of my Christmas shopping done by Thanksgiving …. or it simply won’t get done.
This year a couple things got by me after the end of Thanksgiving – including gifts that are intended to be handmade (still not done). And some people (*Kevin*) who I didn’t even know if there would be a place to send a gift to.
The following REALLY help us get our shopping done early:

We’re pretty conservative with our gift giving – basically only immediate family. …

(Again, I wish I had my negatives to post pics for this one)
From Oct 1997 – Dec 2000 I was involved in A Christmas Carol at Glendale Centre Theatre.
OK. That’s only partly true. It was just during the holiday season those years.
I started doing theater at church and at school when I was pretty young. And we knew of GCT from going there on school trips, or with church. I actually still have my program (somewhere) from when I went to see A Christmas Carol in 7th grade.
Oct 1997 was …