A Blizzardly Wonderful Christmas

So I just realized I skipped writing about Christmas day!!!!! How could I leave you hanging like that?! ;) Haha... ok, for family memory-keeping purposes... how could I skip that???

If you remember from previous posts (someday I'll figure out how to easily link these!) it was snowing and snowing and snowing all Christmas Eve day and this did not end on Christmas day... it was continuing to snow in large quantities. Our drive home from Mom and Dad's was quite an adventure on Christmas Eve, so when we woke up to more snow falling and signs that it had snowed all night, we decided it would be impossible to get to their house in the van.....

Here is a photo of our street the day after Christmas when the snow had finally stopped!

And my darling husband out on snowblower duty!

Thankfully Dad's truck has 4WD so he & Justin were able to scoop themselves out and come pick us up. Not only us, but they also picked up my G&G Martin.... who's driveway looked like this when they arrived! (This a view from in the garage - the drift is about 3.5 ft high!)

They also went out to pick up our good friends- Tyler & Leslie Engel and their kiddos (who weren't able to make it to family for Christmas thus "stuck" spending the day with us). Picking up all of your guests for Christmas dinner....that's some hospitality if I don't say so myself!!!

G&G reading to Carter & Savannah before dinner!

As usual Mom cooked up a delicious Christmas dinner with all the fixings... even after learning only the day before in the middle of a blizzard that the pies, salads and a few other items would not be making it. No one puts on a better spread single-handedly than MOM!!! (I guess I did bring one salad... that she sent me home with ingredients for the night before. Pathetic, I know!)

After dinner and dishes we settled into the post-dinner entertainment. Naps for the little guys, a movie for Carter & Savannah, Scrabble for the ladies and Wii golf for the guys. A fun time of relaxing and enjoying friends and family.

This would be a good spot to have the day end peacefully.... but the real adventure came around 6pm when we decided it was time to take G&G home. Dad & Justin went out to survey the situation and came back saying they were going to need more help and enlisted Todd (I know you are thinking Tyler should have helped too.... but he conveniently didn't have anything but his slippers with him... so he protected the women & children back at the house).

I could go on and on.... because this was a LONG adventure.... but to sum it up 2 hours later (or maybe a bit longer) everyone had been delivered back to their own houses safely with beds to sleep in. There was a period of time where we thought we were going to have a huge slumber party... which was sort of exciting... sometimes I think we should of for the memories.... but with only 2 beds (and 14 people) it was going to be interesting... not to mention not enough toothbrushes and contact cases!!!

(THIS SPACE LEFT BLANK IN HONOR OF THE GROUP PHOTO WE NEVER TOOK... so sad)

All in all it was a blizzardly wonderful Christmas to remember!! Maybe the only one we'll ever get to spend Christmas Day with our dear friends (since I suppose we'll have to share with their own families next year!).

Aw, the memories!!

Christmas at Nana & Papa's

Christmas at Nana & Papa's was postponed by a day due to snow closing the interstate. Then once the interstate opened it took us twice as long to get there due to the road conditions. And to top it off Aunt Heidi was never able to join us because of work and the weather. Talk about some obstacles to celebrating....

HOWEVER, we did figure out how to have tons of fun in Hastings. We played in the snow. We opened gifts. We rode our new toys all around Nana's house. We visited our newest cousin, Natalie (pictures of her to follow!) and her family. We hung out with Grandma Hohlen. We hung out with Grandma Hinrichs. We came home with a van load of treasures!

It was simply a wonderful time celebrating with family. What a great reason we have to celebrate. So thankful for the time to slow down and be together.

Thanks to Nana & Papa for having us and spoiling us!!

**Sorry the collage on this one is tiny - you can click on it to see it a little bigger.

Christmas Morning

On Christmas Eve after putting the boys to bed, Todd set to work putting together a train table for the boys and I filled stockings (this is a NEW tradition for us, though we decided it would just be gifts from Mommy & Daddy!)

Then we went to bed, totally anticipating an early wake-up despite a late night. HOWEVER, guess who was up first?! DADDY!!! (which isn't a huge surprise, because he does get up first 5 days out of the week... but for a day he didn't have to work.... this was a surprise!) I got up soon after him... and then we WAITED for the boys to wake up. It didn't take Carter long, but Turner on the other hand decided to sleep 'til 9:00am!!!

Once Turner was up we gathered in the living room and started our morning by reading the final verses from our advent calendar.

Including....

