Brady Family Christmas Tradition #1

The holidays are over and we are settling back into a normal routine! I had intended to write regular posts about our holiday "doings," but we got so busy "doing" that I never had time to post! So, here are our holidays in retrospect. (I plan on leaving the Christmas background on the blog until I'm done reliving our Christmas activities. It might be up for quite a while!)

Matt and I feel that it is very important to establish special traditions for our family. There's something about tradition that helps hold a family together. Because we travel so much during the Christmas season and are almost never home on Christmas day, our Christmas traditions invlove things other than the usual Christmas morning routine.

Tradition # 1 involves the decorating of the tree. Here's how we do it!


Step #1: Bake Cookies.
This should be done the morning before the designated tree decorating night. Any type of cookie will do, as long as you bake it yourself. We tried store-bought cookies one year, and even though they were really fancy little cookies from World Market, it just wasn't the same.

Lydia was a big help with all the baking.

Nathan wasn't a lot of help, unless eating the dough counts as helping!



It was all fun for Lily, even though she didn't get to eat any of the cookies.

Step # 2: Put up the tree.

Thanks to my parents, we have an absolutely massive Christmas tree. It must weigh a hundred pounds. Getting it out of the attic and setting it up is Matt's responsibility, but the kids get to help fluff up the branches.

Step # 3: Put on the lights.
When I was a child, this step took a LONG time. We had to stretch out all the lights, plug them int, then spend several hours pulling bulbs out and replacing them in order to get the whole strand lit and blinking at the same time. It was fun. Really. I would love to have some of those old lights, just for the memories. But, no--our fancy new tree also happens to be pre-lit, so we actually get to skip step 3. It's been done for us.

Step #4: Hang the ornaments.
When Matt and I got our first tree after getting married, I decided to decorate the entire tree in red and gold. A theme tree, if you will. We bought red and gold ornaments and made a fancy red and gold bow for the top of the tree. Then our good friend Regis decided that since we had just gotten married, we probably didn't have any ornaments. Since he owned a florist's shop, he had plenty of ornaments, so he gave us several. They didn't match my red and gold decorations, but I hung them on the tree anyway. Then our friend Ann decided that since we had just gotten married, we probably didn't have any ornaments. She gave us a bag full of them, and once again, they did not match my decorations. I hung them on the tree anyway, then stood back and looked at our tree. "I guess it's not a 'theme' tree after all," Matt said.
"Of course it is!" I replied. "The theme is love. All of these ornaments were given to us by people who love us, and we'll remember that every time we decorate our tree!"

Since our first Christmas, we've accumulated a lot more ornaments. Friends, family, church members, Sunday School parties, and endless games of "Dirty Santa" have resulted in almost more ornaments that we can fit on the tree. In addition, Lydia and Nathan are old enough now to make ornaments, all of which go somewhere on the tree. As we take each one out and hang it up, we talk about where it came from. Each year our list of "do you remembers" gets longer, and each memory grows more precious.

Lydia works hard at getting each ornament hung just right.

Step #4: Hang the kid's ornaments.
When Lydia was born, Matt and I decided that for every Christmas of her life, we would get her an ornament. When she gets married, we will give her the ornaments as a wedding gift. (Hopefully she won't want a theme tree.) As she got older, we let her choose her own ornaments. Some of the choices have been pretty interesting! We continued this tradition with Nathan, and will do the same with Lily. The last step of our actual decorating process is the kids unwrapping and hanging up each of their ornaments. This year, Lydia and Nathan both chose a baseball player jumping jack from our visit to the Louisville Slugger museum.

Lily hangs her first ornament.

Step #5 Drink hot chocolate and eat the cookies.
Of course, the hot chocolate has to be served in fancy cups. I saw this in a magazine when Lydia was not quite three, and made them to drink our hot chocolate out of that year when we put up the tree. The next year, she remembered and asked for the "candy glasses" again. These are made by dipping the rim of the mug in melted white chocolate, then in crushed peppermints. They make a huge mess when you're trying to drink out of them, but Lydia and Nathan like them, so they have become a part of our tradition!

I'm not sure what this sad face was about!

