Christmas Tradition #9- Friends

So, something that has become a "must" over Christmas is getting together with old youth group friends.  I love, love, love doing this.  I enjoy remembering old memories and making new ones together.  It is great to hear how everyone is doing and how we are each pursuing God and living our lives in different ways.  I love catching up as well as letting our kids get to know each other and play.  I am also thankful that our spouses are all so supportive of our continued friendships and even our annual christmas tradition (even if it means it is the first trip on your way in from NY....Jeanine :)  Thanks for coming friends.  It was a lovely evening!  We even had a visit from Mrs. Russo.  We love when she gets to join us :)

Christmas Tradition #8- Shows

Part of our Christmas includes attending a number of church and/or school Christmas shows.  This year we had two school shows; one for Daws and Giules.  Next year Gena will be in one too...oh boy.  I enjoy the shows.  This year, I did not know what to expect with Dawson but he did fabulous with every word and motion.  I was very proud of him.  Dave could not go to either due to work.  But when dave asked Dawson about his show yesterday morning, he said "Daddy, I saw you, did you hear me?"  Dave was like, "what?" But then we remembered that Dave told him the night of the show to sing loud so that daddy can hear him at work :)  And then dawson said he had his super glasses on that let him see daddy at work when he was singing.  It was sooooo cute how he said it and REALLY meant it :)  Love that boy!  Giules did very well too.  I am liking this "short" thing because she gets put in the front row where we get to see her very well...lol.  Our church did not do a christmas show this year but they had some special singing for Christmas which was quite powerful.  Loved that! 

Christmas Tradition #7 - Baking With DADDY

Once Giuliana was old enough Dave wanted to continue the tradition of making sugar cookies with the kids like his dad used to do with him.  He take the project quite seriously...lol...really.  His number one rule is ... "HAVE to cut close to the edge of the dough to make sure not to waste any space."  My #1 rule would be much different but its his project.  I just take pictures :)  The kids love it!  And who wouldn't.  You get to play with dough and then put sugary icing on the cooked dough and EAT them!  Of course they also love all the special attention they get from their daddy.  The bottom pic of Gena and her feet hanging out is so typical....cracks me up.  She did not make it to icing time, but that's ok, maybe next year Gena.

Christmas Tradition #6 - Santa

We try to see Santa at least once during this season.  He is not the focus of our Christmas season, but we do acknoledge the legend of St. Nicholas and think it is fun to hear stories of santa and see people in santa costumes.  Gena cracks us up with her "dora" impression of santa....."santa, santa, ho, ho, ho" with motions and all....very cute :)  Yup, santa is a cool dude in our home these days.

Christmas Tradition #5- Cookies

Cookies, cookies, and more cookies.  We make so many cookies I feel like I am pass out from all the sugar in my body.  And we don't just make one little batch of each kind.  Most of the time, we triple it.  It takes us ALL day and we don't stop till we are done.  Mommom normally gets "fired" from most jobs but eventually in the end always ends up icing the zuccharinis.  Last year was the best......we literally got snowed in.  Dave dug and dug and could not get the van out to get mommom and mom home.  We had to call someone with a truck to come to the church next door.  And dave dug a tunnel to the church to take them to the truck.....CRAZY.  Not sure what we were thinking ....guess we were really determined to finish :)  This year only one inch the day before.  Fun time and lots of memories.

Christmas Tradition #4- Parade

Every year we try to make it to the Christmas parade in one of the nearby cities.  We recently added dinner to the tradition.  So, now we go and set up our chairs and then go to dinner and then back out to our chairs for the parade.  This year Jonathan slept through the very loud sirens....amazing!  Also, Gena saw mickey and went running to hug him....which shocked us because she normally hates people in costumes.  But she has a slight obsession with mickey and minnie.  My parents normally join us and any sisters or cousins who are available.  It is always a fun and cold evening.

