Christmas Break!

 There's lots to catch up on from the past two weeks!  Our Christmas was wonderful, and we were very thankful that we managed to stay healthy for all the celebrations!  The week before Christmas, we got into the spirit with Evie's Band/Chorus concert.  She had a special slide whistle part for one of the Christmas songs with the band, and she nailed it!  Noah also had his first basketball game before the break.

The first day of break, we had some tough weather.  It was very windy and rainy, then it turned cold and everything iced over.  Thankfully, it ended with some snow, so we miraculously had a white Christmas!  During this wild weather day, we celebrated Christmas with Grandpa Tom and Sharon.  They lost power for a few hours due to the storm, but they still managed to make a beautiful turkey dinner for us to all enjoy after gifts.

Christmas Eve, we delivered gifts, and then it was time to start getting ready for church.  I played flute at Christmas Eve mass at St. Mike's, and the family all came to mass.  We went to Aunt Pea's afterward for food, festivities, and of course, opening "just one gift!"  The kids all got Christmas PJ's from Aunt Donna, which is a favorite Christmas tradition!

We went home to sleep, and woke up to find that Santa had visited!  He brought Noah a basketball hoop and Evie got a waterproof digital camera.  We all got lots of fun gifts and treats in our stockings, and Santa even signed Noah's Santa hat!  Lots of excitement!

Later in the morning, we headed back to Aunt Pea's to open gifts with the whole family and indulge in Grandma Betti's amazing brunch.  We vegged out for a while, and then the exhaustion set in.  We headed home and watched a movie in the evening - it was the kids' first time watching "Home Alone!"  

Evie is now old enough to be part of Grandpa's chocolate gifts!

After Christmas, we had a pretty relaxing week.  Thankfully, we didn't have any pressing plans, so we were able to sleep in, stay in our PJ's, and enjoy all our new gifts.  We met up with friends for some play dates, dinners, a trip to the arcade and laser tag, and we were able to cheer on our nephews at their nordic ski race.  

Having fun while doing some exchanges

Twin camo hand muffs!

We ended the week with the Zehnacker family Christmas party.  Millie gave everyone a special blessing, which she hasn't been able to do since before Covid!  We enjoyed some delicious food and drinks, Evie did a little bit of Irish Dance for the crowd, and then there was a big family game of Bingo.  Evie was one of the lucky winners!

We celebrated New Years with some friends, and then made Ebelskivers (filled pancakes), Nachos and chocolate fondue on New Year's Day.  We also opened our memory jar, which we had been filling since last year!  Vacation was festive, fun, and restful, and it's going to be a rude awakening to hear the alarm going off at 6:15am again.  Wishing our friends and family all the best in 2023!