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16

We took time to explain to the boys the gift of Jesus and story of His birth, that we share gifts to remember the gift He is to us and the gifts the wisemen brought to Him after His birth.

The first gift we had Turner open was the Baby Jesus from their Fisher Price nativity set... the boys were so happy to find him! They'd been a little concerned of his whereabouts while playing with the set this past month. This was to represent that CHRISTMAS was the day of his birth. (Thanks Adeana for this great idea).

Next came the unwrapping on the train table. I think they were pretty surprised and EXCITED to say the least... of course they fought over the one train I had out right away! Thankfully Mamie & Papa had hooked them up with a few others the night before, so we were able to get more out pretty quickly!

In addition to the train/train table Carter got a couple of puzzles - his latest craze and Turner got a toy cash register. Stocking stuffers included socks, underwear for TW (potty training will be starting soon I hope), flashlights, and a few other fun little surprises.

After a breakfast of scones and milk/coffee the boys played with their new toys while Daddy began to clear the driveway of snow that had fallen the night before (and was still falling). There was so much snow combined with high winds that we were pretty sure we weren't going to be able to get to Mom & Dad's in the mini-van, so we waited for Dad to come get us in his truck so we could spend Christmas day at their place.

More Christmas Adventures to come....

No better place for Christmas Eve'n

Snow falling steadily, gifts neatly wrapped under the tree. Maybe we should let them open just one. An early package handed to each boy soon after they finish their lunch. Their new Christmas pajamas a hit.

The snow continuing to fall. Two boys down for naps and two boys up way too soon. The excitement seeming to build. Time to put on our Christmas best for church.

We all grinned with delight as Uncle Justin & Aunt Mitzi met us at church. Together we sang praises to honor our Savior, stopping to remember the newborn King. We helped Daddy light the advent candles, we watched Mamie play her flute. We remembered the stories of Christmas and why Jesus came to earth.

Then through the snow we were off to Papa and Mamie's. A family tradition of soup for supper was savored by all. Time for a family photo and then on to the "fun". It didn't take Turner long to decide he liked to unwrap.

And the snow continued to fall. Mitzi seemed even more thankful for her new "snuggie" that Momma had made her to keep warm. Little did we know this was just the beginning of the snow. So long as we can keep her in Nebraska, she is sure to put this gift to good use!

Papa unveiled one last special gift. Not completely a surprise, for it had been hard to hide. Two years of handiwork and a P51 Mustang Pedal Plane the result. Finally they could ride in it, you can imagine their delight!

I have to say there's no better place for Christmas Eve'n. Being together with family, all safe and warm. So thankful Justin and Mitzi (and the dogs) arrived safely in Lincoln, bravely journeying through the snow to be with us. So blessed to have parents close by, who share so much of themselves with all of us.

We ended the evening with another family tradition. Homemade Ice Cream fresh from the can. And maybe a cookie or two. We realize we are blessed, we remember why we celebrate.

Time to head for home, the snow still falling. The wind still blowing. Thankfully we arrive safely. After quickly putting two sleepy boys to bed we begin preparations for our own little family celebration.

Hard to believe it already came and went....

All I want for Christmas.....

Tuesday I took the boys for haircuts, while Turner was having his turn Carter was hanging out with a couple of young hair stylists. They asked him what he wanted for Christmas and this is what he said....

I asked him to answer it again at home and it was the same reply so I got it on video. Though December 22nd was the first I'd ever heard him talk of wanting robots... what a sweetie to ask for one to help mommy clean!!

Hope he's not too disappointed he's not getting any robots!!!!!!

Secret Stash

So... like all you other moms I've been stashing gifts away for the past month. I wasn't too secretive about it because I didn't think the boys were old enough to really "get" it. But they were in a closet - actually we have a cedar closet in our closet - so they were pretty much out of reach.

Then on Friday I took the boys to a fabric store and found a little something I thought would be nice for them to get ME for Christmas, so I bought it and when we got home told Carter to hide it and have Daddy help him wrap it later. (You all do this too, right?)

Carter thought this was a fun idea. He ran off and hid it and never said a word about it.

You can imagine I was pretty surprised when I went to get the rest of the gifts out to begin wrapping that evening and find my gift in the SAME CLOSET next to some of the other gifts (thankfully all of his were up higher).

So apparently everyone thinks that is the best place to hide gifts!! I may have to re-think my spot for next year. Thankfully he must not have seen any of the other gifts (can't imagine how not) but he didn't say a word about them and if you know Carter that would be impossible for him!!!

Loving the Christmas season....