Merry Christmas 2010!

Our Christmas tree, w/every ornament we own!

It's been a holiday weekend of fun and relaxation. We opted to stay at home in Eugene this Christmas. Doug had time off the week of Christmas but had to be back to work the morning of the 26th so traveling for the holiday wasn't really a great idea. We enjoyed the family traditions we've been building over recent years.

The fun began Christmas Eve morning with our yearly Christmas Eve breakfast at Shari's Restaurant (the equivalent of Denny's, for those of you not in the Northwest). Yes...Shari's. This tradition began a few years ago when we had an ice storm in Portland and we woke to no power on Christmas Eve. The house was cold and dark and Doug announced we should go out to breakfast. The kids, always begging to go to restaurants on their Mom's "not on your life" restaurant list (translation...KFC, Denny's, Golden Corral, etc) quickly chimed in with "Can we PLEASE go to Shari's??? Please??? It's Christmas Eve mom, please!?!" So I caved, telling myself it WAS the holiday and I can handle it just ONCE. And off we were to Shari's. Fast forward a few years and yes, we made the annual trek to Shari's for  our Christmas Eve breakfast.

Our other favorite Christmas Eve tradition is the annual swimming outing. We adopted this tradition from my sister's family when we were looking for something fun to do on Christmas Eve. Lucky for us, we've always had a selection of local indoor pools to hit for the holiday swim. This year, we've discovered Splash! Lively Swim Center with it's great wave pool and water slide. For the most part it was a great time, except for the phone call from the plumber in Beaverton informing us that our rental home there needed a new hot water heater. Good thing Christmas presents were already purchased or Christmas would have gotten a LOT smaller with that news. On the bright side, at least it happened on Christmas Eve during normal weekday hours and not ON Christmas with double the labor costs.

Christmas Eve night we enjoyed our normal traditions of the Christmas Story from the bible, other Christmas stories, games, and Secret Santa gift exchange. The kids also opened their new Christmas pajamas...provided this year by Grandma. She has a knack for picking out gifts for the kids that suit their personalities to a T. Note...Terry's shirt says "I'm pretty much one of the best people I know" and Zach's says "Awesome ends with ME."

We got the anxious kiddos to bed with an agreement reached of 6:45 a.m. for the wake-up call. But Trevian only made it to 5:30 before she began pestering us regularly. By 6:10 we couldn't take it anymore and the rest of the crew was wrestled out of bed for the fun to commence. The kids were thrilled with their gifts and off and playing, and Mom and Dad were nestled back snug in their bed by 7:00 for a Christmas morning nap! Of course, the new running shoes we each got (Doug and Heather) beckoned to us and we got a great holiday run in shortly after our nap. With some holiday movies, traditional Christmas dinner, and some board games, the rest of the day was a treat. It was a fairly low-key Christmas that will leave me with fond memories of peace and comfort at home with my family.