Traditions! Fun with Daughters

Christmas Day is all about fun with my daughters and their husbands (and Oliver). I had sent them on their way Chrstmas Eve with the time set for Christmas Day to gather at noon for a meal together. Little did I know that they had other plans. Early on Christmas morning all of my daughters and husbands and Oliver walked in with Monkey Bread for breakfast. What a wonderful surprise. We missed having Laura, John and Danya with us, but knew they were enjoying the company of John's parents. We ate, chatted and then set about opening the gifts that we had gotten for each of them. Oliver opened his gift from mommy and daddy first and then the rest opened theirs.

Gary's brother Paul joined us for lunch and the afternoon. After lunch we called Laura for a "new" tradition the girls had decided on -- a gift exchange where each bought a something for a set amount, wrapped it and then they drew numbers and chose the gift they were to receive from each other. The gifts could be bought or homemade but none were sure what was in each gift. Of course, there were rules during the exchange and stealing was a possibility. Laura and John were at a little bit of a disadvantage because they couldn't see the gifts as the internet was down and we had to do the exchange using the telephone instead of Skype. All the gifts were quite clever and the girls enjoyed the "first annual" gift exchange. Gifts included gift certificates to Crate and Barrel, Verizon wireless, Wendy's, Chipotle, Potbelly, a Mystery Date to be used by the end of January, a homemade Advent Countdown calendar, Target gift card, and a CD.

Then it was time for our "second annual" trip to the sliding hill for a little bit of sliding, climbing the hill, and basically standing in the cold (we Minnesotans think this is fun, why?). It was the first time that Margaret and Jerimy had taken Oliver sliding. He looked so cute in his snowsuit with his face covered by a scarf and didn't really grasp the concept of what this was all about. Copper the dog came along too. He loves to run and chase Margaret and Jerimy in the snow but unfortunately there were too many people on the hill and he had to be leashed for most of the time. We then headed to Eme's for some luscious hot chocolate (from Williams Sonoma). I found out today that it is only available at Christmas time but it was the absolute best hot chocolate I have ever had the opportunity to enjoy. You can bet that next year I will be buying more than one container of it.

At the end of the day, as I reflected on my Christmas time with family; I had to thank God that he has been so good to us this year and given us such wonderful daughters and sons-in-law to enjoy Christmas with. We missed having Laura, John and Danya but a great time was had by all.
Merry Christmas to all!!