Christmas Traditions- BROKEN!

If you're going to break traditions, you may as well do so in a BIG WAY - that's what I say.  And that's exactly what we did this Christmas.  Ever since Sierra has been around, our Christmases have been spent around the fireplace at the cabin.  We play games, go sledding, watch movies, do puzzles, etc.  Not so this year!

 

The girls were beyond excited about their very first airplane trip. (Sierra had flown during her first year of life - but that doesn't count.)  This was no small jaunt either - we were going  to fly with the Becks and Grandpa and Grandma Cook all the way to FLORIDA!  Their carry-ons were stuffed with snacks and activities and we were ready for an adventure.

We were the first of the Cook clan to arrive for our big family reunion.  I can't believe that I didn't take pictures of the outside of the houses, but we stayed in a vacant house right next door to my Grandma and Uncle Gary's place in Mulberry, FL.  They had every detail arranged and ready - from snacks in the pantry to shampoo in the bathrooms.  We have lots of family already in Florida, but the rest of us were coming from Idaho, Michigan and Brazil.  There was an average of 30 people around for most of the meals.  I can't even begin to explain what a special time this was.  If you are blessed to be part of a big, loving, Christian family, then you will understand.


One of the highlights of the trip was our day at Disney World.  Even Mom got to come!  We prayed so hard for her to be able to make the trip to Florida - and here she was with us at Disney!  She spent the day in a wheel chair, but she was able to ride a couple of rides, watch the parade and just be with us.

This next sequence of pictures is one of my favorites ever!  Marc was clicking away as we tried to decide which direction we should go in the park.  Do you know this feeling?!?!   That's my cousin Mike who joined us for the day.

Mom's injury allowed all of us to scoot to the front of the line a couple of times - here she is getting into Small World.

Of course, we had to take my Dad on the teacups.  I think that he may finally have met his match with my girls.

The castle was beautifully lit for Christmas.  The park closed early that night for a separate event, but we were tired and happy to go home at about 7:00p.m.

The next few days were filled with fun theme dinners - we had Mexican night, Italian night, Brazilian night and American night.  Tables were set up under a tent outside and the decorations changed with each event.  It was unbelievable!  My Uncle Gary had been planning and working on this for months.  No detail was left out.

Here are some of the cousins (first and second generation) enjoying our Brazilian day.  What a special bond we have because of the many years that we have all spent in Brazil as missionary kids.  Poor Marc was lost with all the Portuguese being spoken!

Another highlight of the trip was being able to meet up with Marc's younger brother, Dustin, at the aquarium in Tampa.  We have not seen him in about 12 or 13 years and he had never met our girls.  It was great for Marc to catch up with him and to spend the day together.

Unfortunately, Ally was very sick for a few days in the middle of our trip.  She had a high fever which really knocked her out.  Sierra came down with it too, but not quite so bad.  Ally missed meeting Uncle Dustin and going to the aquarium the first time...

 

...but as soon as she felt better, she and I went back just by ourselves.

 

Then this happened:

 

Christmas Eve was a big event with lots of family pictures.  Here's my Grandma Cook - hostess extraordinaire and proud matriarch of the Cook family.
 

Marc's birthday is the day after Christmas and we spent it at Clearwater Beach in Florida - a pretty fantastic place to spend a birthday!  The sand is like bleached flour there and the sun was gorgeous.

It was hard to say goodbye to family and to Florida!  We are very, very grateful to have been able to go and will treasure the memories of those special days.  Thanks so much to those who made it possible for us to be there - you know who you are.  There are so many more details that I want to remember, but they will stay with the 300+ pictures in our photo album for now.