Christmas 2015

Christmas has come and gone again, and the kids are back at school and we are back to our "normal".  We had a nice long break for Christmas- Joe had a full 2 weeks off and the kids has a week and a half off.  It was good to have everyone home and we had a lot of time to do things like sledding/snowboarding, playing tons of games, playing with friends, reading and playing with new toys.

Before the kids got out for school break, they had their school Christmas program.  Adria was super excited for it and was looking forward to wearing her new outfit.  She even wanted some eyeshadow and lip gloss on.  She also wanted to borrow my earrings!  Tate wasn't so sure about dressing up and wearing a bow tie and dress shoes.  I finally convinced him that he looked great.  I also wanted him to wear suspenders, but that was pushing it too far!!  And the minute his program was over and he was off the stage, the bow tie was off!

On Christmas eve, we went to church, and when we came home, Santa had come!!  My parents and Joe's parents joined us while we ate and watched the kids open up their gifts.  Troy was so happy that he got a snowboard because he had forgotten to tell Santa when we visited him. He wanted to know how Santa knew and I said maybe our elf, Johnny, told him. :)   I also had to laugh at Troy that day because he was looking at some presents under our tree and said "oh no!  Mom- I forgot to get you a present!  I will next year."  Thanks. 

They are looking good!

Putting cookies and milk out for Santa

Christmas morning was a little slow getting started.  I wanted to get up early and make a special breakfast, but I ended up not feeling the greatest.  Troy hadn't been feeling well off and on for the past week, so I am sure I caught whatever bug he had.  I wasn't going to miss Christmas morning though so we got a late start and headed over to Joe's parent's house.  They were waiting for us and we all dug into the gifts!  Both of his siblings and their families were there and that always makes for a great time!

We headed back to my parents late afternoon and by then my sister and her family had arrived.  We opened gifts and ate supper with them.  Again, it was a great time with a lot of great, thoughtful gifts.

Wonder what's in that gift?

The thoughtful gift my sister gave.  It is both of my grandmother's handwriting made into a necklace.

The day after Christmas I hosted my mom's side of the family and all our cousins and their kids for brunch.  It was fun to see everyone and our numbers keep growing!

The rest of the time we spent hanging out with family, shopping, playing in the snow, playing ping pong (or as Joe says the correct term is table tennis), and seeing friends.  We hung out with friends at the clubhouse on New Years Eve.  We only made it to a little after 11:00!

It was a nice, long, relaxing break but I think everyone was ready to get back to work and school.  Now I am done with winter and the snow can go away.