Christmas Re-Do

The day after Christmas sure felt a lot like Christmas this year.  Most of us were together as a family (without the oldest nephews Jason & Zac), We ate lots of yummy food, played games, opened gifts and even played in the snow! 

Kevin, Amy & Sherri always talk about Carols amazing Syrian bread that they remember from their childhood.  Carol decided it was time we all learn to make it and so we had a family cooking lesson.  The recipe is fairly simple, it just seems to be all about the hot oven, cooking tile and rolling the dough.  It was a time consuming process but with lots of hands it was a super fun thing to do together!  And the bread did not disappoint.  It was far better than any pita or flat bread I have ever had!

 

Elmer & Kev toasted Murray with some scotch!

 

Kevin & the kids went outside to play in the snow.  Even Janie got into all the fun with her big cousins.  She was packing and making snowballs in no time.

 

The snow was perfect for making a snowman, too!

 

The kids came in from the snow ready to open gifts!

 

Grandma Carol gave Clara her first American Girl doll ("Scout") and Janie her own Bitty Baby ("Liesl" that sounds more like "weasel")!  They were both tickled!

 

Grandma Carol also has a tradition of getting each family a game for Christmas.  This year it was our Hungry Hungry Hippo year - fun stuff!  Amy's kids got this fun game called Headbandz and we all enjoyed playing it!  The kids, and Kev, looked to silly playing I had to take photos!

We ended up just making it a day trip, but it was a wonderful day of family fun and I really don't think the kids noticed our change of plans, deeming it a perfect Christmas Re-Do!

Santa Came!!!

 

What a perfect start Christmas morning got off to!  First off, Janie slept through the night...

 

Clara came downstairs around 8:00 and came into our room cheering that Santa had indeed come!  And left stuff in our stockings!!  We had a minute to snuggle her and enjoy the excitement before we heard Janie happily call out. When we went out to the tree Clara immediately noticed her Merida doll and was thrilled!

 

Clara also received the Calico Critter Mansion while Janie got a high chair and lots of accessories for her babies and Serafina talking robot toy.

 

The girls were a little overwhelmed with all of the gifts, especially since we had been celebrating and exchanging gifts in the lays leading up to Christmas with Michele, Davis, my side of the family and now there were all the gifts from Santa! 

In her stocking Janie found the Mama & baby pigs that she asked Santa for.  Clara received her request for a Secret of the Wings yo-yo, that had to be custom created with printed stickers for her.

It was neat to take the girls shopping this year to select items for one another.  Clara picked out the Calico Critter Koala family for Janie and Janie selected the Calico Critter bathroom for Clara.  At the toy store they both seem to flock towards that play table and have fun playing it together so it was great that they made similar selections. 

Clara had so much fun learning to wrap and help pick our gifts for Mommy & Daddy.  She found a great set of castle building blocks for Daddy and wrapped and signed the gift herself! 

Happily playing with their gifts from Mom & Dad

 More stuff... Clara got the Triplet Bears from BRAVE and Janie got a Spiderman doll she was obsessed with every trip to Target!

Santa was very good to the Michael Family this year and brought us all a Kindle Fire.  Once it was noticed, it captured both girls attention!  Amazing how quickly they catch onto electronic gadgets!

Mommy got a very special surprise this year from Clara that Daddy helped orchestrate.  When we were putting the ornaments up, I pulled out my special Dorothy and told Clara the story of getting to pick her out at an ornament shop I went to with my mom.  I mentioned that there were other Wizard of Oz characters, but I had to pick Dorothy.  Well, my sweet husband was able to track down the Tin Man, Lion & Scarecrow from a 1983 collection to go along with my Dorothy.  Such an amazing gift! 

 

Kevin also selected a great pair of boots for me.  Lucky Mama!

 

Around 10:00 on Christmas morning after most of the gifts were opened and we were getting ready to go to Quincy for Christmas dinner, Kevin pulled up the pass report... Uh Oh!  It ended up snowing like crazy in the pass and all the traffic cams showed cars lining 1-90.  It was a tough call, but we kept our sweet babies safety in mind, and opted to stay home for Christmas!  Even if we would have gotten through safely, who knows how many hours it would have taken us and that is not a fun way to celebrate!

 

 

Instead, we had a much different Christmas than was planned.  As cliché as it sounds, we ordered Chinese (90 minute wait) watched Christmas movies and played with all the fun new toys!  It may have been upsetting as first (mostly for me) but it ended up being a memorable and relaxing holiday full of many beautiful blessings!

 

Plus, the next day the pass was clear and we got to enjoy the day with family anyway!

Holiday Greetings

Christmas Eve {Eve}

This year we got to host my side of the family for Christmas Eve {Eve}. The was the holiday fell the weekend before worked for everyone to come up for some fun family celebration.  Most of our activities centered around the kiddos who are at such a fun!  Gift opening seems to get better each year.  This year Brendan & Janie both had the whole thing figured out and all four kids would oooh and ahhh at one another's new treasures. 

 An attempt at a grandkid photo...

 

 Janie & Clara model their new vests from Grandma & Grandpa

 

 

Kevin with his new tools that Ryan helped me surprise him with. 

 

The family time was really nice.  Once the weekend was over, everyone headed home and we enjoyed a really nice and relaxing Christmas Eve.  The girls got to catch up on a little rest and make all of the necessary preparations for Santa Claus' visit!

 

 

 

 

Christmas Cousins

* I know I am really late on all of these Christmas posts, but better late than never.  My dear mom gets the kids these sweet Christmas PJ's every year and the photos of them in them are just too adorable not to share.  Besides, I take so many photos, and have not been keeping up with scrapbooking that this blog ends up being like our family story.

Celebrating with the Michael Side

 

 

This year we were especially glad to get together with the Michael side of the family at Kevin's Aunt Emily's home.  We find a way to get together around the holidays each year and this year it was a quick visit, but just as special. Emily included some fun Lebanese dishes in our meal, which were fun to try. 

 

 

 

After we ate the kids got had a lot of fun making music together.  Justin & Jaclyn are both budding musicians and brought over some instruments to play around with.  Clara felt inspired enough to join in via song flute.  Maybe we have some music lessons in her future!?!

 

 

And of course the piano is always a hit with the little ones!  Through the years the kids seem to always flock to Emily's piano during our visits.  It feels like just yesterday Taylor and Hailey were around the same ages up there playing that same lovely "music!"

Too bad Sherri wasn't there or it would have been a complete photo of the Michael cousins, Lisa, Brenda, Amy & Kevin. 

It was a fun way to spend the afternoon, share memories of those we miss dearly and share the blessings of family!