Danzinger Christmas

The day after Christmas was our special family celebration with the Danzingers.  Luke and Annalyse were home from California, and it was fun to spend some time together opening presents, visiting and catching up, and playing games.

Livi loves her new taggie!

Each year, we compete to be the first to find the pickle ornament hidden on the tree.  Things got pretty cut-throat this year and I bested Lucas to win an Amazon gift card.  Here's a picture of Nolan helping Uncle Luke look.

Later that day, Grandpa and Grandma D came to visit, to exchange presents, play cards and have lunch.  I think both Grandpa and Grandma have a special place in their hearts for Nolan and Livi and got a kick out of playing with them.  Grandma D remembered how much Nolan loved the vintage cash register at her house and got him one of his own for Christmas this year!

The kids really enjoyed some special time with their aunt and uncle and their grandparents.  We're grateful we got to make some good memories together during this Christmas season.  

A Very Kromer Christmas!

While in Eau Claire, we took the opportunity to take a few 4 generation pictures with Grandpa and Grandma D.  Mom and Dad got Stormy Kromers for everyone, as well as buffalo plaid shirts for the boys.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

Christmas morning was spent at our home and it was really special to celebrate with our two little ones this year.  Santa came and left presents under the tree for them and filled their stockings with lots of fun things.  Nolan's biggest wishes this year were "Inside Out", a cute Pixar movie, and "Polar Bear, Polar Bear, What do you Hear?", a Eric Carle book with sound effects.  He received both of those things along with some legos, a custom made "Be Brave" wooden sign for his room, a few books, and some shirts.  Olivia got a talking Violet puppy from Santa, as well as an amber teething necklace, a couple Olivia books, a stuffed giraffe, and panda bear from Nolan.

 After opening presents we had our traditional Christmas morning breakfast of sausage, egg, and cheese crescent ring and finished it up with the singing of Happy Birthday to Jesus, and the eating of His birthday cake.

 After our food, we packed up our van and traveled to Durand to spend the rest of the holiday with my parents and the Weisenbecks.  That evening we traveled on to Eau Claire to spend a few days there while Luke and Annalyse were home from California.

Christmas Eve

Our Christmas Eve festivities began with Church at Trinity.  I had to play piano for the 4:30 service and got to sing a few duets for prelude.  Elsa, one of my piano students, even played Away in a Manger with me!

My little sweeties looked so nice for Christmas Church!

After church, our family heading to Aunt Debbie's house for the annual Christmas Eve gathering.  We celebrated with delicious food, some gifts for the kids, and the adult white elephant gift exchange.  Livi got a new pair of black dress shoes and a few onesies and Nolan got a cool animal alphabet puzzle and a turtle PlayDoh toy.  Eric was thrilled to end up with some Poo-pouri for the office and I got a scarf and a gift card for the Crimson Cafe.  All of Eric's aunts, uncles, and cousins were in attendance this year, so it was a big, fun, and noisy group.

 This Christmas Eve marked Grandma Ruby's 86th birthday!  We were finally able to get a picture of all of her great-grandchildren together.  Pictured L to R are Emma (Miller's stepsister), Miller holding Charlie, Emmett, Grandma holding Olivia, Mason, Nolan, and Jaxon.

And all the cousins were together for a picture as well! L to R - Scott, Jodi, Jamie, Amy, Eric, Ali, Tom, Claire, Derek, Paige, and Hayley

We feel so happy to be part of a family that enjoys spending time together during the Holidays and throughout the year.  Merry Christmas!

Mama's Girl

Little Livi Lu is a total mama's girl.  She always has her eyes fixed on me, even in a room full of people.  Here is her sweet little face locking eyes with me after I left the room for a minute while she was sleeping.  She woke up as soon as she heard my voice.

 Being that we share a birthday, Livi is the same age as I was for my first Christmas.  Mom had saved several of my dresses from when I was her age and I was able to dress her up in my Christmas dress.  However, she is a fair amount larger than I was as an infant, so the dress didn't fully button.  It sure looked cute on her though!

So happy to have such a special bond with my sweet, little daughter!

Ory Family Christmas

We celebrated Christmas with the Orys on the Saturday before Christmas.  We went to Steve and Patti's house in the early afternoon and enjoyed opening presents, a delicious turkey dinner complete with ice cream cake, and spending time together.

Nolan was so excited to get his new Radio Flyer tricycle.  He pedaled it all over the house and would hardly open any of the rest of his presents!

Livi was equally excited about her adorable new rocking horse!

It was fun to spend time with Grandma and Grandpa and Uncle Tom.  

Nolan was also pretty excited for the delicious Dairy Queen ice cream cake for dessert!

We're so glad that we get to celebrate Christmas with two precious little ones this year!