Here are a "few" pictures of our Thanksgiving in LaFayette with my family. We had a great time visiting my parents, my brother & sister-in-law, and our precious niece Kayla. I don't have time to write too much about these, but I wanted to get them up before it was time to start taking Christmas pictures!
Lily found something she really enjoyed while we were there: a box of legos! These were the medium sized ones--too big for her to choke on, but not so big that she couldn't pick them up. She would pull a few out, then dump the entire box over. I don't know what was more fun for her--the blocks themselves, or getting to pour them out.

She also really enjoyed having people get down in the floor and play Legos with her!

The deck behind my parent's house is lizard heaven. We must have seen a dozen while we were there. I think that the colder weather had made them a little sluggish, because we were able to catch quite a few of them. Lydia and Nathan treated theirs like pets. Nathan named his lizard Charlie and Lydia named hers Lucy.

This looks like a touching mother-daughter moment, but that big grin on Lily's face is because she is about to reach out an yank a huge handful of my hair!

After Thanksgiving dinner, we decided to risk getting shot and go for a walk through the woods. Lydia put on Uncle Dave's old hunting vest so that no one would mistake her for a deer.

Gidget is pretty sure that no one is going to mistake her for a deer.

Matt might try to pretend he's not an Auburn fan, but he can't hide his true allegiance!

The great explorer leads the way!

When I was only a little older than Nathan, my parents would take David and me on walks through the woods. There were huge old hickory trees and massive rocks near the branch that was miles behind our house. I noticed on this walk that the branch wasn't quite as far back as it used to be. The hickory trees were big, but not the enormous trees that I remembered. The rocks seem to have shrunk over the years as well.
I noticed as we walked that Nathan kept a firm grip on my hand and a close eye on his surroundings. I can only hope that he was seeing the woods the way that I had seem them when I was his age.

David was determined to play football after we ate lunch. He finally talked Daddy into playing, while Matt and Lydia played Frisbee.

Then it was back inside for a wrestling match.

The day AFTER Thanksgiving is a big shopping day for a lot of people, but not for us. We had something else on our minds...Auburn football.


Nathan is ready for the Iron Bowl!

Cousin Kayla is ready for the Iron Bowl!

Lily is ready for the Iron Bowl!

Matt and I are ready for the Iron Bowl, too! As it turned out, so were the Auburn Tigers! The only thing that could have made that game any better would have been a win for Auburn.

And last, but certainly not least: The Thanksgiving special at our local grocery store. I used to think that nothing could be worse than having ham for Thanksgiving instead of turkey, but apparently, there is something much, much worse!

And Now, A Word From Lily

Friends, it's been a while since I've had a chance to talk to all of you, and I have some things I'd like to say. First of all, I need to apologize for my mother. She does not post things on this blog nearly as often as she should. She says she's going to do better about that, but we're going to have to wait and see. Second, I would like to thank my Aunt Grace for the adorable outfit that I'm wearing. I look especially cute in this, so I made sure Mommy got plenty of pictures of me today!

I am eight months old today! It seems like just yesterday that Mommy and Daddy were bringing me home from the hospital. These past eight months have gone really fast. As you can see, I'm growing really fast, too. I am so tall that my doctor said I was "off the charts." I have finally learned to sit up on my own. It took me a while to get the hang of this--there's a lot of me to try and balance. And really, sitting up in one place is not that exciting. I've got places to go! I've just got to figure out how to get there...

I'm learning to get up on my hands and knees, and then I rock back and forth, back and forth, and then I push as hard as I can, and I go--backwards! I can scoot all the way across a room backwards, but I haven't figured out how to push myself forward yet. Mommy says she'd rather I wait until after Christmas to figure that out

I have finally decided that I like my baby food. It took me a little while to get used to it, but now I get really excited when Mommy puts me in the high chair and puts my bib on. I like most all my food, except for one thing. Green beans. Just when I think I'm going to get something yummy, like pears or sweet potatoes or yogurt, Mommy comes in with a jar of green beans! YUCK.

I'm doing much better about sleeping all night now. Sometimes I wake up and think that I need company and a little snack, so I call my Daddy. He's my favorite person to see in the middle of the night. At least that's what Mommy tells him!

