Making Christmas cards…another tradition….

So, another Christmas tradition, in our family, is making our own cards.  We love to think and think about what we will do for that year.  The card usually involves some type of photo of the children…..though one year we had them draw the card.

It doesn’t always go as planned or as smoothly as I had hoped…..but in the end, we always love them.  I usually work with the photo in Photoshop and print them out using Publisher.  Sometimes we get them printed at a print shop, but most times I print them out at home using cardstock.

After doing the upside down chin photos earlier this month for my blog, my daughter Tuesday, decided those would be perfect for our Christmas card.

For quite a few years now, we wanted to do a twist on the family Christmas letter….. and then finally we thought of MadLibs.  So, this year, we decided to combine the two ideas…and we made up a Christmas family letter in MadLib form.  It was  a lot of fun coming up with the letter…but it was hard to put it into the right format, so it looked just like the real MadLibs.

In the end, I think our Christmas cards reflected who we are as a family…..pretty goofy!

Embrace the Camera….

So, for this week’s Embrace the Camera (inspired by the anderson crew)…I thought I would like to have some photos of Quinn and I….so I sat us down in front of the Christmas tree…but, of course, River said she had to be in the photos with us…well…she thought she wanted to be in the photos……with us….

And, how could I say no…so…..here we are……well, sort of…River was bopping all around…but I got one good one of her..before she was on her way again……

Yule Lads….

The Yule Lads have started coming to our house.  Another tradition.  Every year, starting on December 12th, the Yule Lads begin to arrive.  We love the little guys.

Each night, we read about the Yule Lad who is coming that night…we get out the little statue….and then the children leave a shoe in their window.

So far, we’ve been visited by Stekkjarstaur, who likes sheep, Giljagaur, who steals milk, and Stufur…who is the little short guy.

In our house, they are all very friendly, and they leave little gifts for good children.  (If you are bad, they leave you a rotten potato!)  Sometimes the Yule Lads do slightly mischievous things, like drink our milk and leave the empty container on the floor!

We haven’t talked too much about Gryla, the Yule Lads mother, or the Yule Cat, because they are a bit too scary.   If you are interested in learning more about the Yule Lads, there are a few good websites..but I love the book that we have entitled The Yule Lads by Brian Pilkington….the illustrations are wonderful!

Visiting Santa…..

Another Christmas tradition,  in our family, is visiting Santa.  After Tuesday was born, for the first seven years, we went to the same place and there was the same Santa!  He had a real beard….but wasn’t too friendly..but it was neat that he was the same Santa .  We were so disappointed when there was a different Santa…..with a fake beard the next year.    I don’t like the Santas with fake beards.  So, this year I called different places asking if their Santa had a real beard or a fake beard…they must get that question a lot…..because they didn’t seem to think it was strange.

I also don’t like it when they won’t let you bring in your own camera..that really bugs me.  Anyway, we found a local farmers market that had a wonderful Santa..and it was free (He was on a tractor, which was sort of funny).  You just had to bring your own camera.  There was no line and the kids had time to actually “talk” to Santa….a rarity.  He was so friendly and patient. River was so nervous and almost couldn’t get any words out..it was adorable.

This is Tuesday with Santa when she was a few days old.  The Santa was so nervous to hold her.  Here are some other past Santa shots…..

Embrace the Camera…Jingle Ball 2010

It is Embrace the Camera Thursday and today’s photos are Tuesday, Quinn and I……last night we went to our first concert..all together….I went with Tuesday to the Lilith Fair this summer..but this is the first time the three of us went to a concert together.

As an early Christmas present…we hopped on the high speed line and then walked to the concert center.  It was Jingle Ball 2010……with Script, Selena Gomez, Charisse, Train, Flo Rida, Adam Lambert and Justin Bieber…..Bruno Mars was supposed to play, but he was sick..so Flo Rida took his place and Jesse McCartney played for about 15 seconds.

There was a lot of screaming and we had a lot of fun!  When Justin Bieber came out…the crowd went CRAZY!

Everyone was very tired this morning..but they dragged themselves out of bed and made it to school on time!  Oh, and did I mention…..we were in the last row!!!!

Christmas books….

Another Christmas tradition around here is getting out the Christmas books…and books are a big deal around here.  We used to have everyone pick out a Christmas book  to buy every year..but then we just got too many books.

Everyone has their favorite book and loves to be the first one to read it…..especially to River…oh, and to the cat.

I try to tell River that she has to read every book at least once..but before we start re-reading them.  That doesn’t always stick!