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| Nora came down to a huge amount of presents (largely thanks to Gram). |
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| "Mom! This one has my picture on it!" |
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| Let the gift opening begin! |
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| I wasn't expecting too much excitement from Myles about gifts until next year but he was way into it. He'd open one and say, "ooohh" almost every time. |
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| Nora kept saying, "let's see what it is!" while she was opening. |
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| "Oohh!" |
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| Trying on one of her new hats. |
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| The four of us, in our Christmas pjs, on Christmas morning. |
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| Nora got tired quickly. I think all the presents were a little overwhelming for her. I asked if she wanted to take a break - her response was, "Yeah, I'm just got happy enough right now." After just two hours of being awake, she wanted to take a rest. She laid down in her bed for 45 minutes - didn't nap, just rested and chatted - before she got up again. She greeted me by telling me, "I'm SO much happier now." And that she was. |
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| Even Rusty got special treats from Santa! |
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| There were two gifts of the day for Missy. The first was a salon kit she got from Gram. Complete with hair straightener, blow dryer, barrettes, and most importantly, a scissors. She was thrilled to have her own scissors. Just about every present there after she offered to help cut it open because "I have my own scissors now". |
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| Beautifying |
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| Myles got his own baby since he's very loving towards Nora's baby. He picked him up and patted his back. |
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| Then tried to share his beloved paci. |
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| This was the other "gift of the season". Nora got a new stroller for baby since the other one was getting too small for her. Which also meant Myles inherited the old one. Bonus! |
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| We had to take a break from opening presents so they could each take their babies for walks around the house. |
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| Mega Blocks! What can we build? |
After presents, we got dressed and packed our things to head back to Wisconsin to see Dan's family for Christmas dinner. This is where we were able to give Grandma the gift I was most excited to give.
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| But first, the kids gave her the Santa hand print ornaments they made for her out of salt dough. She loved them! |
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| We had given her a digital picture frame pre-loaded with more than 600 pictures of her family from many, many years ago through the present. It was a labor of love that wouldn't have been possible without everyone's contributions. A special thanks to all the family who dug through their pictures to provide some for her frame. Everyone was huddled around it throughout the night looking at all the memories packed on that frame. She loved it so much she got tears in her eyes. |
I was nervous from the change in our normal traditions it wouldn't feel like Christmas this year. But gladly, I was wrong. It very much felt like Christmas - relaxing, at home, surrounded by loved ones celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Exactly what Christmas should be. After all... this is our new usual.
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