Christmas 2010

Christmas this year was a lot different for our family than ever before. We didn't get to celebrate with our extended families back in San Antonio. In a way it was nice; we didn't have to rush around going from one home to the next. But it was also a bit lonely, and I know that our parents missed us very much.

One of the cool things about being away is I had the opportunity to establish some of the holiday traditions that I've always wanted to do, and we had more time to do the ones we always do. Here is a quick rundown of our traditions:

Cookies!
In the past, the kids did all of the cookie decorating at my mother-in-law's house, and I was always thrilled that they did it there. I have never cared to make cookie decorating a tradition. It's messy, you have to plan ahead, the cookies don't really taste that great and who needs the extra calories?

But then I did a photo session for my friend Shari and her family, and part of the session involved cookie decorating. I was so impressed with the whole thing! It looked fun, and the cookies were so beautiful, and tasted great. I was convinced, so the next day I pulled out some cookie cutters that my mom gave me years ago, bought a few new ones and also bought all of the ingredients that we would need. Here is the beginning of a new Godfredson tradition:









The Gade family also inspired our Gingerbread neighborhood:




One tradition that I've always wanted to do is new pajamas for everyone on Christmas Eve. The kids looked adorable on Christmas morning in their new comfy PJs:



On Christmas morning, the kids woke up ridiculously early, just like I did when I was their age:









One thing that I love about the street that we live on is the Christmas Eve Brunch that we do every year. I didn't get any pictures of it this year because I was too busy having fun, but here are a few from last year:

Our neighbor Ken organizes everything and sets up tables and chairs in the driveway of one of the homes:


We always have amazing, pot-luck style food:



The adults talk:


The kids play football:


Afterward, everyone pitches in putting luminaries together to line the entire street:





Then, at 6:00 PM, we all come back out to light them and enjoy the evening together:





All in all, it was an awesome Christmas made even better by our new and old traditions.

What traditions does your family do each year? I'd love to hear about them!