It has been a busy and FAST month of December! We've had a lot of fun celebrating Christmas, and still have one celebration to go this weekend with Dave's parents. Here is what we've been up to:
Early in December, we visited Santa. We always love going to Kubes Realty in New Prague--this year, it was way too cold to be outside, so they moved Santa inside. Abby was excited to see Santa, but Norah didn't want anything to do with him... Dave had to work, but we were glad that his mom was able to join us.
The week before Christmas, Dave joined Abby at school to make a gingerbread house. Here she is with her creation:
We knew that our Christmas week would be busy with traveling and celebrating with extended family, so we did our Christmas with just the four of us the Friday night before Christmas. We watched part of "A Christmas Story" and had fun opening gifts.
Abby had her Christmas program at church the Saturday and Sunday before Christmas. They only had three practices in the weeks leading up to it, but it turned out really cute.
After Sunday's Christmas program, we drove down to Albert Lea to celebrate Christmas with Dave's extended family. We had a great turkey meal, the kids opened presents, we had treats, and Santa visited. Norah was not thrilled once again to have to see Santa...
Christmas Eve day we drove down to Iowa for lunch at my grandma Carlson's house. This year, we had a variety of yummy soups for lunch before the little kids opened up presents. Of course it wouldn't be complete without treats and homemade ice cream in the afternoon... We went to the Christmas Eve service at my grandma's church that night.
We spent Christmas Eve at my aunt and uncle's new house, and the girls were up at a little after 7 to see what Santa had brought. Norah got two tractors and Abby got a Leap Pad and some ballet clothes for her American Girl doll. We had a great breakfast (our family's traditional caramel pecan rolls/cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs) and when my mom and sister joined us, we opened presents with everyone on my dad's side of the family. Unfortunately, my dad was sick with the flu so had to stay back at the hotel. We had a fun day of playing games, Minute to Win It, kazoo concerts, Family Feud, a yummy soup lunch, and more.
On Thursday, we drove to Rochester to celebrate Christmas with my parents and siblings. We hung out that afternoon, then opened presents and had a pizza supper.
We have been thoroughly enjoying the rest of our winter break and just some down time at home, playing with new toys and even enjoying a little bit of time in the snow on one of our few nice days lately. Looking forward to a few more days at home before heading back to work and school!
