(The Bostick’s were so blessed to have a GREAT Christmas holiday that its going to take me a little while to recap all of our festivities for you guys. But if you bear with me, I promise all parts will be published before NEXT Christmas!)
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I LOVE the Christmas holiday. I have such fond memories of Christmases past and of great gifts I will never forget opening, and things like making cookies with my mom (which graduated to Bourbon balls when I got “of age”) and my Dad making Christmas morning breakfast, complete with his famous “thin-as-paper pancakes”. This year, I had BIG plans on what I was going to do with my first Christmas as a mom and consequently, Roman’s first Christmas. My ideas included starting all kind of traditions, like those I grew up with, that we could share as a family. But in the end, both time and motivation ran out quickly, and only a few of my desired thoughts materialized. Of them, though, I think it was a very Bostick Christmas, indeed.
The first adventure this Christmas was actually not a tradition of my creating, but one from my husband’s childhood – a gathering on Christmas Eve. In my husband’s family, they opened gifts on Christmas Eve and made the day before their big day. So in that spirit, we celebrated Christmas Eve 2008 with all of our extended family.
We started the day with a visit to the Lee’s to see Nana and Big Daddy, along with Roman’s Great-Grandmother “Ann the Great”. (see previous posting on Ann the Great’s 90th birthday photos). Nana couldn’t contain her excitement for the holiday and had to give Roman one of his gifts early – a walker. New mothers will likely not have this toy in their repertoire but should remember having one – growing up they were staples in most households. Now, they have been replaced by exer-Saucers and other toys that stand stationary, but in a house as big as Nana and Big Daddy’s – stationary is so passé.
Here is Roman in his walker - before he took off down the hallway at Nana's. Its great bc her house is all one story with awesome, long hardwood hallways perfect for scooting in this puppy. This toy was probably Roman’s first understanding that this time of year would bring more than just family – but also GIFTS! After that, he was quite animated for a while as he hung out with all of us.
We left the Lee household to head to downtown to the home of Maurice’s brother and his family for a Eve party tradition in their home – Christmas cookies and Gingerbread house decorating. On the way there, we passed this great "statue" (I know its not a statue, per se, but its seems so much more than a cardboard cut out!). LOVED IT!
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I LOVE the Christmas holiday. I have such fond memories of Christmases past and of great gifts I will never forget opening, and things like making cookies with my mom (which graduated to Bourbon balls when I got “of age”) and my Dad making Christmas morning breakfast, complete with his famous “thin-as-paper pancakes”. This year, I had BIG plans on what I was going to do with my first Christmas as a mom and consequently, Roman’s first Christmas. My ideas included starting all kind of traditions, like those I grew up with, that we could share as a family. But in the end, both time and motivation ran out quickly, and only a few of my desired thoughts materialized. Of them, though, I think it was a very Bostick Christmas, indeed.
The first adventure this Christmas was actually not a tradition of my creating, but one from my husband’s childhood – a gathering on Christmas Eve. In my husband’s family, they opened gifts on Christmas Eve and made the day before their big day. So in that spirit, we celebrated Christmas Eve 2008 with all of our extended family.
We started the day with a visit to the Lee’s to see Nana and Big Daddy, along with Roman’s Great-Grandmother “Ann the Great”. (see previous posting on Ann the Great’s 90th birthday photos). Nana couldn’t contain her excitement for the holiday and had to give Roman one of his gifts early – a walker. New mothers will likely not have this toy in their repertoire but should remember having one – growing up they were staples in most households. Now, they have been replaced by exer-Saucers and other toys that stand stationary, but in a house as big as Nana and Big Daddy’s – stationary is so passé.
Here is Roman in his walker - before he took off down the hallway at Nana's. Its great bc her house is all one story with awesome, long hardwood hallways perfect for scooting in this puppy. This toy was probably Roman’s first understanding that this time of year would bring more than just family – but also GIFTS! After that, he was quite animated for a while as he hung out with all of us.
We left the Lee household to head to downtown to the home of Maurice’s brother and his family for a Eve party tradition in their home – Christmas cookies and Gingerbread house decorating. On the way there, we passed this great "statue" (I know its not a statue, per se, but its seems so much more than a cardboard cut out!). LOVED IT!
Though Roman could not participate in the sprinkles and jellybeans, he did have a great time seeing his Uncle John and Auntie Rita for the first time, and getting dance lessons from John.
The evening was great and ended with a wonderful performance from my niece and nephew – both of whom are violinists. (She as of recently and he for a while – he’s quite the star). I am hoping to get some video from Auntie Sherrelle so I can share it with you all – they were great!
As the night went on, our star grew weary and we headed home to get dressed in our Christmas best and prepare to welcome in Roman’s first Christmas at the Bostick’s house. Maurice and I agreed to start one of our own traditions first thing in the morning – family prayer together as soon as we wake up. No gifts, just God. This was born out of our desire to “Get Christ back in Christmas” – not just for our son, but for us as well. I recalled how early I would wake on Christmas morning as a child and how I would race downstairs and tear into gifts so quickly that there was just a blur of wrapping paper and Cabbage Patch Dolls. We weren’t sure how, but we wanted to make Christmas about more than just the presents. There was talk about following prayer with some sort of community service, nothing serious but something we could do together. But, as you might imagine, nothing really lends itself to participating with an infant on Christmas Day. So we planned to just to wake, pray and listen to Christmas music together over our own special Christmas breakfast together to open our Christmas Day. Guess we’ll see how that goes tomorrow!
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