It’s my favorite time of year and certainly the boys’ too. So many traditions, parties, celebrations and memories.  Here are a few highlights.

Parties
We celebrated with the Tracy side of the family and saw cousins and with friends of the O’Brien’s and decorated cookies. It is fun to catch up with everyone,even if it’s just once a year. We also hosted a Pajama Movie Night and watched Elf with the boys’ friends. 

Concerts
We had three concerts for the boys this year- each of the boys’ and Brendan’s Show Choir concert. We also attended Livi and Angie’s concert and Josh’s last concert at his school too. As much as Aidan does not like being on stage, he still participates. Brendan’s class performed with other classes in a show stopping performance. At the BCT, party the big news was the announcement of this year’s summer camp shows. Brendan’s group will be doing Into the Woods, Junior (best Christmas present ever).

Brendan’s Field Trip
I got to chaperone Brendan’s field trip which was to the Convention Center. They have been inviting third graders for ten years to come decorate gingerbread cookies and Christmas carol around the building. The highlight is always seeing how big the kitchen is!

Christmas in the City
This was something new for us this year and I hope it does become a tradition. We volunteered at Christmas in the City. Out job was to help put backpacks together that would be given to children who attended the party. It is a great organization that throws an awesome party for families who are homeless.

Christmas Pageant
This was a particularly special Christmas Pageant. It was my 20th and the opportunity to reconnect with lots of my favorite past kids (who are now adults!). It was also Aidan’s last pageant and Brendan wore Chris’ third grade costume and did the job I did in third grade- placing the baby Jesus in the manager. It was a great memory.

Traditions
Cookies, matching pjs, the tree, the ornaments, seeing Santa, visiting the wishing well, our Christmas card– all of it is magical at the holidays. Going to the Enchanted Village (skating, the Polar Express, the old dolls) was something the boys insisted on as was watching Christmas Eve on Sesame Street while decorating the tree. Watching the boys open their presents from Santa and the excitement of sharing gifts with others made my heart happy. They are only these ages once and it was another magical Christmas for the O’Brien Family.

Favorite gifts
This year’s favorite gift for Aidan were his WiiU (and its games), Legos (and more Legos) and his dictionary that is actually a safe. Gift cards were very popular to buy more things for the Wii and more Legos. For Brendan- his American Girl doll was a favorite. Santa surprised him with his own curling iron too! Nana found a Caps for Sale T shirt so Bren is ready for his next show!