Merry Christmas!

Well Christmas 2016 has come and gone.  It was a wonderful time of celebration and being together as family.  Many fun memories were made and we are once again grateful for our faith and the hope that celebrating Christmas brings.

 We had a nice Christmas Eve at home.  We attended church, had a yummy meal and watched A Muppet Family Christmas while enjoying Christmas cookies.  Then it was off to bed to await Christmas morning and the giving of gifts.  Timothy and Teresa were most excited to share the gifts they bought for each other.

 We all got some nice things, had fun being together, enjoyed a yummy breakfast and took it easy on Christmas Day.  Troy and I had to decide if the weather was favorable to drive to the cities.  Freezing rain was a possibility, but with warming temps, we decided we'd be okay.  It was a rainy drive, but a safe one.

 We arrived at Susie's in time for dinner.  We joined Susie, Justin and his family and Grandma Judy.  It was more good family time, a few more gifts and pretty excited kids!

Awaiting Christmas dinner...hoping it goes quickly so the presents come sooner!  Teresa, Timothy and Ari had fun playing together.

Each of our kids got an experience gift for Christmas.  Teresa got to go to the MN zoo.  Troy and Teresa bundled up so they could experience all the zoo had to offer.  The zoo was not busy and the animals were up and about.  Teresa got some great views of the big cats which was a highlight.  Timothy will get to go to a trampoline park in January

Next we made our way to Grandma Rebecca's and Grandpa Ken's.  We celebrated there and again were spoiled with some new things.  A game for Timothy.  New high heels for Teresa.

And cozy, warm slippers for me.

We had some family time with Grandma and Grandpa, and lots of time with extended family.  We saw the cousins 4 times during our stay.  That was great!  Our Christmas celebration did include out annual play.  Timothy was Joseph and Teresa was the jaguar that came with the shepherds.  Abby takes a bit of dramatic license in her production!

There was much more to our week that the pictures do not show too.  Timothy and I got to try some Pokemon go at Susie's house.  We had some family movie times.  We played some games...including my favorite holiday trivia.  Although there was not much snow, some good times were had playing on ice and sledding on ice covered slopes.  It was hard to return home after all of this.  Although being away has some challenges, overall it was a wonderful Christmas break!