Front Page (above the fold):
Headline: No One Sleeps
Synopsis: Apparently, my children were two days off in their attempt to stay up and wait for Santa’s arrival. Last night, we were up most of the night with Alex’s fussiness. I have no idea why…teeth, sleep regression, hunger? But my longest stretch of sleep was from 3 am to 6 am. I am so ready to go back to sleeping through the night again. It’s been a week, and I’m tired!
Front Page (right hand column)
Headline: Babies Enjoy New Presents
Synopsis: After days of gift-getting on their “second” Christmas (they don’t remember the first, obviously!), the twins are enjoying all their new goodies. They got some noisy toys and some quiet ones. No, scratch that. They got some noisy toys and some non-electronic ones (puzzles, blocks, etc). None of their toys are quiet because they make so much noise playing with them. But it’s fun to watch them play with age-appropriate toys now.
Sports Section
Headline: Rose Bowl Is On
Synopsis: We are going to my in-laws on Jan. 1 for a couple of days. We haven’t done Christmas with them yet because of everyone’s schedules. And I was really concerned that I wouldn’t be able to watch OSU in the Rose Bowl. For a number of reasons. But it looks, now, as if everything should work out for me to watch at least some of the game. So “GO Bucks!”
Life and Arts Section
Headline: One Great Party
Synopsis: The weekend was pretty much one extended party for us. We had a Christmas Eve gathering with the Edlunds, then spent Christmas Day with my family. Then last night, we had a birthday party for my sister which was a lot of fun, too. Thankfully, though, we are done with parties for a few days. I’m ready for a normal routine again!
Headline: ISO…Family Traditions
Synopsis: So my children are now a year old, and I realized that we don’t really have any family Christmas traditions yet. In Eric’s family, everyone prayed before gifts were opened. Other people read the Christmas story, have a birthday party for Jesus (with cake), or gather as a family to play games and watch movies. Eric and I decided that we would like to have something that is for us, but that isn’t “over the top.” I’m leaning toward doing Advent as well as reading a Christmas reading/having someone pray before gifts. And maybe having a little item that shows up every year in someone’s stocking to determine who gets to pray. Of course, my kids are too young to get it at this age, but I want to start something that they will say “we’ve always done that” about. But I’d also love to hear some other ideas. So what traditions did you have growing up? What do you do now? What do you wish you could do, but don’t?
December 28, 2009
I love how the bad news is headline. Just perfect. Sorry it stinks. Once you get a taste of sleep again, it is HARD to go back.
I loved everything else…just wish there were pictures in this edition.
Re: Family traditions
We open all gifts one at a time, not in one big jumble. We have an advent calendar we use. This year we added nightly advent readings and candle lightings. That’s a keeper. We try to always serve a birthday cake for Jesus at Christmas dinner, but due to a thousand reasons, we skipped that this year. It will return. We write a Christmas memory on the inside of the ornament boxes for the new ornaments that year (we get Hallmark Keepsake ornaments each year). When we unpack the ornaments, it is so fun to read about years past. We go caroling at the nursing home and around town with our church. We make gifts to give to Sunday school teachers and Awana leaders. We listen to a lot of Christmas music. We take some long drives after dark, singing Christmas songs looking at people’s lights. You’ll be ready for that one next year! I have vivid memories of my young twins, pointing out the window, gasping, “Lights!”