Christmas 2013

Flashing back, Friday style.

For Christmas we were able to travel to my parents and spend it with them. To say I was excited was an understatement. I haven’t spent a Christmas in California since before I was married.

They waited on decorating their tree for the kids to do, since we didn’t put our tree up. the kids were thrilled.

We let them do it all on their own. I only showed them what ornaments to put on the tree and they did the rest.

This girl cracks me up, sometimes, with the dainty way she holds things.

I loved going through all the ornaments and finding ones I remember and being reminded of their stories. These were made by my grandmother for my parents for their first Christmas, after they were married. Forty years ago.

Now for just a few shots of Christmas morning.

Just a quick note about this gift my mom is opening (with help). Growing up whenever my dad did any sort of shopping for my mom he would then put the gift in mine (or my sister’s) closet and then come to us and let us know “he has a present for you to wrap.” Incidentally they were never simple shapes to wrap. They were always a challenge. This was also before I embraced the “gift bag” as the best way to wrap gifts. We always laughed about it but we also came to expect it. After traveling the 12+ hours to get to them, I hadn’t been in the door 5 minutes before my dad whispers to me, “I have a present for you to wrap…” It’s nice to know that some things never change.

Merry Christmas a few weeks ago!