Christmas #3

Merry Christmas!!!!

Our holiday meal preparations started way before Christmas....it all started with the purchase of a 26 lb turkey! (YIKES!) YEARS ago, when we lived in Arkansas, we followed the Alton Brown turkey method of brining the turkey. My memory from that one time was "It was delicious...but oh, so much work!" Well, this year, we decided to do it again. It was much easier this time around because it is COLD in Wisconsin! Our garage kept the ice at the right temperature overnight. In Arkansas, we had to keep changing the ice, so we didn't get much sleep that night. And this year, the turkey was OUTSTANDING for sure. Great job, Andy!!!

We filled up the dining room table with family and food....the above photo captures Andy's Dad talking to Uncle Ben, who is living in Denver now. We definitely had enough food to go around and around... :)

And then we exchanged gifts...

Colin enjoyed putting on Rebekah's homemade shower cap and the girls enjoyed their special gifts from Grandma and Grandpa too.

Of course, there was silliness to be had....in this photo below, upper left photo, all the girls are wearing red bows...kind of like the Red Hat Club...We are the Red Bow Club! And upper right photo of Colin--he was funny wearing a hat that Andy's parents got for him in Hong Kong this fall!

Andy was happily sporting his Packer sweatshirt....which is funny since just the day before, he had unwrapped a tree ornament of a Chicago Bear nutcracker! And as for the bottom right photo...if you get a hairbow clipped onto your package, where is the safest place to keep it? Mom's hair, of course!

We had a wonderful day....filled with good food, good family and a super good reason to be celebrating! Happy Birthday Jesus!
Also on Christmas and into the next day, Andy was running the gas out of his snowblower so he and Jimmy could change the oil. Who knew it would take HOURS AND HOURS to do this? I'm sure the neighbors loved the sound...

We also had memorable "shopping" experiences...with the girls hitting the mall the day after Christmas (what were we thinking?!??!?!) and the boys went to Home Depot and Menards. When the girls returned home, we found Colin curled up with Grandpa watching "Fireman Sam". Precious.

And, you know how it goes...all good things must come to an end. This trip was especially fun for the kids since we had not seen Jimmy for over a year. He really bonded with the kids...playing with Colin and his new toys and letting Colin play his REAL ukelele as well as teaching Ellie how to play a melody on his guitar. Fun times. On the upper right photo, you can see Grandpa giving the girls a "pep talk" about each one being special and having different talents. Our goal for the year is to be happy for our sibling's successes! :)