'Twas the season.

I know most of you are probably over Christmas, but seeing as it's my favourite time of the year, I thought it fitting to post about it more than a month after the fact to keep the Spirit of Christmas alive.
The Richards have several time-honoured traditions (speaking of time-honoured traditions: buckle your seatbelts for another Furry February, people!) that date back to pre-historic times...okay, the 70s.
1. THE NATIVITY. The inherent Richards creativity shone especially bright come Christmastime and the annual Nativity scene. While 1985 seemed rather tame and reverent......the scene expanded over the years and some creative liberties were taken. This particular year, some crucial members of the cast appear to be missing (ie. Mary, Joseph and the Baby Jesus) but never fear, the peg-legged, cross-dressing wisemen drew most of the attention away from the glaring omission. Down the road, a Skiier Passing By and Britney Spears made appearances at the event, but for fear of the entire family being struck by lightning, I've left those pictures out of the post.

As more and more children come into the picture, the reverence, for the most part, has returned. Although, our message of "the gifts aren't the most important part of Christmas" seems to have been lost, as the gifts took Jesus' place in the manger, causing His relocation to the floor.

The Nativity wasn't the only production put on this year. An impromptu version of "Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer" broke out and I couldn't help but capture some of it for posterity...and you!

2. THE GINGERBREAD HOUSE. What started out as a sweet, innocent family of 7 (parents not pictured - which seems to be a tradition of its own) huddled around a solid foundation of gingerbread, icing and ju-jubes has grown into...

...pandamonium. If you can believe it, we're missing 7 people - and yes, you were missed, Shawn, Annie & Co.

We did manage to coax smiles out of most, which in itself was a Christmas miracle.

While we're on the subject of Christmas goodies, I would be remiss if I didn't praise Tara & Eric for cookin' up some Bacon Wrapped Smokies (pause for effect). Yes, b-a-c-o-n w-r-a-p-p-e-d s-m-o-k-i-e-s. Wow. I think Buddy found his answer to the age-old question: if you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?

Let the record show that the toothpicks you see here include Eric's share of the deliciousness as well. (All 3.)

It was wonderful to see Cousins Matt & Kimbre who we haven't seen in a while because while we're sitting at home in Las Vegas, he's out policing the streets of Northern Idaho and she's making the people of Northern Idaho beautiful. Both more than full-time jobs.

We had quite the crew turn out for some of the family gatherings. Don't ask me where all 11 of the kids were when this was taken...It's always fun when Richards siblings get together...unless you're on the bottom.

We did say a goodbye this Christmas. Our dear friend Buffy, around for 16 years, curled up underneath the Christmas tree and quietly slipped away just days before our arrival. It was a little emotional for everyone, but people were especially worried about telling Buddy. We broke him the bad news over a Carl's Jr. milkshake, which softened the blow considerably. They were quite close. She will be missed.

Her friend Chester is still around, but was moving much slower after Buffy left. We're a bit concerned, so we showed him some extra love around the holidays.

Speaking of showing some extra love, Santa was VERY good to us this year. Not sure both of us were deserving, but who are we to argue with the Big Man?

Visions of sugar plums...& Harrison Ford.

No matter how much fun we have, I always miss my family at Christmastime and the traditions we have...like Christmas crackers (a British & Canadian thing). Everyone gets a cracker to pull and has to wear the accompanying paper crown for the remainder of the day (no easy task - they're brutal on the ears). Aren't we cute?

So, we brought a little Haw to the table this year and gave Christmas crackers to Eric (who served his mission in England) & Tara. They managed to keep them on for the better part of the day. Hats off to you, Limburgs!
One of my favourite parts of spending time in Moscow is being an Auntie. Yes, I'm still an Auntie when we're away, but it's so much fun to spend time with all of the kids. As you can see, we have a good time.

I love catching sweet little moments like this one...

...and this one. When you have 4 older brothers, you lean less toward the dolls you got for Christmas and more toward your brother's new Tommy Gun (picked out by a loving Uncle Brandon).If I can't be a mum just yet, I'm happy being an Auntie. Especially when I have nieces (& nephews) this cute:

So, to make a short story long: We Wish You a Merry Christmas (retrospectively)!