Christmas Tradition #3 - Our Tree

From the picking, to the cutting, to the decorating....I LOVE this tradition and so do the kids.  But I think Dave might like this the best.  It normally takes us forever to pick out our Christmas tree.  Dave lets the kids each pick out their favorite tree...which are always the little tiny ones....lol.  This year we lost mittens in the huge tree farm and took forever to find them....guess who's they were???  Genevieve!  The kids love the stick that measure the tree, they love the ride on the trailer, and the guy who cuts it down....but for some reason, I am always the one left in the end finishing the tree all by myself.  That's ok.  At that point, I like the alone time and I like to get the tree just right.  And every year, we think we picked the most perfect tree :)

Christmas Tradition #2- Shopping

I have no pictures because there is NOOOOO time to take pics on black friday.  Every year I go shopping on black friday and get most of my christmas shopping done.  I love the feeling of getting so much done in a quick period of time.  I am extremely strategic and rarely stray from my list (avoiding any emotional or stupid purchases :)  I normally go with my mom, sometimes sisters or cousins, and rarely with my hubby but I love when he comes.  This year DAve and I got to go out together and we were quite the team.  He kept up with us women though :)  It was fun and we always laugh sooo much watching the other people around us.  Some people may say why?  Well, I save probably 50% by going out early.  I came to a new conclusion this year .....and that was I realized why I love shopping on this day better than on other days....because EVERYONE moves fast.  The shoppers, the cars, the cashiers, everyone.  You get done so much in such little time.  Anyway, I love this tradition.  And someday maybe my girls will join me :)

Christmas Tradition #1- Cards

Bright Merry Story Christmas 5x7 folded card

Make a statement with Shutterfly Christmas photo cards.

View the entire collection of cards.

So, every year, I start to think about Christmas cards in November.  I love this tradition.  It is a great outlet for my creativity.  Some years I make my own and yet others I use handy online designs.  I use christmas cards kindof like my annual newsletter to all my family and friends that we do not see that often.  I actually don't send them to many of my close friends because they know everything about my family.  Some people have other purposes but that is mine :)

Blogging Traditions

So, over our 9 years of marriage, Dave and I have continued, combined, deleted or started our own family traditions.  I have decided to blog them this year.  So stay tuned :)

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

Here is our little turkey this year.  Hope you all had a great thanksgiving like we did!!

Shutterfly

So, been trying to figure out if I should make my Christmas cards this year or not.  I have looked at shutterfly and there are so many new cool designs, I am thinking I should pursue that option.  They take all the hard work away from me.  And I love that they have so many options for multiple pictures.  With 4 kids, it is hard to get one nice picture of us all.  So, I like to use lots of candids of the kids throughout the year.  Plus it shows everything that we have done throughout the year.  The other thing I love about Shutterfly compared to some of their other competitors is that their items are super customizable.  As many know, I love to do design work and be creative as much as I can.  You can customize about almost everything on their items allowing your card to be very unique....even if someone else chooses the same base design.  "Love it"  You should check out some of their stuff...like their CARDS, PHOTOBOOKS, CALENDARS, ORNAMENTS, etc.    To see everything that Shutterfly offers and all of their new designs, visit http://www.shutterfly.com/

"Give THANKS" project

We decided to do this "Give THANKS" project with our pastorate that we lead (small group in our church....ours is pretty much a HUGE group....but we are working on that :)  Anyway, this was our sample that we used to encourage any singles, couples, families of our pastorate to intentionally "give thanks" everyday by writing or drawing their thanks to God on an index card and putting it in their bag.  We meet this Sunday and plan to have some people share some of their cards.

It has been very beautiful for our family.  It reminded us of how we need to intentionally train our hearts to exercise certain disciplines...one of which is gratitude.  Our hearts don't necessarilly know how to do it.  We need to train our hearts and allow it to practice it.  And we need to help train our kids' hearts too.  Your perspective changes and therefore sets your day in a much better direction....focusing on what God is doing for you and for those around you and basically just who HE is.  It has also been funny too to hear the kids "thanks" each day.  We have gotten "babydolls", "muscles", "legs", "Jesus fighting the bad guys", and lots of "daddy"s from Gena :)  Highly recommended project!!!

Busy Days.... with our 4 kids

I know I haven't posted in forever but we have been busy with school, dance, soccer, church and pastorates, family stuff, and just trying to make the most of our free moments together.  I will catch up at some time soon, but for now....here are some fun pics :)