Merry Christmas!

I hope you all have an amazing holiday, celebrating the birth of our Lord!

Terry, Shredder and I are just relaxing this morning and will soon be wrapping presents...yes, just getting going on the wrapping. Don't you just love this pic of Terry and Shredder enjoying the Christmas paper together? I think Shredder is a bit put off by the fact that there's a PUPPY on the cover page! I mean really, what were they thinking?

Our sweet kitty is becoming more and more cuddly as she gets older (and the temperatures go down). Terry reluctantly lets her on his lap when my lap isn't available. So today we'll be lounging around most of the day, and also enjoy a special dinner together (just the two of us). We're hoping for a phone call from Kevin either today or Sunday (or both). We miss having all the kids here, but know that it's just another season of life that we're passing thru.

Our "official" Christmas won't be until Sunday when Amy & Andrew are here. We'll wait to open the majority of our gifts then.

Terry and I each opened our Christmas Eve gifts last night (pajamas and an ornament). Our Hann tradition is to get at least one ornament each year that relates to an event or interest. This year we got 3 ornaments.

The wooden one with the fruit tree we bought in New Hampshire in October at an artist's gallery. It reminds us of the gorgeous trees we saw there.

The camera is for me...self explanatory.

The wooden turtle is from Maui. We just bought it there earlier this month and it reminds us of the amazing animals and nature that we saw there.

I thought I'd share an updated photo of my branch as well. I've added the Christmas cards, photos and letters that we've received this year. It's so great looking at all those expressions of love and news from our dear friends and family when we walk in the front door. Thank you to all who took time out of their busy schedules to send them. I know that it gets more and more difficult every year to squeeze in all the holiday tasks. I didn't get a Christmas card or letter out yet this year but I'm seriously hoping to do one via email in the next week or so (since I'm off work).

Have a blessed day, filled with the love of family and friends.

Journal Your Christmas - Day 2 - Christmas Eve Traditions

Growing up we always had the tradition of opening one gift on Christmas Eve and once in a while we were able to talk our parents into opening two (but not very often). The one gift that we always received on the night before Christmas was a new pair of pajamas.

It was so much fun to put on our new comfy PJs in preparation for the exciting sleepless night that was ahead. Once as a teenager I asked for and got a pair of pajamas with feet in them. Unfortunately, I didn't realize that I use my foot as my temperature control when I'm in bed. If I'm too warm, I stick my foot out from under the blankets. Then if I'm cold, I pull it back under the blankets. That night when I was trying to sleep, I felt like my feet were in prison and it absolutely drove me crazy! Finally I had to change into some other pajama bottoms just to get to sleep and the next day I cut the feet off my new pajamas so I could use them.

Often when we got up in the morning my mom would have us all sit on the stairs and she would take a picture of us in our pajamas with our hair all wild and uncombed. I have a few of those pictures, but unfortunately, I can't find them right now.

We continued the PJ tradition with our own family and added another one. Each year we buy a unique Christmas ornament for each of the kids and they get to open them on Christmas Eve as well.

We try to find something that symbolizes an activity, interest or accomplishment that they've had over the past year. They run the gamut from a ballerina bear to Marvin the Martian for Amy. Kevin got his share of the traditional sports ornaments (soccer & basketball) to musical instruments, etc. And now we've added Andrew to the list and we're trying to get one for Terry and I together as well. I enjoy searching for something fun and unusual for them and who knows how long we'll continue...maybe when they have kids we'll stop giving to the parents...or maybe before that...we'll see.

I'm not quite sure what we'll do for Kevin this year, since he's in the Middle East and can't really keep an ornament with him traveling around. Maybe we'll get one and hold onto it for him...we'll see.

Since we moved back to Phoenix, we've added the tradition of attending the Christmas Eve service at Open Door Fellowship in the evening. The bonus is that Terry usually gets to play in the worship band at that service too. The privilege of playing music with such a dedicated group of musicians is always an honor for him and the highlight of any week. Truly, if he could only keep one activity in his life, it would probably be his music. He loves it and is honored to be able to share it with others!