Christmas

All setup - 12:30am 

Christmas morning

On Christmas morning, mom&dad, Jon, and Charlie&Arwen came over.  The kids had so much fun (of course) but next year I need to keep an eye out on the older two as they were opening gifts left and right (and behind the tree in some cases) so I didn't even get to see them open some of them.  Near the end, Abby commented that Tristan got so many more than her (he didn't) so it was clear that she opened all hers way too fast! For breakfast we had quiche that mom made plus baked french toast and sausages that I made.

 After everyone went home we let the kids play while Chad and I worked on getting dinner ready to put in the oven (prime rib).  Tristan insisted that he did not need a nap, but...

Christmas Evening

Then since we had a few hours until company arrived, Chad and I took a nap and then I went for a run.  During my run I was stopped by a policeman and asked if I had seen a man they were currently searching for, which did not make me feel good about being out running!  So I called Chad and he met me at the bottom of the hill and walked back home with me.  At dinnertime, Chad's side of the family showed up and we had prime rib with whisky cream sauce, mashed potatoes, Burgundy mushrooms, and Grand Parisian salad. We also had lefse, and cookies, and raspberry pretzel dessert.  And then of course we did presents all over again!

Videos

Snow

The kids got a 2-hours late school day in December from a bit of snow, they were so excited even though there was hardly any snow at all but they still got all their snow clothes on and went out to play. Jamie wanted me to take him sledding but there simply wasn't enough snow.

Then a few weeks ago we got a lot more snow (on the same night that Chad and his crew drove the boat home from a race, brrr!).  That next morning all the kids had a snowball fight at park after church.

Christmas tidbits

Andy the elf got strung up in the lights

We made some soft sugar cookies with frosting and I let the kids pick what the colors.

I have no idea - nine of something?

my color (requested by Tristan)

Jamie's were dark enough to turn your tongue blue.

Abby's was a nice purple.

I think Chad wanted to make it seem like he contributed.

 Abby took some photos of decorations:

Holiday cookies ready to be delivered to friends.

Christmas Eve

To start out the evening, we had the kids "kinda" dress-up. By that I mean that we didn't have any Christmas parties or events to buy holiday clothes for this year, so we just dug out whatever they had in their closet!

We had to pay Tristan a dollar to put on this sweater. Once we took the picture, he put the dollar in his piggy bank and promptly took off the sweater.

I know I always say that Tristan is mini-Chad, but this sure looks a lot like the pictures of Chad that I've seen at this same age.

Next was dinner at mom&dad's. 

What does this even mean?

Then Crystal and Jon had the kids open their gifts from them:

A real rocket!

Ariel gazebo!

And a tractor!

Then there were lots of desserts (Natalie made the yule log for us)

And then Santa showed up (and teased Jamie):

He tried to talk to Tristan...

But he buried his head in Crystal's side!

Next we had some Santa pictures and he handed out gifts:

Tristan decided to brave it for his gift but he still wouldn't look at him.