Merry Christmas

The Saturday before Christmas we spent at my parents'. This is the annual Waldschmidt Christmas Sleepover. As usual, we had a great time. We had a wonderful meal, opened presents, and watched a movie or two. In the morning we had our traditional big breakfast, but for the first time ever the boys decided they were NOT making the breakfast over the fire. Apparantly they are not quite as winter tough as they were in their younger days. We also had a lot of fun with Dan's new Wii. I cannot believe how sore you can get from bowling.

Sunday we celebrated Christmas with Steve's brother's families. I love this Christmas too. We have decided to make it a very laid back celebration. We all come in our PJ's. The kids love it, and so do the adults. Jen made a wonderful meal and dessert. It's so much fun watching the little ones open their presents.

On Christmas Eve we went to my grandparent's in Prior Lake. There are getting to be so many great-grandchildren, so it's pretty chaotic. And.... there are two more on the way. Fun times. We love spending time with the Friedges family. There are always many good laughs and a lot of food.

Christmas Eve night we decided to take the girls to church at Hosannah. We normally go to St. Michael's in Prior Lake at 10:00, but we didn't think the girls could hold out that long. Let's just say that church was the most chaotic part of our Christmas. We quickly moved to the parent room. All the lights in the church were off as part of Hosannah's Christmas Service, and our little Ellie moves a chair over to the light switch and starts blinking them. No, she wasn't in control of the entire church, but there was a nice blinking parent room at the back of the church. Then, she had her fingers shut in the door while trying to escape with another parent, so there were a few lovely screams. As Ellie is screaming Zoe says in just a calm matter-of-fact way, "I guess she'll have short fingers."

Christmas day was wonderful. We opened presents with the girls, watched movies, went sledding, and enjoyed a 3 hour family nap. At about 5:00 we went back to Prior Lake for some more fun with the family. By the time we got home I was Christmased out. I put the girls to bed, and took down all the decorations (even the tree). I wondered what the neighbors thought when they saw the tree on the curb in the morning. Christmas with a 1 year old can be pretty stressful. I guess I was a little scroogish by Christmas night.

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!!! And, I hope you have a very Happy New Year!!