Christmas

Well, almost a month after the fact, I'm finally writing about Christmas. We had a great holiday except for traveling down to Iowa which was snowy, slippery, stressful and much longer than it's supposed to be. This is the third bad Christmas travel to Iowa in five years, so we just aren't having good luck with that (other than we've safely arrived every time). Christmas Eve was at Ken and Cheri's and after church (where Abby wasn't the best behaved, but the boys were exceptionally good), we enjoy appetizers and plenty of presents at Grammy and Papa's. We decided to spend the night over there and that was a fun change. Everyone slept pretty well and it was a nice, relaxing way to spend our Christmas Eve and morning.

Then it was the drive to Iowa which I've already mentioned, and Christmas dinner and festivities at Grandpa Duane and Grandma Verna's. This is the first holiday where Abby has been okay with being away from me for a period of time and doesn't throw a fit when someone other than our immediate family tries to talk to her or hold her. How far we've come in the last year. We opened more gifts and had dinner with Grandpa Don and Grandma Sue the next day and with Grandma Sue's side of the family the day after that. It was a whirlwind of Christmas activities, and fortunately it was nice enough for some playing outside in the snow too (although there wasn't too much snow, just enough for riding around on the sled behind the four-wheeler which Matthew loved, but Sam wouldn't try).

Here are a few pictures from our family Christmas at home.