Traditions gone AWOL

Our Christmas Card Photo

In years past I have taken advantage of a good sunny warm autumn morning to: cancel school, yell dressing choices to my children, and rambunctiously require them to march outside.  Eli and Siah are old enough to know what is going on when I yell upstairs "Grab a white (or collared or etc.) shirt, either a vest, suspenders or tie, blue jeans, work boots, and march outside now!  No School!!"

Yes, it is portrait day.  The day in which I attempt to get a group shot of all of the 5 boys (that ends up on the Christmas card) and also an individual candid shot of each of them.  Some years are better than others, but I am usually somewhat successful.

What I have noticed about this tradition is that while the photo shoot still happens other parts of the tradition get lost in the hustle.  Last year, the Christmas card never got sent or created.  I was okay with that.  This year, the card was sent, but I never posted most of the awesome pics from the shoot on the blog.  

So, as someone who doesn't want to lose this tradition, I am going to post all 867 pictures now.  Okay, maybe just a few...

Success!

We did it!  

Christmas morning drive

By it, I mean many things.  First and foremost, we managed to have a busy, productive, yet relaxing, refreshing and nourishing Christmas season.  The boys made cookies, breads, advent calendars, Christmas chains for decorating.  Elijah found, cut and brought in the Christmas tree all by himself.  I didn't flip over the immense clutter of trees and decorations in our house, and Tyler read his first fiction book since high school (if he even read one then, who knows?).  Our fridge broke, and we had an ice storm that affected our electrical and internet service, but the Lord watched over us and all is well.  Besides, the ice storm was simply ravishing (as my boys would say). 

Secondly, my "it" refers to a 5 year search coming to an end.  Thanks to the advancements in medical research finding someone to give my 5 boys the chicken pox has been next to impossible.  The futility in the search became ever so clear to me a few years ago when a Doctor from our health center gave me her personal number.  She too was trying to find the virus for her own children's immunity.  Amazingly, (how do you like that -ly opener?) exactly 10 days before Christmas one of my close friends got shingles.  And like a wonderful friend she called me to offer the virus to my 5 boys.  Isn't she glorious?  I don't think that we were the only ones that she offered her gift to.  

The long and short of it is that Christmas morning broke with two very spotty boys.  The relief that I have now as 4 out of the 5 are almost done with this week of itchiness is wonderful.  

We have spent the past 7 days in happy seclusion.  On Sunday,  the boys and I had our own church service by singing a song (I am sure that God liked it, even if I am always off key), reading and contemplating the test of Job, and then making a cup rack.  We wanted to surprise daddy when he got back from the service.  It was a nice Sabbath day's project.  Simple, and fulfilling.

  

Yes, it truly has been a wonderful month.  

Happy new month and year to you all!