Who's Missing?

Who's missing from this post?? Those camera shy Bend family members need to start jumping into pictures. It's hard for me to remember to take pictures at every family get together, so start getting in there! : ) Here are my two favorite pictures from our most recent trip to Bend.

The first one of Mimi and Lennon, because I can rarely get them in a picture together (usually because Mimi is also manning her camera to capture the moment for her picture collection). Here Mimi is explaining to Lennon the all important Luiz tradition of hanging Hallmark holiday ornaments on the tree and the proper way to "look gently" at them. I gave my mom full warning that anything within Lennon's reach on the tree may never see another Christmas, but she assured me that Lennon would surely listen to her Mimi. I have to say that Lennon was very gentle with all of Mimi's ornaments.....up until our last night visiting. R.I.P. Sugar Plum Fairy.

The last picture is just too cute to not post (at least I think so!). Uncle Aiden is always such a trooper when Lennon comes to visit. The poor guy thought he was getting it easy having a big sister 15 years older than him. Little did he know that nieces can torment you just as well, if not better, than siblings. Lennon loves to order and wrestle her Uncle into submission and on this trip she could not have her bath without her Aiden. Of course, ever the loving/doting Uncle, he humored her and jumped in----on one condition, he had to wear his swim trunks. So here they are showing off their muscles to one another.

Trimming the Tree

Our first Christmas in the new house! Wow, it's hard to believe. We weren't quite prepared to decorate a whole house this year, so our Christmas trimmings were a bit on the light side. (Thanks to the Volkerts for loaning us their regal Nativity set!) Hopefully our Christmas spirit made up for our lack of Christmas decorations.

We used our small artificial tree this year. Neither Josh nor I was willing to brave the Christmas tree hunt out in the wild this December. Hopefully by next December that will change, because I sure did miss the smell of a real tree in the house. Although I think our artificial one was much sturdier than we thought, considering Lennon was all a flutter when she saw it and couldn't keep her hands off of it. Thankfully there were no Christmas tree casualties.

This was Lennon's first year participating in decorating the Christmas tree. As you can see she was very meticulous in where she chose to hang her ornaments. Thank goodness I am no Martha Stewart, expecting absolute perfection and symmetry. Lennon took a quick liking to the

Christmas balls that we had bought at Target. I suppose they were the exact size for her petite hands, which couldn't resist them. Lennon's clustering technique was a bit unconventional, but I think it could catch on. Her Christmas Cluster is rather cute.

With Lennon growing like a weed no ornament within her reach was safe. Thank goodness I learned right away Mommy Christmas Tip #1: All cherished ornaments need to be exempt from the tree or else placed high, towards the top. Her little mittens loved touching and exploring each ornament. Many of them were shuffled and found in new places. A little surprise for Mommy every day.

Lennon is much like a squirrel, she loves to hoard, pile and hide objects. Many a hook, ribbon and string were lost this year, making many of the ornaments unusable. Towards the end of the month the tree became very top heavy and bare bottomed.

Kudos to Josh for using three strands of lights on our tree. Don't worry Mom--he strings the lights just like you do! We are carrying on that Christmas tradition. We also used Grandma Sweet's (Barb) homemade tree skirt, which is beautiful and fit perfectly, aside from Lennon slipping and sliding on it as she tried to fit herself under the tree. Next year we may have to put some sort of gripping underneath the skirt so our little miss doesn't "schwip fawl".

Josh and I can hardly wait until next Christmas! We hope to rival the Griswold's in spectacular light displays and I will attempt some Martha Stewart like touches inside the house. Most of all, we can't wait to see how Lennon's face lights up with excitement as the decorations come out and how she beams with pride as she helps carry-out new family traditions.