Our Christmas Tradition

For 16 of our 19 married years we have not only celebrated Christmas day with our family, but traveled to see them and woke up on Christmas morning with Maw-Maw & Paw-Paw or Grandma and Grandad Joe. Our first 3 years we traveled between Houston and LA while I was in law school. Our most exciting Christmas was in 1995, when we camped out at the hospital all day and late into the night waiting for sweet baby Morgan to be born. The hospital couldn't believe it when the Russo crew converged on the waiting room complete with Christmas dinner! Then, in 1996, we moved to Baldwinsville, NY - "pre-kids" and had no vacation time and spent our first Christmas alone. I cooked a turkey and set the table and we sat at our little rented house with 8 feet of snow outside and missed our family. The next year, we were in Columbus, OH and I was 9 months pregnant with Christopher and was praying that he would be an early "Christmas baby" like Morgan because I was so ready to see him! We sat around all day thinking that this was our last Christmas with just the 2 of us and we couldn't wait for every Christmas for the rest of our lives! Christopher arrived 4 weeks later! 3 years later, we had another Christmas away ~ this time in California. It was a very special Christmas because we had our little 2 month old Catherine with us! Christopher played outside in shorts on his big wheel and she hung out in her baby swing ~ and we felt very blessed to have our 2 beautful babies. Every other year we have traded off between families. 3 times we flew to Colorado for Christmas. The first time, we actually flew from St. Louis on Christmas day and met Grandma, Grandad, Uncle Sam, Aunt Nicole and Unlce Ben. Christopher(5) and Catherine (3) went to ski school and we had a great time. The next time we went to CO, it was our first year back in Houston. We had a very special Christmas day with Grandad K in Conroe and then flew out the next day for CO. Though we didn't know it that day, he would leave to be with Jesus, just days after our great holiday together. 3 years ago, we flewback to CO on Christmas Eve and had a great Christmas with G&G and Unlce Ben& Aunt Jill, then Uncle Sam, Aunt Nicole, Ryan & Noah came and we all went sledding and skiing and had a great time.

This year, we had decided we needed to have a Christmas morning at home. We were all set for a quiet Christmas eve and then a drive to LA late on Christmas day. At the last minute, we changed our mind, rushed to pack the car and surpirsed Maw-Maw when we showed up the day before Christmas Eve. Aunt Heather and Aunt Holly were there and like so many other Christmas mornings, helped to make it special as we opened gifts and got ready for the rest of the cousins to come over. On Christmas day in our usual Russo Tradition, we played a game of "little Sally Walker" ... with all of the kids and adults. We had a blast as usual. We were happy we had changed our minds and decided to travel at Christmas. because while it hasn't always been easy to pack up gifts and kids and travel for the holidays.... what we realized it that this is our Christmas tradition and it's brought us many blessings to share the most important day of the year with family!

Getting the House Decorated!

Home from the Tree Farm! now how do we get it down and inside?

Christopher - loves the tree and is ready to decorate

Here it is - THE BIG TREE!!

LuLu having some hot cocoa and watching Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer!

Love, love the fairies!



Finally all decorated! It looks beautiful!



Mark Roberts Christmas Fairy!

Our new dining room table looks great (even with the uncovered chair seats)

My favorite - Christmas photos through the years!

Christmas 2010

I love Christmas! I always have ... and look forward to it all year. I love the weather, I love the music, I love the focus on Jesus and I love that most "Christmas related activities" involve friends and family. We started this Christmas season off with a rocky start. Catherine got the stomach flu so Jon headed out to the tree farm alone to pick out our tree. When he got home, Christopher and I ran out to see the tree tied on top of his car. They got the tree into our wagon and managed to get it inside. About 30 minutes before Jon got home, Christopher helped me completely re-arrange the family room to fit the tree. We lit the fire, put on our Christmas music and prepared for the decorating. Once we managed to get the tree into the holder it was time to cut away the netting. Jon got up on the ladder, cut away the string and all of a sudden we had this enourmous tree taking over our room. I insisted that the tree had to go back - how could we possibly manage with this huge tree. I think a couple of "what in the world were you thinking...." comments were repeated over and over! Then, my sweet boy came over and said to me - "Mommy, I love it. It's beautiful. and it's Christmas, don't you think you can make it work?!" and just like that .. that darn tree did look beautiful and perfect. I thanked Christopher for remindind me that we aren't looking for perfection... and yes.. we can definitely make it work AND then, I asked for the clippers. After a pretty hefty trimming of the bottom layer, we got the tree to a more manageable size and Jon and I decided to laugh about it and call it "The Year of the Big Tree!" The next day, when I got home, Jon said, come on in and see your big tree! and we cracked up laughing.

