Our First Christmas in our New House!

A Great Christmas...

Despite all the nasty blizzardy weather and snow, most of Adam's family was able to make it to our house for Christmas. Juan was stuck in Texas, unfortunately. Their plans weren't to come up until Thursday, Christmas Eve, but decided to beat the storm and come up Wednesday night instead.

We had some great news to celebrate!! Adam's brother, Benny, proposed to his girlfriend, Amanda. The wedding will be in June of 2011. Adam is the best man, I'm a bridesmaid and both Alexa and Lillian are flower girls. We will all be a part of his special day and we could not be more honored. Congratulations Benny and Amanda!

The storm came Wednesday night. We all woke up to at least 6 inches of snow. Adam went to work snow blowing the driveway right away and Benny and Amanda made us all breakfast. Amanda made pancakes that spelled each of our names, which is a tradition in her family. I unfortunately had to eat and run, as I had to get in to work. I was a bit nervous to be driving in the icky weather, but the roads weren't actually that bad, just real wet and slushy. Tom, Steve and I were the only ones working Christmas Eve. It was really slow, so I was able to cut out at 11:30. On my way home I saw Alexa, Mongo and Grandma Linda running up the hill with the sleds in search of a good hill to slide. Lillian was back at home with Daddy, settling down for a nap. I was able to snuggle her and get her to lay down for a bit. We made quesadilla's for lunch when Alexa and Grandma got back from sledding.

Church was at 10:30 in Farmington, so we had keep the kids up late. I thought for sure they'd fall asleep in church. Alexa did, but Lillian was wide awake, wanting to run up and down the aisles. I spent most of the mass in the back entry with her. She ended up falling asleep on the way home. It was still snowing and accumulating. Another 6 inches or so.
We put the girls to bed in our bed and we all went to sleep. Then all of a sudden we heard some jingling bells, so we quickly woke up. Adam, Alexa and I peeked outside the bedroom door and to our surprise, Santa was putting presents under our tree. Alexa got a little scared and wanted to go lay back in the bed, but she peeked one more time to see him putting treats inside her stocking. As we laid in bed we heard him take a rest on the couch and eat the cookies and milk we left out for him. Then heard his big footsteps go down the stairs and open the door. We heard again the jingling bells of the reindeer out on the lawn. Alexa's eyes were sooo wide and she had a big smile on her face. She had sprinkled reindeer dust on the sidewalk, so they'd find our house. It took her awhile to fall back to sleep, as you could imagine. She was so excited to wake up Christmas morning to tell everyone she saw the 'real Santa' in our house.

Christmas morning we all woke up to find all the gifts Santa had brought. I made cinnamon rolls, which is a tradition in my family for breakfast. We all gasped at all the new fallen snow. More snow!! Ugh! We didn't have to fear not having a white Christmas.

We started opening gifts around 9:15 and didn't finish until almost 1. The girls were spoiled with such nice things from their auntie, uncle and Grandparents. Even Mongo went shopping for us all. Mongo and Chip were spoiled with treats and toys, too. Alexa got a pink fishing rod, SkippyJon Jones book, coloring books, 2 outfits, a set of bath towels with her name on it, a hoola hoop from Lillian, a Belle Barbie, a baby dolly that she named Isabelle from Santa and some chapstick and pens in her stocking. Lillian got bath towels with her name on it, too, color books and crayons from Alexa, a kitchen set from Santa, a set of books, a snow white barbie, a baby doll, a couple outfits and musical instruments.
Adam and I got a fire pit from Benny and Amanda, a shop vac from Linda and Juan and bath towels with our names on them. Adam got a hat, a couple shirts, a Vikings flag from the girls and I and I got a lunch box, a picture frame, a water fountain, a table cloth, some cook books and a box of love from Lillian and an ornament from Alexa. Santa also brought our family an ornament that said 2009, for our first Christmas in our new house. We were so very blessed to be able to be in our house Christmas with Adam's family. It was a great day! Lillian was a little tired and overwhelmed towards the end and started pushing all her presents away. She was done opening gifts, she just wanted to sit and color. So, Alexa helped her out.

After everything was opened, Adam and I had one more surprise for Alexa and Lillian. We closed their eyes and brought them downstairs to the guest bedroom where we surprised them with a BIG stage and mirror. We created a little dance studio for them because they LOVE to dance. Their eyes lit up and they went crazy. Lillian snapped out of it and was all about Christmas again. They danced their little hearts out. We turned their music on and they went crazy. Alexa had also gotten a box of princess shoes from her auntie, so they were dancing in their new shoes and even drug out their tap shoes. It was tons of fun and Adam and I were so happy to see our little girls with smiles on their faces, having a fun Christmas.

We spent the rest of the day playing with all our new toys and gifts, assembling things and eating. My countertops were covered with food.

We all helped in making our traditional Christmas meal with the Lares family, crab ragoons, king crab legs, shrimp and platter (taco dip). We also made a pot roast and veggies. Alexa and Lillian are at the fun age of being able to help. They were right there with us at the table getting their hands dirty filling the crab ragoons. Alexa's actually turned out very good.
When we finally sat down to eat around 8pm, the food was absolutely delicious. We kept eating and eating and eating. We'd rest a minute, then eat some more. We always have a competition to see who can get the biggest crab. I think I won this year. :) I put the girls to bed while the other helps clean up the kitchen. Then Adam, Andrea, Linda and I stayed up to play a game we received as a family gift, Catchphrase. We stayed up til 2am not able to stop playing. We laughed so hard we cried. It was so fun.

Benny and Amanda left early Saturday morning to make it back for Amanda to work. Linda and Dre left that afternoon. We cleaned the house and tried to get things put away and back to normal. The girls received some gift cards to Target from my boss and his wife for Christmas, so we took them there to pick out another new toy. Alexa chose a pony and Lillian picked some food for her new kitchen. We also took advantage of the wonderful after Christmas sales on all the holiday stuff. We got a new tree and ornaments for our basement next year. Mike, Inna and Tori came over Saturday night for some drinks and a couple games of Catchphrase. We laughed hysterically and had a blast.

Sunday we cleaned some more and some more, then went over to Mike and Inna's to celebrate James' 4th Birthday. It was fun to get together with all the neighbors again. The kids sure had fun telling about what they got for Christmas.

Uncle Benski was at our house when we got home with gifts from AJ and Joey. The girls got some books and dress up clothes. After the kids were in bed we stayed up and played Catchphrase with Benski. I stayed up way too late on a work night, but it was so fun.

Overall, what a great Christmas. We love having family and friends around and we were so lucky and blessed to have them there and their travels were safe. Adam and I are so thankful for everything and that we have each other and our health. It's been a tough year for a lot of people.

We are again so blessed and fortunate!