Winter break/Christmas

We always look forward to winter break and Christmas, and the weather this year meant that we had an extra-long break.  We had crazy snowstorms, so ended up getting out of school early on Wednesday and finding out at the same time that Thursday would be a blended learning day.  We hunkered down on Christmas Eve and celebrated our family Christmas during the day.

That evening, we did make it to church in some sketchy weather conditions.  I played piano for a beautiful piece that our new worship leader sang.

After church, we watched National Lampoon's Christmas vacation and slept downstairs by the tree (our tradition the last few years).  

We woke up Christmas morning to Santa having visited and cinnamon/caramel rolls.  This year, Norah had asked for a snow cone machine and Abby asked for a pair of Nike shoes.  Sadie got a big bone!

Thankfully, the weather improved enough for us to make a quick trip to Iowa.  We visited my grandma Carlson at her nursing home.  Norah made special gifts for the grandmas and great-grandmas this year--she wrote out the lyrics to their favorite Christmas carols around a picture she drew.  It was a special idea that she came up with.

We stopped by my aunt Lori's, where the girls loved holding baby Emilia!

We celebrated Christmas with the Nass side of the family at Miriam and Scott's.  The time went too quickly!

We enjoyed more of our winter break during the week before heading to Rochester to celebrate Christmas with my family.

Scooter's Coffee (smoothies)!

We did so many puzzles!  This new type was a favorite.

In Rochester, we had a nice celebration with my parents, brother, and sister.  Norah and my dad even created an escape room for us that was a good challenge!

We ended up back at home for New Year's.  For lunch, we had hibachi at Shogun.  In the evening, we had our traditional snacky supper and hung out as a family.  Norah had gotten a balloon pop countdown, which was fun to do each hour.

Our winter break was extended even more when we had more snow and two extra blended learning days at the end of break.  I don't know that we will ever have as long of a break as we had this year, but the extra time at home was sure nice!

 

Christmas Program

We reached the end of an era this December...it was Norah's last church Christmas program.  I'm sure I will continue to play piano for it in the future, but it won't be quite the same!  This year, Norah stepped out of her comfort zone and sang a song with a small group.  She also had several speaking parts.  The kids did a great job!

 

Gingerbread houses

It has been a tradition for many years for Dave's mom and dad to come up to make gingerbread houses with the girls.  Even though the girls are getting older, they still love it!  This year, Tracy came up as well.  We also had a surprise visit from Santa, who brought treat bags!