Christmas!

We had a wonderful, whirlwind Christmas weekend!

Friday (Christmas Eve) we went over to Jack and Marsha's (aka Mike's dad and stepmom's) house. We spent the day snacking on appetizers, preparing for the dinner feast, and watching bad Christmas movies.

Mike worked really hard on the Christmas puzzle, and his stepdad (also Mike) also put forth a valiant effort once he arrived later in the afternoon. Mary (Mike's mom) and I each put in about 3 pieces.

Jack gave us all a lesson in how to tie nice bows. I think he wants bows on his packages next year.

I think Anne liked her quilt!

We got home around 11:30pm on Friday, then woke up bright and early to exchange gifts at home on Christmas morning. Mike, who wasn't supposed to buy me anything (since going to Yellowstone in February is my Christmas present), nevertheless bought me an amazing tripod and a wonderful camera backpack. (How can I be mad when he breaks our budget by buying me things?!) I bought him a new Twins hat (to replace the one he lost last year), a Twins warmup shirt, and a share of seven seats to upcoming games (his friend Brad's mom was selling off "shares" of her season ticket package).

(Note: I told Mike to hold very still while I used my tripod to capture this picture with a 20-second exposure.)


We next went to Mike and Mary's (aka Mike's mom and stepdad's) house for brunch and more presents. Sometimes I get so worked up planning for the gifts we give to others that I forget that I get presents too! I love Christmas. :)

Claire and Ella (our nieces) were so excited for presents that they were literally jumping up and down.

Anne was a little more restrained in her excitement about gifts.

After a yummy brunch, the "mean" adults finally let the kids open their gifts.

Their parents were pretty excited too. :)

And when they argued over trying to open the same gift, two parents and two grandparents were all eager to jump in and mediate.

Finally the adults got a turn at opening presents, closely supervised by Claire and Ella.

Mike and Mary literally "oohed and ahhed" over the framed picture we gave them of their "cabin."

Next, Mike and I split up (err... temporarily, obviously, not forever). He headed over to the Fleischhacker family gathering (followed by a few days of quality time with the cats), while I headed out to Appleton for a few days of quality time with my parents.  It was a long, dark, slow ride across the state, and I was relieved when I finally pulled into my parents' driveway around 7:30pm. My parents, on the other hand, were shocked - I had told them I wasn't coming until the next day, so they were excited to have such a Christmas surprise! We opened our presents that evening...and my dad immediately started working on his puzzle! (He loves 3D puzzles.)

It didn't take too long before he was able to start piecing some of the continents together. (He even let me help out a little bit!)

On the 26th, we went out for lunch, watched the Packers game, and ate yummy BBQ chicken and mashed potatoes for dinner. That evening I got to play around with my new tripod.

While I was doing that, my parents made a lot of progress on my dad's puzzle.

The rest of that evening and most of the next day, they let me just read and relax. It was lovely!

I did, however, take a break to take some photos of the birds in the backyard.

My mom and I toured all three quilt shops in the area later that afternoon, then my dad made us another yummy meal for dinner. The next morning my dad put the finishing touches on his puzzle!

And then I was off again. A whirlwind weekend of celebrations, for sure!

Merry Christmas, everyone!

(BTW, sorry for the huge number of photos in this post. I love taking pictures and have a hard time editing. In fact, I have uploaded so many pictures to this blog that I just had to pay $5 for some extra Picasa storage space. Oops!)