Our Christmas days were spent at home with the Simpsons. Dad had come home from Korea, and Levi's siblings Ian and Rhonda came out from Vancouver, and we settled in for a whole week to spend together playing games, eating good food, exchanging gifts, relaxing, reminiscing and a little debating (two elements that are never left out). I set up a puzzle in the basement and it was my solo project until the very end, but there is nothing that says relax and don't worry like working on a puzzle.
We arrived home from our weekend at camp to a full house. The joyful greetings, the bustle of getting our van unloaded, and the fact that there were still more festivities to be had sent both Ella and Avery into back-to-back crying fits. Little E warmed up soon enough, and while nobody could quite get to the point of scooping her up without her frowning, she did get pretty comfortable with all this family that wants to love her. Avery was in attention heaven all week.
We went together to the Christmas Eve service at church, enjoyed a supper of homemade pizza, and then the girls could finally see what was hiding under all that colourful wrapping paper. They were blessed with lots of little goodies - new pajamas and earmuffs, cozy socks and mitts, my little ponies and a batman, art supplies, dinosaurs, books, shoes and more. Their eyes were shining! The adults had drawn names again and exchanged gifts amongst each other.
Christmas Day started off slow with sleeping in for all (except those little children) and a yummy brunch of scrambled eggs and croissants. Most of the family went off to visit Oma at her apartment in the afternoon to bring her gifts and cheer. I stayed home with the girls and took them out for some fresh air. We stopped by my parents to see if they were around and pulled them out for a walk in the snow with us. In the early evening we made a quick decision to feed the girls supper and put them in bed before our own dinner, which was a brilliant idea, and then we savoured the feast that mom and dad had prepared.
We filled the rest of the week with lots of games and movies, a pretty great snowman built by Uncle Ian and Avery, visiting friends and family, reading and resting and recovering from various bugs, and wrapped up the week with family by going to church the morning Levi was preaching! It was a great opportunity given to him and he did great.
And now we're in a fresh new year. Time to tidy up, take a deep breath and drum up some resolutions!
Happy New Year and God Bless!
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