Thursday, December 27, 2012

The Christmas Season

I would love to share some photos with you from our Christmas season  beginning at the start of December.  It has been busy, and definitely filled with hustle and bustle, but the joy of the reason for the season never leaves our family far behind!  God has truly blessed us in so many ways!

We began our Christmas season by inviting my sister and brother-in-law to our home to help decorate our tree.   It was become a family tradition, and we look forward to it each year!  Part of the tradition is that each of us has to wear a Santa hat.  Here's mom, Aunt Karen, and Anne.  (of course, Katie was missed!!!)
And Dad and uncle Tim, too!


 As you can see, Kita just had to get into the action!

 To celebrate the season, Anne's school had an open house, and their gingerbread villages were displayed!  All of their creations were so amazing and very creative.  And we realized why there was no coconut at our local grocery store!

 John's birthday falls in December.  We celebrated his big 5-0 this year.

We had dinner with our family at Kome - a local Japanese restaurant!



 The weekend before Christmas, my mom invited our kids to the Fearless Fire Company for a Christmas celebration.  Anne was chosen by the funny magician to be one of his helpers.
 And so was Logan.



 Of course, Santa and Mrs. Claus were there handing out gifts for all of the children:

Then back to my mom's home to decorate gingerbread houses.  This has become a family tradition and a beloved one, at that!
Here's Anne:
and Logan:
and Owen:

 And of you look closely at my mom's tree, there is a gingerbread house ornament that Gabi gave her a few years ago to commemorate this wonderful tradition!


One of the happiest parts of that day was that we got to see Gabi and meet her boyfriend, too.
(Aunt Karen took this picture - thanks Aunt Karen!)

 Christmas eve was magical. Santa arrived with lots and lots of gifts:

It started snowing on Christmas eve, making it a beautiful white Christmas.  Everything was covered in a blanket of soft snow.

And it looks like Santa's reindeer were here and left tracks in the snow!

Here's a photo taken in our kitchen.  My sister, Karen, made me that ceramic tree many years ago.  I love it.  The Santa was a popcorn container when we went to the Christmas Spectacular in NYC, also many years ago.  And the snow couple was made by my husband's cousin's wife!  As you can see, I love to save everything.  Also displayed here is Anne's gingerbread house:


And drum roll, please . . . . . . . Christmas morning finally arrived.  Anne was up at 4:00 AM with Kita!!!

Here are Katie and Anne, after opening all their Christmas gifts.  The best gift is that they got to spend Christmas together.

 Anne went outdoors and played in the snow in her pajamas!

Afterwards, we went over to my mom's to have Christmas dinner.  Here's Aunt Patty and Katie. (this photo was taken by Aunt Karen - thanks!!!!!)


 And yesterday, we enjoyed a second Christmas with the Fritchmans!  Here's Sarah, Michael, Katie and Anne in front of the tree:

A big "say cheese" moment!!!

I would like to take this opportunity to wish each and every one of you a very Merry Christmas!  I think you are all part of a most wonderful gift that keeps on giving all year long - the gift of your friendship!

Thank you so much for visiting my blog today.

9 comments:

  1. Looks like you had a wonderful Christmas!!! LOVING all the photos!!!

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  2. Looks like an amazing celebration of Christmas and family!! ~ Blessings, Tracey

    http://gracescraps.blogspot.com/

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  3. Great photos Sharon,what a wonderful Christmas it must have been...we long for a white Christmas in Australia,Hugs Trish

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  4. What a nice time! I love the pics of Anne and Katie together- I bet big sister was missed a lot this past fall!!
    Happy New Year!

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  5. Great pictures. It looks like you had a wonderful Christmas celebration! May the new year be just as wonderful!

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  6. Love the pictures of the girls and your DH's party. Happy New Year Sharon!

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  7. I SO enjoyed this wonderful re-play of your Christmas day! Your photographs really capture the spirit of Christmas ....you are blessed :)

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  8. LOVE LOVE THIS POST!! What a wonderful time you had with family and fun!! My son was up first at 4am too, he was so excited. I was already up and waiting for the first wake up, too excited to sleep myself. I can see the joy/happiness in your daughter's faces, what a magical time of year this is for them. Thanks so much for sharing this with us. HUGS!

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