Our Christmas Story

It is almost the middle of January and I am just getting around to record our Christmas memories ... I guess better later then never. Looking at this picture I realized ... again ... how fast our children are growing and that I really don't have any day or hour to waste. I need to spend as much time as I can with them, enjoy their company, their humor, and innocence.

Christmas was fun and relaxing, we had lots of family time together and found countless excuses to just do nothing but watch movies and eat popcorn. Christmas was so anticipated this year ... mostly because I totally confused the children with all the things that I used to do growing up and wished to share with them. In the same time we started new traditions too, like making our gingerbread house from scratch and ending up using real carpenter tricks to keep it together. We laughed so hard as I struggled to build it ... must be a repeat next year.

We got our tree only a week before Christmas - we always do it this way, so the whole concept of the Holidays stays special. Our tree reminded me to Hungary, with the cool little ornaments that my Mom used to make out of pine cones and cinnamon sticks. Lutza and I spent a lot of time making felt stars and hearts which we gave away as presents to friends .... and none actually made it to be hang on our tree. It also took us a week to complete the popcorn string ... on all those cold evenings the popcorn was just eaten faster than I could string. BUT when it was finally done, it served the children well on nights when they didn't eat their dinners and got hungry before bedtime ... imagine a competition of who can bite the kernels off faster without using hands.

Christmas was special because the children made it special. Lutza and Vidor exactly knew what to expect ... so we mixed it up a little bit.

Santa comes to Hungary on December 6 ... due to some weather delays he only arrived to us on the 7th (in reality I totally spaced out). He requires children to clean their boots and put them in the window ... of course he only comes to good children so listening, obeying and well behaviors were A+'s on that day. Wish we could do this well every day .... work in progress I guess.

On this picture is the drawing Lutza made for Santa ... I took a picture of it in the evening ... good thing because Santa liked it so much he took it with him.

The Hungarian Santa is a humble Santa, in my childhood he used to bring only oranges and nuts, maybe something a little sweet. So keeping the traditions, the children got only a few little things.

Christmas is about Baby Jesus ... he was a gift to us and we celebrate his birth by getting gifts from him. In Hungary, Jesus brings the Christmas tree and the presents. Sorry Santa, but by this time you are already back in Finland, resting up for next year.

But, we had to bring in the American traditions as well ... So Santa (this time the one from the North Pole) came and left presents in our stockings for Christmas morning .... AGAIN (talking about confusion). Among all the toys, cars and dolls, the packages of underwear were a huge hit for all three of the children - favorite characters ... "Can I put one on right now?" So we had to do laundry too on Christmas morning so our darling little children could wear their new undies.

Oh, life is good ... small pleasures and memories make it so special. I can't even express how grateful I am to have such a wonderful family!