All They Want for Christmas

Wow - what a rush of the past couple weeks! Thanksgiving morning we learned that DH's sister in Idaho is expecting a baby. She'd been told she was infertile and her fiance had had the big V during his first marriage years ago, so needless to say, everyone is quite shocked, especially the parents. I'm excited to become an auntie again!

After Thanksgiving dinner down in the cities with my mom's sisters and their families, we headed up to my folks' house on Friday for the annual Lighting of the Luminaries Festival in Nisswa. Our girls loved it. Grant slept through the first hour and a half of it - cozy warm in the stroller. He was oblivious to his first horse-drawn carriage ride, but oh well.

When the girls met Santa for the first time, there were sparkles in their eyes as they gazed longingly at his basket of candy canes. He asked what they'd like for Christmas and they said, "Potty treats." Santa said, "What?" My mom whispered to the girls to just tell him they wanted baby dolls. It's clear what stage we're in at our house. Thankfully, our girls are great with the potty training - we even went into porta potties in the dark and they pottied like true champs.

We topped the evening with a couple pizzas outside and then back to my folks' place. The fellas sat in the hot tub while my mom and I bonded once the kids were all asleep.

Saturday we took DH's cousin, Uncle Russ from up north, out on a Christmas tree hunt. DH found a Christmas Tree Farm & Holiday Destination just 15 minutes out of town. The tree selection was fantastic, although the sand pickers were not the most appealing. It was so warm out we didn't wear our mittens and the girls had a great time playing peek-a-boo in the woods. Breanna found a tumbleweed for her tree and Lillian found an old stick. Merry Christmas!

The rest of the place was a theme full of settlers in full costume - we learned how to make rope, climbed hay bales, watched the guys throw tomahawks, ate real kettle corn, and enjoyed a big bonfire. When we returned home, my sister and her family arrived to help us put up the tree and decorate it. Uncle Russ's parents got a hotel room nearby (hooray for pools), so everyone went swimming after supper while I laid Grant down to sleep early after the long day outside. I then prepped for his baptism luncheon the next day.

Sunday morning we raced nonstop until we reached the church. DH called his sister, who we'd asked to be Grant's godmother. She was up in Wahpeton and had assumed we'd changed the date because we had only invited her once and not confirmed the date after that. So, she and her family hopped in the car in their blue jeans and raced to our church (a near-3-hour drive), arriving about 10 minutes after the baptism ended. Oh well, it worked out fine anyway. Uncle Russ was there as godfather and the service was really informal. We even sang "This Little Light of Mine." We had a big lunch of homemade pizzas and a nice afternoon of visiting, and then finally the evening was quiet.

DH and I relaxed in the recliner, shared a glass of wine, and marveled at how busy everything is still. Exhausted, we threw in a load of laundry and hit the sack by 10. Ahh, we made it. And now we're already in the heart of Christmas season. Hooray! Our girls are becoming dancing fools as we enjoy the holiday music. What fun!