The traditional "box" pictures
What a whirlwind! As the holidays continue to be celebrated, I thought I'd come on here and give a recap of the festivities thus far beginning with Christmas Eve. (The December photo album has also been updated.)
24th - What a fun evening we had! Grandpa Ron and Grandma Barb came and met us at our house and we drove out to "Church in the Barn" to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. What an awesome experience! Dawn, Nathan, Tiernan, Caedmon and Brayan all joined us as we piled out of our van. We were welcomed to the service by a camel dressed in traditional camel garb. He talked to us with his guttural groans and allowed the children to pet him, much to Eliana's delight! As we entered the barn, we passed horses, cows, llamas, sheep, donkeys and goats. Many of them entertained us with brays and moos throughout the service. Babies cries didn't seem a bit out of place. There were many carols sung, mittened hands shaken, and muffled claps. By the end of the 45 minute service, our feet were all a bit chilly (except for the babies, who made great lap warmers!) but our hearts were warmed by the Christmas spirit. We drove home in the zero degree temps to enjoy hot chocolate (with Baileys for the grown-ups) and sloppy joes with Grandma and Grandpa. I sense a new tradition...???
25th - We woke up at 10:00 to a four-year-old who needed reminding that it was Christmas Day. His first thought was to tear off the last of his links on his countdown chain and put baby Jesus in the manger. We all got dressed and came downstairs to see the loot. At the sight of it, baby Jesus and the chain were promptly forgotten, stockings were dumped on the floor and William began chaining candy canes together. Belle was the first one to have her gift opened, since she can smell the bone inside it and it drives her crazy!!! William needed more prompting than Eliana to open presents because he was happy just playing with every new item. I'm beginning to wonder if this is going to be his personality; by age four I expected a little more enthusiasm to tear into the presents. Eliana enjoyed ripping the paper and trying to take bites of it. She got to try her first chocolate, which was a huge hit!
After naps we headed over to Great-grandma Weber's for appetizers, socializing, and the gift exchange game. The game always gets very heated and this year it was no less so. We ended up with a cordless drill (we were playing for the Baileys and family heirloom glasses, which was the hot gift this year) but thankfully were traded for some mini loaf pans from Pampered Chef which I wanted! Darren made a beautiful handcrafted box out of maple and mahogany that was often stolen during the game and was won by a happy Laura. Ivy was in the den playing with kids and was happy to see that she also got the game Bananagrams, which I'd gotten to put inside the box.
When the game was over, we moved the Lanz family over to my parents' house for dinner, more presents, and hours of Guitar Hero World Tour. A fun time was had by all! We had intended to spend the night, but that didn't work out so well. Eliana went to bed just fine, but woke up at 11:15 and didn't want to go back to sleep. William needed to go to bed (our family was all in one room) and Jennie was tired as well (she and Adam were planning to sleep on the couches which were currently filled with musicians), so we decided to forfeit our bedroom and head home to sleep. It was a good decision since Ellie was up until 1:30!
26th - We set our alarms to get up at 9:00 so we could drag the kids out of bed and head to Bounce Depot to meet Grandma Barb, Dawn and her boys. My kids' gift to her boys was an hour to bounce on the inflatables. All the kids had a blast and were plenty hot and worn out at the end of our time there. We had some lunch and naps when we got home, then it was back to the Lanz house for Christmas with the extended family. We had our traditional hoers doeuvre dinner. Then it was time to sing the required Christmas carols before opening presents. Eliana loved the singing and all eyes were on her as she bopped to the beat, clapped and cheered for the singers! We played another gift exchange game where Joe and Kathy brought home Darren's box and we went home with a beautiful framed photo of Clemens Garden that we are excited to hang in our living room.
27th - Now on to the McKeever family Christmas for our traditional fondue. Steak and fish go into the fondue pots. The grown-ups were cooking for five little ones this year. This will be the last Christmas that we will outnumber the children with this group (if the Sobiechs were present it would be 1:1), as baby number four is expected to the Legatts in March. After cleanup is done, gifts are opened one at a time going from youngest to oldest, so this year Eliana got to open first. We brought along the Wii and picked up a second controller on the way over so the adults could try it out against each other playing bowling, tennis, baseball and golf.
28th - The plan was to attend the annual Christmas Poker Party put on by Tommy and Michelle in Minneapolis, but we decided to stay closer to home for the day. We used some soon-to-expire movie passes to bring William to see Bolt (very fun!) and let Eliana play with Grandpa and Grandma Lanz. She learned how to go backward down the stairs, although she's still not too good at turning around at the top. Darren and I got much-needed haircuts from Grandma Lanz after the movie. It was a very productive evening!
29th - That brings us to today. A nice, lazy day of playing with new toys, updating the website, and practicing new skills. Eliana was standing on her own all morning while she watched William race his remote control car around the living room. She even took a step toward me before chickening out. Today is a nice break before the festivities start up again with book club, a New Years' Eve party, house guests, and the RESOLVE holiday party yet to come this week. Next week will be a shock to our systems when school starts up again and we have to get back to reality! But Eliana's birthday will help break up the week. If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with me! We hope your Christmas was filled with as much merriment as ours!