Top Ten Fredrickson Christmas Traditions

10 - "SEASON'S GREETINGS" CHRISTMAS CARDS
Every year we send out our Christmas cards AFTER Christmas. That is why they usually say "Season's Greetings" rather than "Merry Christmas". We really don't plan on sending them out late. But it happens every year. We were so late this go round that I didn't even take the kid's picture that we put on the card until Christmas Eve. (In case you didn't get one, I'm very sorry. I'm sure I inadvertantly left some people - especially those who live nearby - off my list.)


9 - PUZZLES
We usually set up a puzzle on the dining room table sometime during the holidays. This was something my family always did when I was growing up. But with my kids it has had varying success. This year the puzzle was only dumped on the floor twice by little hands (as seen here) before it was finally completed.


8 - SHOPPING ON CHRISTMAS EVE
Dalen does a good deal of his Christmas shopping on Christmas Eve. He says that it is "tradition" and therefore he must continue the practice. But I think that argument is really an attempt to put a positive spin on procrastination. I suppose I can try to put a positive spin on it too by saying that at least I am always able to get my last minute requests in there before it's too late. And thankfully, he is generally only gone on the morning of Christmas Eve.


7 - DECORATING SUGAR COOKIES
Every year we decorate Christmas cookies. This is a tradition from Dalen's family and we have continued on with it. The kids love it and it is very fun. We usually give some of the cookies away. But those cookies that have five times more frosting on them than there is cookie remain at home for us to enjoy.


6 - BBQ ON CHRISTMAS EVE
We generally have our big dinner on Christmas Eve (sometime after Dalen is finished with his shopping). Several years ago we started the tradition of having barbeque as our main course. It just seemed like the Texas thing to do. Often times we have ordered baby back ribs from The County Line Bar-B-Q. YUM!!! This year we had beef brisket and I have to say it was delish too! If you'd like to follow suit, and you don't live near one, The County Line will ship their legendary Bar-B-Q anywhere in the United States. Check it out at http://www.countyline.com/.


5 - S'MORES FOR DESSERT ON CHRISTMAS EVE
I always remember my family having a roaring fire in the fireplace the night before Christmas. Sometimes we ate dinner on the floor in front of the fire. But since we have lived in Texas, it often times feels plenty warm around Christmas time and it is hard for me to get excited about building a fire in the fireplace when it is still 70 degrees outside. So, we invested in a nifty s'mores maker and this way we get to pretend like we have a fire without actually having to build one. Plus, the s'mores are delicious and the kids LOVE roasting marshmellows. (Catching them on fire is always an added bonus.)





4 - CHOCOLATE BAR GAME
Dalen's family sometimes played the "chocolate bar game". And now we usually play it sometime during the holiday season.

Here are the instructions:

1. Place a large, wrapped, chocolate bar on a plate in the middle of the table.
2. Distribute a plastic fork to each player.
3. Each player must hold the fork in one hand and place the other hand behind their back.
4. The players take turns rolling a pair of dice.
5. When a player rolls doubles, they earn the opportunity to "have at" the chocolate bar. They should try to unwrap and eat as much of the chocolate as possible before another player rolls doubles. You must keep one of your hands behind your back!
6. The other players continue to take turns rolling the dice until one of them rolls doubles. They can then steal the chocolate bar from whoever has it and take their turn working to devour as much chocolate as they can.
7. Continue playing until all of the chocolate is gone.

The benefits of this game? It is fun; you get even more chocolate during the holidays (not as if we haven't had enough already!); and my two year old now knows how to say "doubles".

3 - GAINING A BUNCH OF WEIGHT
With all of the food mentioned above, along with all of the goodies that are brought to us by friends and neighbors, is it any wonder that we gain weight? This, however, is a tradition that I would be glad to abandon . . . as long as I don't have to actually give up the treats to do it.


2 - NEW CHRISTMAS TREE ORNAMENTS
I LOVE our Christmas tree. Not because it is a thing of beauty. Believe me, Martha Stewart would be horrified if she saw our tree! But I love it because almost all the ornaments on our tree have a story behind them. When I was growing up, my parents gave us a new ornament every year for Christmas. When we moved away, we got to take our ornaments with us. I liked this tradition so much that we have continued it. Each year, we give our kids a new ornament and usually those ornaments have some sort of meaning or significance attached to them. It is really fun to reminisce about why or where we picked out a particular ornament. Here are a few of our favorites . . .

We bought this nativity ornament at a bazaar in San Antonio the first year that we moved to Texas.

This year we gave all the kids decorated cookie ornaments.

Last year, Seth and Aleah both received
different clear snowflake ornaments because
that was the year they were baptized.

Josh's hand print for his first Christmas.

Anna's footprint for her first Christmas.

S'more angel.

We have WAY too many car ornaments!
But among them, the Corvette is one of Dalen's favorites.

Dalen made this armadillo for me out of part of
the wood of a very large oak tree that fell
down in our yard during a big storm.

