Christmas Traditions

This was our first year to have Christmas alone, without extended family. I tried very hard to stay true to many traditions, and couldn't keep up with many others. It was a busy & stressful month. It's extremely difficult to have all the festivities when you have two small children running amok nonstop.

I baked countless cookies as my mother did when I was a kid. Emily helped with some of the cookies, but she usually had an ulterior motive...she wanted a taste. Once I completed my last batch I realized...who, in the hell, am I going to give all these cookies to?!?! I gave out as many plates as I could, but we still had leftovers.

With Christmas Eve I felt a large responsibility to uphold the Swedish Traditions. It was rather stressful. We did the best we could, but there were a few Christmas Eve Standards that we missed out on. For dinner we had honey baked ham, green bean casserole, cheesy potato casserole, pickled cucumbers, olives, and rolls. No, there was no lutefisk at our table...we'll have to double-up for next year.

After dinner we opened all of the presents that were sent to us from our families. YOU GUYS ARE WAY TOO GENEROUS! THANK YOU FOR MAKING OUR LONELY CHRISTMAS EVE A VERY SPECIAL ONE! We got boxes in the mail nearly every day for the entire month of December! The ladies at the Post Office know us!

Emily was SO EXCITED to open Christmas presents! She not only wanted to unwrap the gifts, she also wanted to open all the toys immediately after they were unwrapped. Once a gift was opened, we kept trying to get her to open something else because she'd be so mesmerized by the previous gift.

Ethan wasn't quite sure what was going on. We urged him to open gifts, and he did a few...but his main interest was to take all the decorations off of the Christmas tree. (That's been his focus all month...and now, with the presents being unwrapped and moved away from the tree, he could now reach the branches. He's a Boy-Destroyer!)

The kids got some awesome gifts: toy laptops, books, little people, clothes, trains, crayons, DVDs, tea parties, games, remote control cars, heated blankets, barbies, stuffed animals, plus much more. The night was a little overwhelming for them. Yes, we did get through everything, but it was rushed toward the end as they were just too fussy!

Chris and I also got some wonderful items...thank you! Oh, and the dogs (mainly Chloe), they Thank You for sending toys for them; which, as of today, Chloe has eaten and torn all of the new dog toys. She's a Dog-Toy-Destroyer!

Thank you for making our holiday special, even though we are 4,000 miles away! We love you all, and we wish you a Very Merry Christmas!!

Here are pictures from the exciting evening!