Christmas Eve Mass. Familiar songs and great anticipation.
Presents with Alex's family.
Johnny was infinitely more interested in the bows and wrapping paper than any actual gifts.
The evening went much later than Johnny is accustomed to, so he ended up asleep under the tree.
Christmas morning as a family of three. This is a tradition I'm really looking forward to. Our own family, our own home, our own tree and gifts and stockings and coffee mugs.
Later on Christmas morning we spend time with my family.
Breakfast mimosas and many cookies and baked treats
A tradition that is only a few years old, but a favorite for many, is a time a sharing before gifts. Poems, stories, songs. This years selections consisted of a few scripture readings, the Christmas Truce of 1914, a piano reflection, a history of the carol "What Child is This?" and a lesson on why it was so outrageous that shepherd's were among the first to hear glad tidings of the Christ.
Presents followed by a lazy afternoon of napping followed by a crisp Christmas walk and a Christmas bowl.
The evening ends with the traditional pot pie meal at Alex's parents home. Twenty people cram around the dining room table for one of our favorite meals of the entire year.
It was a beautiful Christmas filled with family and all our traditions. It's exciting to me to know that in just a few years all these traditions will be things that Johnny loves and looks forward to. He'll talk about them throughout the year and remember how it was the year before. And as our family grows we will make more traditions of our own. And they will become the things we look forward to.