The best thing about being me is all the love that comes with it. My days are filled with hugs and kisses. Mommy, Daddy, Lydia, and Nathan spend all day just loving on me. And when I go to church, my teachers there love on me some more. And then--there are the grandparents and aunts and uncles and cousins. Lydia and Nathan have been telling me all about Thanksgiving and Christmas, and I can't wait! Mommy did warn me about Uncle Bart, though. Apparently, I'm not supposed to eat ANYTHING that he tries to feed me!

Miss Lydia

As I was getting ready to blog about a field trip we took this morning, I noticed that there were a few random pictures of Lydia that didn't seem to fit any particular catagory. These pictures, however, are a far more accurate glimpse into her personality than any of the other pictures I have taken recently, so I thought I'd dedicate a post just to her!



Every Wednesday when we get ready for ballet, Lydia begs for piggy-tails. Since we're usually running late, I never have time for them. Last Wednesday, I did, and she was so proud of her hair-do!

Lydia loves to take pictures. She started with a Fisher-Price camera that we got her for her birthday, and has moved on to asking if she can borrow my camera to make pictures. This is one that she took of our kitten sitting on the kitchen windowsill.

Oh, how silly she can be! I have probably spent a hundred dollars on hair clips and barrettes, none of which will stay in her super-fine hair. I finally gathered up all of those clips and told her that she could use them to fix her doll's hair. She had other ideas and spent all morning giving herself a fancy new look. Of course, she needed to wear the red sequined dress to match her hair!

After reading a book about King Tut's tomb, Lydia decided she was afraid of mummies. She insisted that she could not possibly go to sleep on her own in the dark--she just kept thinking about those mummies and she was so scared of them. Could we please let her leave the light on and have books in her bed? Now, it doesn't take a brain surgeon to realize that this was a ploy to get to stay up later and read. To Lydia's credit, she was smart enough to try it on a night when Daddy was home, and he fell for it! She read her Bible storybooks for well over an hour before finally falling asleep with the book open on her lap.

Back to the pig tails and ballet! These are the rest of the pictures I took of her before we left for ballet practice. She loves her ballet class. At the end of each class, her teacher lets the girl who has worked the hardest that day wear a fancy princess crown. Occasionally when I pick her up, another girl will have it on, but most often, Lydia is the one wearing it. She knows all the fancy French names for the steps and positions--there are some days when I feel like she really is speaking another language!

She is also excelling in school this year. Last year, we really struggled with a lack of focus. Some days it would take me twenty minutes just to get her to write her name at the top of her paper! Imagine my surprise when, this year, she completed an entire math assessment in 20 minutes and made a perfect score!

I hope that these pictures have given a glimpse of Lydia's personality. She is such a wonderful, unique little girl. I am looking forward to seeing all that God has in store for her in the coming years.

Beach Pictures, Part 1

It's been a month since our trip to the beach, and I'm finally getting around to posting pictures!

Lydia has been to the beach twice before, once as a baby and once as a toddler, but this was Nathan and Lily's first trip. It was also the first time that my side of the family has gone on vacation together since David and I were in high school.
Between the pictures that I took and the ones that I copied from my mom's camera, I have well over 200 pictures to sort through, which is why it's taken me so long to get these online!

These are in no particular order, by the way!

Nathan had a great time playing with his Uncle Dave!

Lydia and Lily

Lydia, Papa, Kayla, and Nathan

Nathan loved the sand, but was not too sure abut the ocean itself. He like to dig in the wet sand, but would take off running if the waves got too close!

Uncle Matt is not as crazy as Uncle Dave, but I think Kayla had fun playing with him anyway!

This is our first day at the beach. Lydia and Nathan couldn't wait to build a sand castle!

Dad and Nathan walking on the beach--they had just stepped off the boardwalk when Nathan had to stop and play in the sand.

There were red flag warnings the first two days we were there. The waves were as big as I've ever seen them at Orange Beach. Lydia was not taking any chances--she was holding on tight!

Lily sees the ocean for the first time! I'm not sure she was impressed, although she did try to eat some sand.