Christmas Eve is literally my favorite day of the whole year, and Christmas is my second favorite day. Two days in a row of joy, peace, and happiness (if all goes right, that is!).
On Christmas Eve last year, there was no snow on the ground and not really any in the forecast, which was disappointing, but it did snow for a few minutes in the late morning while we were over at my mom's house for a family brunch. It didn't stick to the ground or anything, but something was better than nothing! Nevertheless my dreams of a white New England Christmas went unmet. Maybe this year!
Can you see the snow in the air? Just barely? Also, that looks like a row of Christmas trees.
We took some family pictures at the brunch. Here are the four strapping grandsons of the family: Sam, Rocco, John, and Shane.
And here's the one lovely granddaughter with her cousins!
And here's my mom with her five wonderful grandchildren.
This is us: me and my brothers and sisters. It had been a few years since we were all in a picture together. Don't you just love my sweater? I do. 😁
And an origami Santa to go in the sleigh.
And he got taken out by the Christmas tree again.
Peter cooked a delicious prime rib for dinner. For the first time in many years, it wasn't just the four of us, but five of us because my mom joined us for dinner. That was a nice change!
On Christmas Eve last year, there was no snow on the ground and not really any in the forecast, which was disappointing, but it did snow for a few minutes in the late morning while we were over at my mom's house for a family brunch. It didn't stick to the ground or anything, but something was better than nothing! Nevertheless my dreams of a white New England Christmas went unmet. Maybe this year!
Can you see the snow in the air? Just barely? Also, that looks like a row of Christmas trees.
We took some family pictures at the brunch. Here are the four strapping grandsons of the family: Sam, Rocco, John, and Shane.
And here's the one lovely granddaughter with her cousins!
And here's my mom with her five wonderful grandchildren.
Back at home that evening, Sam made Santa an origami sleigh.
And an origami Santa to go in the sleigh.
And he got taken out by the Christmas tree again.
Peter cooked a delicious prime rib for dinner. For the first time in many years, it wasn't just the four of us, but five of us because my mom joined us for dinner. That was a nice change!
This was the tree with the presents set out after the kids went to bed. There weren't as many presents as past years because we'd opened our gifts from grandparents, in-laws, and other family already when we celebrated with them (whereas in Iowa, they weren't there to celebrate so there were a lot more presents under the tree until Christmas).
A fire in the fireplace and It's a Wonderful Life on TV. Perfection!
The stockings are always too heavy to hang up so Santa puts them on the couch after filling them up.
Hippo at the table for our traditional Christmas breakfast, a delicious little feast cooked by Peter. After that the cooking is done for the day.
The Willow Tree nativity set was lit up nicely by the sunlight that morning. How appropriate!
This is the entire reason for the season.
The hippo attacked Violet and she didn't care. I think she was in a Christmas coma from prime rib leftovers.
I relaxed and read for most of the afternoon into the evening, which is one of my favorite things to do on Christmas.
Sam hasn't outgrown this sweet Fisher-Price advent calendar yet and I'm so glad! We've been doing this ever since John was a toddler, so over ten years now.
This was my advent calendar for December. It was fun, and delicious!
It was a nice Christmas. I'm excited for the next one--only two months away!
