Merry belated Christmas

There are so many updates to provide, but in the spirit of kicking off the blog I'll share a few updates from Christmas. I love, love, love the holidays - we embrace many special traditions to make Christmas special for our family. This year, we went on our annual Christmas tree hunt - in search of the perfect tree, which David cuts down. We do this every Thanksgiving week-end and the kids love to decorate the tree. We have a million other decorations and the big kids think it is great fun to unwrap the decorations and place them at random through-out the house. I usually leave it for a few days and slowly morph the house into more of the design I had in mind. They also love the arrival of the Elf on the Shelf, who appears and watches their behavior - switching positions in the house overnight. This year, the elf was lazy, as I forgot to move him a few times after the kids went to bed. Jake, of course, was the first to ask why the elf hadn't moved - my favorite reasons were "he must really like that spot" or "he must be very tired." So much pressure to protect the magic of Christmas. The big kids also love to go downtown and see the teddy bear suite at the Four Seasons, gingerbread houses, ride the carousel, and see the lights. This year, Uncle Jon, Monica and Kyla were in town from Alaska so the whole Seattle family made the downtown tour together.

Of course we have to visit Santa - typcially at our country club's special dinner - where the kids can join a lot of their friends. Taylor tolerated this Santa visit pretty well - the big group Santa outing downtown - not so much. Jake had quite the list - an ipod, itouch, DS game, and silly bands. Lauren only asked for an ipod - I don't think she was taking any chances in Santa getting confused. And for Taylor, we asked for a new baby doll and Sesame Street toys.

We always have Christmas Eve with David's family and this year was extra special because Jon and family were here. The kids loved playing with Kyla. Christmas morning is our special time at home - the big kids of course go crazy and have so much fun - oh the delights of Christmas morning. Taylor enjoyed it too this year, and was healthy - such a gift.

The best part for me is still going home to Missouri to see my family - which we do every Christmas day. We leave in the afternoon and get to Missouri around midnight. The kids are always very excited to go and can't wait to get there. It's always interesting to see which new things they will try to stuff in our suitcases at the last minute - this year, Lauren had big stuffed animals and Jake chose his new bathrobe (?). They are troopers and good little travelers typically. We were worried that Taylor might get too wiped out on the long journey, but she watched Barney movies for most of the drive and was laughing hysterically. At my parent's house, we had a special time with my whole family, including my sister's and nephews. As the years go by, I'm more and more aware of how precious each year is and how much we should cherish these moments.

We flew back to Seattle on New Year's Day and the kids are still adjusting from the break and the trip. Taylor is still on Missouri time - arising at 4:45 the last few days. David and I have been taking turns getting up and we're really ready for her clock to re-set. The big kids were excited to see their friends and get back to school - which was such a relief since our beginning of school was a bit rocky.

Here are a few pictures of the kiddos in their Christmas best.