Thankful.....tradition....

I feel thankful for family time the past two days. :-) I really enjoyed spending time with my loved ones on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I still have some more "christmas" events this Sunday (with my mom) and then next weekend with my dad (when brother and his family come up). But I have certainly enjoyed the quality time over the last two days.

I am certainly a person that enjoys tradition. Christmas Eve is one Christmas tradition that has been pretty much the same since I was born (or at least as far back as I can remember :-)). When we were really young, we would go to my Grandma and Grandpa Dowell's on the evening of Christmas Eve. I remember driving home in the dark....getting excited for Santa to come in a few hours!!! Then as we got older, we moved to having Grandma and Grandpa's Christmas Eve gathering at lunch time. This is just perfect too. I really love this tradition, and WOULDN'T miss it for anything!!!! This year was a great year at their house. After a challenging 3'ish years.....my Grandma was able to stand at her kitchen sink with just a little assistance!!! Please see the below photo!!

This really was truly the greatest gift I received this Christmas!!

With the thought of tradition also comes the thought of stability. My personality definitely strives to have stability in my life. I think I feel the best when I feel like there is stability (in many facets of my life). I kind of think that most people would be this way, but I know that is not true. The last 5+ years proved to be the least stable in my life (personally and other aspects impacting my life). Thankfully over the last year, it has been a bit better (certainly thankful). So, as you can see any bit of tradition makes me happy. So, in honor of tradition.....here is another fun photo from Christmas Day. My sister and I with our Alvin and the Chipmunk "toys". :-)


Hope YOU had a great Christmas too!!! :-)