Thought I'd give an update on what the Bruschke's Christmas looked like this year. We did many of our same traditions, just in a new place. Those who know us well know that Christmas Eve day we do our 'Mary and Joseph' hike. Craig started this tradition years ago and it lives on. Friday was actually still a work day for Craig but he stopped working around noon and then we took off for our adventure. This year we decided to conquer the highest peak in Singapore - Mount Faber. I think it's a whole 400 ft. above sea level. Not a strenuous hike but nice stroll thru the park and rain forest, with some nice panoramic views of Singapore.
Our traditional Christmas Eve dinner comes from Mexico and usually includes tamales. In the past we have been able to purchase these already made fresh (not difficult to find in AZ and CA) but this year, not wanting to break tradition, we had to make them ourselves. Ashlyn and I spent a few hours in the kitchen Christmas Eve day wrapping tamales. They turned out quite well.
We spent Christmas Eve at home with just our family - as we have done the past few years. We had our Mexican feast, the kids played Christmas songs on the piano, we read the Christmas story and watched 'Joy to the World', and we wrote our gifts to Jesus to put under the tree. The younger kids were quite anxious to go to bed so that Santa would hurry and come.
Christmas morning began around 7:00 am. With both teenagers and younger children, we now have to find the balance of time - the older kids wanting to sleep in and the younger ones eager to begin early. We had a fairly light Christmas this year as we decided to use the money that mom and dad would have spent on gift to buy some items that we will be taking to an orphanage when we visit Vietnam later this week. Santa brought a Wii as a group gift and then each of the kids received another small gift from Santa. For Bryant it was spiderman dress-ups - just what he wanted.
The best part of Christmas is the kids gift giving to eachother. They each spent time picking gifts for each one of their siblings and they are so excited for them to open it - it's so fun to watch.
The family room looked like this most the day as the kids had fun going thru their new stuff (and eating all the candy). I don't think anyone got dressed before noon.
The Wii has been a big hit as the kids are particularly enjoying the sports games that came with it. Much of Christmas afternoon was spent taking turns playing. Around 3:30 we loaded up and headed to my sister Anna's house for Christmas dinner. We had a wonderful meal and the kids had fun playing with their cousins (and for Ashlyn, reading her new book). We are so lucky to have family here. We really had a wonderful, low key, quiet Christmas. We now look forward to Bryant's birthday in a few days and our trip to Vietnam later this week.
2 comments:
My kids favorite Wii games are Super Mario Bros and Wii Resort....check them out! Can't wait to hear how Vietnam goes. Did you know that is where my Dad was stationed during the war? Not too many fond memories of that place did he have :-O
A low key Christmas that is the way to go.
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