This nutcracker ornament was one
that my parents gave me when I was young.

Dalen made this ornament for me from some
of the "treasures" he keeps in the garage. See!
You never know when that old junk will come in handy!

Some of our long time friends, the Morgans, brought this
ornament to us from their visit to Jerusalem.

1- REMEMBER THAT CHRISTMAS IS ABOUT CHRIST

Amid all the distractions, we try to remember that the purpose of Christmas is to celebrate the birth of the Savior Jesus Christ. It is a time to reflect upon His life and teachings and we should always try to emulate Him in all that we do in our lives. It is a time to draw nearer to those we love and to increase our circle of love to include others. It is through following His example that we can truly hope for peace on earth and goodwill toward men.

Happy Birthday Anna!

Anna celebrated her second birthday this week. Yikes! It is amazing how quickly those two years went by!

Anna had a great birthday. She enjoyed blowing out her candles and then playing with and eating her cake.

She had fun jumping on her presents...

and then opening them up.

And she has absolutely loved playing with
everything she received.

Anna is a sweet and spunky little gal. Her favorite things are shoes, dolls, jewelry, large lego blocks and anything that Josh is playing with. One of Anna's favorite things to do is play dress up. Shoes are her absolute favorite. She also loves books. Any time we sit down, she runs to the bookshelf and then climbs up next to us with one of her favorites. Seth and Aleah read to her quite often, which we LOVE. Anna likes singing and she can hum a tune surprisingly well. Every night Aleah sings Anna to sleep. Anna loves it. It is VERY sweet and just about the CUTEST thing ever!

Anna is talking up a blue streak now. Like all of my kids, she is not shy about letting us know what she wants. Last week she told her dad "I want a hug ... RIGHT NOW!" She actually attaches "right now" to the end of a lot of her sentences. I wonder where on earth she got that from? But we are always happy to gives her hugs and kisses ... right now. She gives the BEST hugs!

We love you so very much Anna! Happy 2nd Birthday!

Turkeys and Fish and Bears. Oh, my!

Turkeys:
We had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. It started with Dalen waking Seth and Aleah up early to go play flag football with people from our ward. Sorry, no pictures, since I am the designated family photographer, and I decided to take advantage of the situation and sleep in . . . at least until Josh woke up and decided to pounce on me. We spent the rest of the day with our friends, the Barksdales and the Scotts. It was very fun! We ate turkey with all the fixin's and topped it off with lots of pie. The food was yum and the company was great! We couldn't have asked for a better day. Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday. We have so much to be grateful for and I feel truly blessed!


Fish:
When Josh turned four this last summer, one of his birthday presents was a fish. Josh named him "Tiny" ..... because he is tiny, obviously. Josh adores this fish. He feeds it and talks to it and shows it his favorite toys. It has really been fun to watch Josh interact with his new pet. Seth and Aleah have adopted Tiny too, so he is now a family pet. Tiny seemed happy and did great for several months. But, when the weather got colder, Tiny seemed to take a turn for the worse. He quit eating entirely and he no longer made his bubble nest. I am quite sure that Josh would have a melt down if he got up one morning to find a dead fishy floating belly up in the bowl. So I immediately started looking up information online about Betta fish, trying to diagnose poor Tiny's ailments. It isn't as easy as one might think. I went to the pet shop where we bought him and they recommended warming up his water. I decided that the first thing to do before warming the fish bowl would be to clean it out and put fresh water in there. Then we put Tiny's bowl on a heating pad. (Spoiled!) This seemed to do the trick as far as his appetite. But unfortunately, when I had refilled the bowl, I got the water level pretty high and as Tiny enthusiastically leapt to grab his food one day, he went flying out of the fish bowl onto the counter. I tried to run and grab the little fish net (not exactly sure what I was thinking there), but in the mean time the fish lurched again which made him fall off the counter and splat onto the hard tile floor. Dalen just reached down, picked him up, and put him back in his bowl. I thought he was a goner for sure. Seth immediately went into the next room, got on his knees, and said a prayer for Tiny. And amazingly enough, that little fish survived! I still don't think he is 100% since he doesn't make his bubble nest. But he is still kicking, or swishing, or whatever fish do, and he is eating fine too. And Josh, along with Seth & Aleah, couldn't be happier about it.


Bears:

This month in Cub Scout pack meeting, Seth was awarded his Bear badge. He was really excited to have the chance to go into the "Bear Cave" and battle the bear so that he could get his award.

As you can see, Seth emerged unscathed from the whole experience. But the bear cave didn't fare so well. I'm not really sure how the bear did. (That really is Seth walking away, although we might want to consider hiring a better photographer!)

Seth LOVES Cub Scouts! And, frankly, so do I! I never really thought that I would be the type who would get into scouting. Actually, before Seth was in Cub Scouts, I'm sure I never thought about it at all. But it has been such a great thing for Seth and I can see why the Church has adopted this program for our boys to participate in.

Congratulations Seth, we are very proud of you!