Christmas Is In The Air + Family Traditions

First of all, Cady is now smiling. Here is a picture of Abby trying to get her to smile. I think that Mimi, that's me, is the only person who has NOT seen Cady smile. I'm still waiting.

Traditions. The Rucker family is all about traditions. Abby makes sure that we always abide by our traditions, all the while creating new ones as she sees fit (love ya, Ab! I'm there with ya.) Here are but a few family traditions we do around the first of December.

(1) The Rucker's love to decorate. Here is a picture of Abby's house. Love it. I'll try to post a picture of mine. I haven't taken one yet.

(2) We always get together to celebrate Mark's & Michelle's December birthdays. Last night was our gathering.

Chad had been sick over the past several days and kept his distance from the G.G.'s. It was sorta sad for him to ostracize himself from the family. I felt like he was in exile. He here is sitting away from the family in the Butler's Pantry area.

Sadly, Michelle was stuck in the hospital O.R. with a complicated case. She missed her own celebration. Don't worry, ShellBell, we're coming to see ya Friday night!

Mark, Andrea, Brie, Cady, Abby & Matt

I have a cute Christmas picture frame. One of my goals last night was to take a picture of my G.G.'s in matching Santa's Little Helper outfits. To put it mildly, it was a major challenge to get two babies happy at the same time for one picture. My heart goes out to professional photographers!

Reject picture: Cady is not happy.

Reject picture: Brie wants to leave!

This was the best of the rest.

(3) We decorate our family Christmas tree together. Always an interesting venture. You'd think as my children got more mature, they'd be less childlike during this tradition. Wrong. It gets worse with age (and I love it!)

(4) During the tree decorating ceremony, we always and I mean always listen to the same old-fashioned cassette tape of Disney's Christmas music. One year I couldn't find the tape and the kids gave me heck until I located it. And, actually, so far we've listened to the old tape using the same OLD cassette player. Last night someone mentioned that during the new year we should all research a cd copy of this or make one ourselves. We're all fearful this cassette tape won't make it many more years before deterioration begins.

(5) My three adult children, during the Christmas tree decorating, try to outdo each other. I've mentioned the competitive spirit of our family. Whenever Abby puts up her ornament (a baby cradle from the year she was born), then the others try to put their special ornaments on top of hers. At last count there were 15 ornaments on that one branch.

I love my family and all our crazy ways. I always look forward to getting together with them. They always make me laugh. Things can only get better with the addition of each new G.G.!