Christmas Day

While I miss the excitement of Christmas morning with little ones it was also nice to be able to sleep in a bit! We were able to FaceTime with Finley and he excitedly showed us what Santa had brought and showed us every one of his new toys. He was so excited and so cute! We had sent him a firefighter dress-up outfit and he put it on and looked really cute in it. I had sent several firefighter things (Legos, books, pillowcase, puzzle, outfit, etc) and coincidentally his Grandma Whale had sent him fire engines so that made it neat for him.

I made our traditional German pancakes breakfast and after that we started cooking and getting everything ready for family who would arrive for lunch at 1PM.  Dave came as well as Richard and Joleen and Hugh and Beth. I'm glad the weather cooperated and they were able to make it up without worrying about road conditions. We ate and talked and ate some more and had a good time. Derek, Shelby and Zoe came up for a while and everyone was glad to see them. I really didn't expect them to come all the way back up but Derek said that they wanted to see everyone since they'll be moving (relatively) soon and won't be able to see family much. They left first because they needed to get back to Shelby's family for their get together. Doug's family left next and Dave stayed. We opened presents from him and he opened the things we got him. Honestly we were tired and just wanted to have a nap (I had a monumental headache from not sleeping the night before) but Dave didn't want to spend the holiday alone and I understood that. We visited for quite a while and then played some games. After a while I pulled out the leftover pizza from last night and heated it up for our dinner. He left around 8PM (his normal leaving time) since he had to work the next morning.

Christmas celebrations have changed much over the years but as long as there are loved ones around it's always a great day. I'm not sure what will happen next year with all the kids living in different states. Don't know if someone will come home or if we'll go visit someone or what will happen. No matter what it's nice to be able to stop, relax and reflect on the blessings received as a result of the birth of the babe in the manger so long ago.