Merry Christmas!

We had a lovely weekend with family! After Christmas Eve with Chris's dad and family, we spent Saturday at my aunt Debbie's house. It's always so fun to see them.

My Godparents, Bonnie and Jim:
Amelia and Grandma Martha:
Me and cousin Dawn:
Our host, aunt Debbie:
Then we went to Kelly and Duey's house on Sunday. It was strange not going to Lanesboro for the holidays, but it was so nice to be with family. Their house was a really wonderful place to spend our family Christmas.

Amelia found a nativity set to play with:
Duey, Jeff, and Dad:
Mandy and Annabelle. Look at Anna's smolder!
Dad, Chris, and Justin. I have no idea why they are laughing so hard!
Sara, Kelly, Me, and Mandy. Sisters-in-law!
All the kids (except Anna):
Santa paid the kids a visit:
Even Martha got to sit on his lap!
The adults had a dice-game gift exchange. It was quite fun!
Ahh, I can take the tree down this weekend have have my house back! Happy holidays to you all. Have a safe New Years' Eve!

Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve day started with a big breakfast and the kids begging to open their presents! Chris and I relented and let them open them a few hours early. They were most excited with their gifts this year.

Mira wanted an Our Generation Doll. Much like an American Girl doll, but without the $100 price tag:
Amelia was thrilled with her Tangled pajamas. It was a "Tangled Christmas" for her!
Both girls received more dress-up accessories: feather boas, masks, and fairy wings.
We were fortunate to be able to spend Christmas Eve with Chris's dad's side of the family last night. It's always a wonderful evening, full of traditions. They added a new tradition this year of finding the pickle in the tree. It's a German tradition where a small and a large pickle-shaped ornament is hidden in the Christmas tree. The younger kids find the large pickle, the older kids find the small pickle. Whoever finds the pickle first gets to open the first present.
Amelia was this years' winner for the big pickle!
Family photo:
Group portrait:
Our lovely hosts, Randy and Terrie:
We had a great time opening presents and had a delicious dinner and dessert. The kids came home exhausted, ready to fall asleep quickly so Santa Claus could fill their stockings. We have a busy weekend planned with a trip to my aunt's on Saturday, then staying at my sister's for the rest of the weekend to celebrate with Michelle's family on Sunday. 'Tis the season!

Mira writes a fan letter

Mira has been watching this show called "Victorious" lately. It's for girls a little older than her, but seems like it teaches a lesson (much like iCarly, which she also loves), so we let her watch it. On one of the shows, Victoria sings a song called "Freak the Freak Out." It's actually a very catchy song. We put it on Mira's iPod for her and she and Amelia listen to it all the time!

Mira has decided that she is Victoria's "biggest fan!" and asked if she could send her a Christmas card. Mira picked out a card from our box, put a bow and a tag on it, then took it to the playroom to write her first ever fan letter. She brought it to my room, so proud of what she had written. Here is what it said:

I want you to know a song "Last Christmas I gave you my heart." I am the biggest fan of the song "Freak the Freak Out."
–Mira Cook, age 6
We're mailing it tomorrow. Here's to hoping for a response!

Passing the time

With the couple snow storms we've had, and what seems like a looooong wait for Mira and Amelia for Santa to finally make his yearly appearance, we've been trying to come up with ways to pass the time.

We've been making jewelry.
Pretty!We've been painting wooden dolls:
Beautiful!
Today, we saw a two real live reindeer!
Then we made a few dozen truffles!

And here are a couple photos from Thanksgiving, which was at our house this year. So fun!
Mira with Grandpa Randy:
Amelia with Grandma Terrie:
We are then going to begin a kitchen remodeling project to expand our kitchen into our dining room! I can hardly contain myself, I'm so excited about this! The flooring is here, the granite and island are ordered. We'll start soon, and post before and after pictures.

We are really looking forward to a short work week and then three days in a row of celebrating with our families! Merry Christmas to all of you!

Ahhh, the cookies are done.

My favorite cookies in the world? Frosted cut-out sugar cookies! My least favorite cookies to make? Frosted cut-out sugar cookies! We were iced in for awhile today, so the girls and I just "went for it" and made the cookies a couple weeks early. The trick will be to not eat them before we bring them to holiday parties! Chris lent a 30-minute hand before the Vikings game too!

I think Amelia is contemplating eating them in the photo above! {We all got a cookie for our hard work!}

Happy holidays to you all!

The holidays are {almost} here!

Wow! I think the holidays snuck up faster on us this year! But, somehow, we have a bit of the shopping done and the tree up a week ahead of schedule. Took the photo and ordered the Christmas cards tonight too, so we are feeling a little ahead of the game!
Can't believe Thanksgiving is this week, and then it's the usual 3 or 4 weekends of scrambling to make sure all the gifts are bought, the cookies baked and frosted, and the Christmas cards are mailed. We are up for the challenge this year!

Mira and Amelia were a big help decorating the tree and putting up the decorations, and Mira was charged with arranging the snow village {"snow" to come after I visit Joann Fabrics tomorrow!}:
Here are a few outtakes from the Christmas card photo {plus the first one in this post}:
Happy holidays, everyone!