Tonight, we got out the ornaments and Christopher and Catherine had a ball reminiscing over their favorite ornaments. Each time they found one of theirs .. they said, "aw this one is my favorite, aw I remember this one." Then, for the 8th year in a row (started when she was 3!!) Catherine got up on the ladder and put our Angel on top of the tree. We watched the Polar Express and then picked out a Christmas book to read. The Christmas season is officially active now.

Thanksgiving with the Kasparek's

Thanksgiving 2010 (Conroe)

Thanksgiving 2010 ~ Catherine (10), Christopher (12). We had a great holiday at Grandma and Grandad Joe's in Conroe. Aunt Hope and Uncle Russ came with Nick, Christopher and Elizabeth, Uncle Ben, Aunt Jill and little Lucy Paige and Uncle Sam, Aunt Nicole and Ryan & Noah. We had way too much food of course... including favorites like Aunt Hope's spinikopita and corn maque choux. Everyone had to keep their eye on little Noah. He's quick and fearless ~ jumping off of everything and climbing on anything. Lucy was on the move and was thrilled with all of the attention in the house. She continues to be the "world's best baby!"Catherine had a great time with Elizabeth. They both brought their American girl dolls and had a great time playing. Christopher was happy to hang out with Nick and Chrisotpher File. Everyone wanted to fish ... but the fish weren't biting so we will have to try that again another day. As we set the table and prepared the meal, it was hard not to be overwhelmed by how truly blessed we all are every day. God is so good to us and we are THANKFUL for His neverending and neverfailing love and mercy!

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving 2010! We have so much to be Thankful for this year! God continues to
bless our family! We thank God for healthy, amazing children who bring us joy every day,
for 19 wonderful years of marriage, for the gift of all of our family which continues to grow ~
and for so many special friends in our lives! We hope you ALL had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Fall Soccer

Catherine had another great game this morning. It was one of those days that couldn't be more perfect. The weather was perfect and "The Lightning Strikers" were ready to defend their undeafeated record. They knew it would be a battle because they were up against another undefeated team. It was a great game... and we ended with a victory 4-2! Catherine played hard and came very close to a goal right at the end!

Catherine (#34) on the Lightning Strikers... making a shot on the goal! Her 1st year of Soccer is off to a great start. The team is undeafeated and today with 76 degree weather and a 9:15 game the team was ready to go! It was a great game and Catherine played hard the entire game!

WJGA - Woodlands Junior Golf Association

Catherine loved the WJGA this summer and made great progress. She moved up from being a 2 hole player to a 3 hole player. She won 1st place in the WJGA Club Championship in her 3 hole category and she unexpectedly received the award for Best Sportmanship! We are so proud of her tenacity and it is so much fun to her having fun with a new sport!

Recruiting all Family & Friends to become a Follower!!

Hi all! Day 2 of the family blog and I officially have 1 follower! yeah Mom!! Jon is making fun of me for starting the blog... but I am determined! hoping to "recruit" more followers this week!

Mommy I love to dance!

Lucy Paige

What a great surprise to have Ben, Jill and precious little Lucy Paige come up to the WL for a visit. She is such a good baby. She is scooting around quickly now, pulling up and just about ready to walk! This girl is strong. She was very patient with Catherine and Christopher holding her. We watched a great game with UT/Tennessee with a crazy ending in the final play of the game and Christopher cheered on the Sooners! Both he and Cat are serious OU & OSU fans now! It's hilarious. We had such beautiful fall weather... red beans & rice and a great visit. Christopher got to show Aunt Jill and Uncle Ben his drawings and play a little trumpet for them and they worked in a few rounds of "I Doubt it". A great day!