Christmas Traditions

Seriously what is with me not bringing my camera along this month??  We have had a JAM packed month full of holiday traditions!  I don't want to forget the ones that I forgot to take pictures of, so here they are...

-Mom's office Christmas party!  We had a blast partying it up with the attorneys!  It was at the local YMCA so we could all go to the pool for some fun afterwards!  The kids had a BLAST swimming!  Charley kept saying, "Look watch me kick, I a polar bear!"  Chris called her a polar bear all summer and she LOVES to watch the polar bear video from the zoo on his phone! (Charley may or may not have a stuffed polar bear under the tree from Daddy!....Amy go now and read "The Night You Were Born" and have a cryfest, I know you want to! HA
-Liberty Station and Bedford Christmas Lights with the Collins!  This could be the last year we all fit into one car so we lived it up!  And by live it up I mean we let the kids watch Clifford in an unsuccessful attempt to get Sissy to stop whining, we went through the lights not once but twice, and topped off the evening with Blizzards!  Fun was had by all, even with all the whining!  Hey April, remember the time I sent Sam into the one stall men's bathroom because the Woman's was occupied and the Men's was unlocked only to find out 3 minutes later that a man was in there the whole time...I was MORTIFIED!   I may have scarred my son for life!
-Last minute Christmas shopping with Cam and Amy Jo!  Can I get an Amen on shopping kid free and adult dinner convo!  'nough said!
-Christmas cookie making!  EVERY year of my life I have gotten together with my sisters and mom for a little cooking decorating 101.  My Grandma started this tradition and we still use her old recipes!  IT.MAKES.MY.HEART.VERY.HAPPY!  Sam REALLY got into decorating this year, Charley REALLY got into taking one bite out of every cookie she attempted to decorate!  That's my girl Charley,  Charley don't mind Nanny's pumpkin chocolate chip cookies, no she does not!
-Riding around looking at Christmas lights!  We tried to go classy by going to SW but lets get real here!  My kids could care less about real evergreen adored with red velvet bows...bring on the blow ups!  There were a few choice streets that did not disappoint and my kids were a happy bunch!
-Sam got to come in his PJ's to my Polar Express PJ day at school!  He was one happy boy and I was one happy Momma!  He sat in my lap, both of us in our Christmas PJ's watching the movie and sipping on hot chocolate!  Such a sweet memory!  He held my hand as we walked my kids to gym and then we had some mom/son eating cookies and talking bonding time!  :)
-I'm making this a tradition!  I loaded all the kids Christmas morning goodies into a big ol tub (let me state we went for more of the something you want, something you wear, something you read, something you play approach this year so it wasn't that big of a tub!)  and went to the Tweedy's abode to get my elf work on!  Cam and I listened to Christmas music, drank cocoa, and wrapped in "heavenly peace"!  Cam can we make this happen every year?  Yes?? Good!
-We went to the Adams (I'm pretty sure Charley thinks Winkie is the cat lady) to decorate Christmas trees!   Larry was so kind to cut out wood trees then let the kids frost and decorate them with candy goodness!  Charley's tree is missing several pieces of candy since displaying them on the counter.   Once again Charley...that's my girl!
-Sam has LOVED Elfie (we go for pure creativity with name selection here at the Dowdy House)  our elf on the shelf.  He looks for him first thing in the morning!  He also likes to call Amy Jo and Greg and see where Carlos is hiding!
-Caroling at the nursing home!  I teared up at least 3 times!  So, so sweet!  If you get a chance to do something like this go...especially if you have kids!  They LOVED the children!  And they loved looking us in our eyes and singing with us!  Oh man I'm tearing up jus thinking about it!  This tradition I def. want to keep!  And just guess who was one of the loudest carolers??? My sweet and super shy Sam was KILLING some "We wish you a Merry Christmas" and "Silent Night"!   They both asked to keep singing as we were heading to our car!
-While we haven't done it nightly, most nights we do a kid friendly advent!  They have really learned so much about the true meaning of Christmas...and this makes my heart happiest of all!

Did you make it this far in this post...impressive!  Even without pics!  I don't write all these things to make you feel like we are "super family.   In fact if you were at the store when we had to literally leave our buggy and take our screaming 2 year old out all together you would know we are in fact...not!  But we do try to make the most out of our time together!  We don't just love our kids we like them!  They make us happy...Have you met our kids??...They're pretty much the coolest kids ever!  Nobody likes spending time together like we do!  And yes, that is my favorite thing about the season!