Life is Beautiful: Merry Christmas!

Our stomachs are way too full and we're all very sleepy - a sign of a good Christmas. :) It really was a nice Christmas with the family. Our kids were so excited for Christmas Eve and just loved all their presents. Ehren's dad ended up spending the evening with us and it was nice having him with us. Audrey wasn't feeling quite well yet and needed some rest so she didn't come that evening. Kade had no idea what he was getting but the 2 gifts he got he just loves. One is the "snap circuits" which has about 500 projects to do, from simple to very complicated. It is always a great toy to have for the long winter nights and I'm so glad he enjoys it. The other thing he got was this hexbug set with bugs for all the kids and all the kids love watching these little bugs run around, race and bump each other. Anika got a dollhouse and she couldn't believe she got something like that. It's beautiful, wooden and she loves it. Her, Emily and Kason love playing house or pretend games with all their animals and dolls so I know they will love playing with the dollhouse and the dollhouse 7 family members. Kason's favorite gift must have been the one from nana, it is a little track from the cars movie that has 2 cars race down to the finish line. He loves anything to do with the spycars, the cars movie and race cars. He likes trains too but is starting to lose interest in Thomas a bit as he's getting close to 4 years old. It was just a nice, relaxing Christmas Eve. The next day I got to skype with my family for a bit and then we headed over to Ehren's parents for the Hanson Christmas brunch. It was very nice and we had such a nice time visiting with everyone. The kids are getting so much easier to handle now when we get together and they all play together so nice that us adults can actually enjoy some conversations and even play "catch phrase" or "gestures". :) All the kids were definitely overly tired from a few late nights in a row and not napping but they were all really good and everyone had a great time. Jess made the day for all the kids when she gave them rides on her 2 horses. Ingrid and I came along too and it was just great to get some fresh air on such a nice and WARM day for Minnesota so just a perfect weather to do that. We visited some more with Ehren's parents and sister and her family today but we definitely started feeling a bit sluggish from eating too much food and sweets all weekend. :) I couldn't even look at the food tonight. But it was just a very merry Christmas for me, as Christmas should be. The only thing better would be if I could be with my family in Slovakia. But I am thankful for our wonderful families and it makes me sad for those who are in the middle of broken homes where family get-togethers are stress-filled and painful. We have so much to be thankful for and so much we've been blessed with and I just hope I can be a little blessing to someone else. I hope you have had a warm and lovely Christmas with your family and I wish you all a blessed and joyful year 2012.