Christmas Tradition

We had a very different Christmas this year then we have ever had before. On Christmas Eve Candis and Joe invited us to their house for a great Christmas dinner and then we played Flinch - I won!. Thanks Candis and Joe for a great evening. Then on Christmas morning we got up and went to church and finished getting ready for the celebration that would happen later on in the day. We finally got around to opening our presents around 3:00 p.m. and of course Daryl spoiled me again. He does every year and I just love it. I sure appreciate him and all he does for me. The family came over at 6:00 including Chris, our foster son, and my parents with all the children and grandchildren. we had a nice turkey dinner and then opened presents. Thank you children for the wonderful gifts that you gave us, we will use them often over the coming years.

This year we started a new tradition - or continued a tradition that was handed down from the previous generation. When our children were young every year on Christmas their Grandparents Gudmundson would have a Christmas dinner then all the parents had to leave as well as any children that were not potty trained. Then they would have a sleepover with their grandchildren. This meant so much to my children that they encouraged us to do it as well. So this year we gave it a try - and it turned out to be a lot of fun. We bought flashlights for them and talked about being a light unto the world and a good example to their friends and family. We have five grandchildren all under the age of five and they were so excited literally running circles around each other. I don't think they fell asleep until long after midnight.



We read stories and watched part of Mary Poppins. But the funnest part of the night was turning off all the lights and laying on the floor with new flashlights and chasing a red dot that Grandpa pointed at the ceiling with his laser beam. The Grandchildren just loved it and all night long they wanted to know where the red dot was.


For breakfast we had chocolate chip pancakes, which is always a big hit with the grandchildren. We tried to get Penn to face the camera but I guess he was just too busy eating. The parents came to pick up their children at 10:00 a.m. and Alexis did not want to go home, she ran into the bedroom and shut the door and yelled "no mommy I don't want to go." but once all the parents got their she was okay going, she just didn't want to miss out on any of the fun. We had a great time and we think the grandchildren did as well. This will definiately be a tradition that we will continue for years to come.