May Your Days be Merry & Bright!

Taya & Chloe baking cookies for Santa

Waiting patiently for Daddy to get up so they can open Santa presents

So, Corey & I took a few pictures in front of the tree. I kept telling him to smile. "I'm smiling on the inside." he finally said.

Let the chaos begin...

I always suffer from a little post-Christmas depression. It seems like you spend so much time, money, and effort into getting ready for the big day and then in 10 minutes it's over, everyone has gone home and you are left sitting with too many garbage bags to get rid of all at once, dirty dishes, and a sneaking suspicion you really don't have room for all the new toys and gadgets the girls got.

But seriously, I love Christmas! It feels like such a magical time. And, even if some of the magic fades the older I get, if I can create magical feelings and memories for the girls, all the effort and money is worth it. What is most important is spending time with family. We had my dad, my sister, my aunt Barb, Corey's mom, and Corey's sister and her family over to our house on Christmas Day. It was snowing just a little in town. Barb commented that my mom would have loved this weather because she always wanted it to snow on Christmas, but not snow enough to make the weather miserable. It was beautiful watching the big, fat flakes floating down. My mom would have loved it! It's hard to believe it's been six years that she has been gone. We all miss and love you mom!

Things felt a lot different without Nanny Pearl around too. We always went to her house on Christmas Eve and enjoyed such fabulous food. Now all the cooking and baking falls to my generation and its tough. I'm not sure I can live up to Nanny's standards. Check that, I know that I can't! But, I will continue to try my best so we have some "real" food to eat for the holidays.

We ate, opened presents, enjoyed each other's company and then ate again!  The girls had so much fun spending time with and playing with their cousins and our 16-month old nephew kept us on our toes. I had forgotten what it is like to have a little one in the house.

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas!!

Dear Santa, All I want for Christmas is...

Sunday, Corey and I took the girls to see Santa Claus. It was about an hour wait, but it was worth it. I think this is the first year that Chloe went right up to Santa and sat on his lap. And the top request of the season? A guinea pig!?

Christmas in St. Francis

Oh..if I had this in my house I would be in TROUBLE!

Corey and Chloe playing a mean game of air hockey

On Saturday, we went to my cousin Kathy and her family's house in St. Francis to celebrate Christmas with my dad's side of the family. It is always so fun to get together and see everyone. We don't do it enough! We had good food and had so much fun visiting and opening presents. I was a little jealous of Taya when she opened her Edward barbie doll. However, Taya told me I could play with it too!

Sushi anyone?

Friday, I went out with my friends from work. We weren't sure where to go eat, so I suggested sushi. Unfortunately, some people liked it and some didn't! Raw fish? Seaweed wrap? Well...people either love it or they hate it.

After we ate, we all went back to Heidi's house and spent time talking, hanging out, and (for those who couldn't eat the sushi) eating pizza. Then we went into Cold Spring and played some pool. It was a great night!

Christmas is coming....

Taya and Maggie playing in the snow

Finally got the Christmas tree up and decorated with Taya's help

Right here, mom?

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Chloe started off strong, but then lost interest in decorating and went to go play on the computer.

I seem to be doing everything last minute this year! I finally got all the Christmas decorations up on Wednesday. Taya was so excited to help me decorate the tree. Off to do a little x-mas shopping now. One week left. The girls are counting down!

Disney on Ice

Thursday Corey and I and the girls went to see Disney on Ice at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul. The girls and I met Corey after work. For dinner, we wanted to try something different. We had seen a Man vs. Food show on the travel channel filmed in Minneapolis comparing two restaurants that make a burger called a Juicy Lucy! We had been talking about trying one for a long time, so we made our way to the 5*8 Club. It was phenomenal! A Juicy Lucy is a burger with a great big pile of melted cheese in the middle the oozes out with every bite! Oh...so good!

Then, after getting a little turned around trying to get back to 94E, we headed over to St. Paul for the show. It was a warm evening, at least warm for December, with hardly any wind. The show was so much fun!!!! The girls must have thanked us ten times for bringing them and they sat with rapt looks on their faces throughout the whole thing. The show featured Mickey, Minnie, Goofy, Donald, and Daisy on their wild adventures and highlighted scenes from The Lion King, The Little Mermaid, Lilo & Stitch, and Peter Pan. It was really a terrific show and so neat to see skating in person. Fun, fun, fun!!!