Christmas and more........

Christmas this year was pretty quiet. We missed Grandpa Drew and Grandpa Cameron and Christmas wasn't be the same without them. Our usual Christmas Eve at the Allens was postponed due to Marilyns being in the hospital with the swine flu. We felt so bad for her....SO, we spent a quiet evening with Grandma Cameron (my mom) watching Christmas videos and eating pizza. With Jenny and Jon both gone, Josh is indulged in just a bit more these days. The older ones say he is "spoiled"....as well it should be since he's stuck with us!!(hee hee)

I LOVE my new nativity!! Last year Audrey from work gave me the shepherd and animals from a set she had extra of...and this year she and my boss Carollee gave me the rest of the set for Christmas!! I put it in the entryway for everyone to see:)

Every year on the first of December, I set up a little tree in the corner of the living room with 25 wrapped books. Then, each day of December we count down by opening a book and reading it each night. The kids would always take turns, but the past few years, Josh gets to do it every day. I add a new book (or 2) every year. We have over 50 Christmas books that we love to read!

We went to Thorntons to get our tree....Josh is the lucky one to cut it down by himself now.

We talked for about 45 minutes to our favorite missionary....he's doing great!! Said he's gained like 15 pounds and when asked how many ties he has, he told me he has 2 more than the tie rack we sent him for Christmas (that holds 24 ties...hence 26 ties are in his collection). He was having a "white" Christmas, but nothing like Arctic Blast 2008 which we had LAST Christmas here at home!! He's loving the work and just hearing his voice made my heart HAPPY!! Though, he did say I was probably the only mom who hung up on her missionary when he called.....(when I was trying to take the phone off of loudspeaker because he couldn't hear us I accidentally hung it up...OUCH!!)

One of Josh's presents was this memory box I made for him from his cub scout days...

I'm supposed to look like I'm exercising with my new wii fit board. Instead I look like I'm cheering....either way, I was very excited to get it!!

Josh is STILL giving it his best shot....and one of these days he WILL beat his Dad at arm wrestling. Keep trying Josh....you'll be there in no time!!

I couldn't resist this picture of Mom and I with our sock feet! We are so in style!!

MY brother Ron and his kids (Ashley was there too...but left before this picture) and girlfriend Tami came for Christmas dinner.......It was a very nice day. .....I'm so thankful for my family.

Traditions

(Disclaimer...dates on pictures are WRONG!!)
Most families have traditions....ours is no different. Granted, as we get older we end up adapting our traditions a bit, but we are creatures of habit and we like doing the same things over and over, year after year.When all the kids lived at home they each took piano lessons. After dinner I would say..."whoever plays piano doesn't have to clear the table!!" So...they fought over who would play and I would hear beautiful music while the others cleared the table. Since Josh really doesn't play anymore, when Jenny and Logan came home for Thanksgiving last week, I told her if she played the piano she didn't need to help clear the table. Hence....this tradition lives on:)
Grandma and Grandpa Cameron always come over for special occasions and even though Grandpa isn't with us anymore, Grandma was here for our special Thanksgiving dinner.
We're a funny family.....When we gather together for holidays we have this "thing" about taking pictures of us all gathered around the table before we eat our food...except of course, I'm usually NOT in the picture because I'm taking it. A tradition we will look back on fondly and wonder WHY we've gained so much weight (do you see all the food we're about to eat???)
And then of course....my ongoing tradition with my longest and dearest friend Melanie....we don ourselves in matching sweaters and get up before dawn the day after Thanksgiving. One of our traditions is that we get someone to take our picture while we're shopping. We usually find one of our friends to take it...or we've been known to ask complete strangers too. They're happy to do it because everyone thinks we're so much fun to dress alike. Actually, one reason we do it is so we can find each other in the crowds:) This tradition has gone on for 23 years.
Each year we have always tried to do some fun things with the kids during the Christmas season....whether it's going to see the light displays at PIR... going on a night tour of Fort Vancouver or touring the Victorian mansion in Portland.....we kept the tradition alive this year by attending the tree lighting in downtown Vancouver. We had never done this before...so it was a treat!! Jenny, Logan, Josh and I had fun out in the "cold" waiting for Santa to arrive:)On the kids last night at home we went to Zoo Lights at the Oregon Zoo. It was BEAUTIFUL!! Jenny sang there during her high school choir years, but the rest of us had never gone. I'm so glad we did it together this year. We even rode the Zoo train to see the over 1 million lights displayed. We'll have to go again when Jon gets home from his mission:)

So you see.....I love the traditions we've created over the years!! We may be getting older.... but I will never tire of the traditions that bring us together as a family:)