Better late than never, right?! I hope this finds you happy and healthy in the new year! I swear each year the holidays get a little crazier and I need more and more time just to recover. This year especially after the influenza bug took down our household and hijacked my one week of planned vacation for the year. After a pathetic week of accomplishing absolutely nothing, it was back to snow-covered reality. Thankfully we were able to have an amazing Christmas before this all went down.

This was Emerson’s year to spend Christmas Eve with her dad; while I know she had a wonderful time with him and his family, she was missed dearly by her mama. I truly had a knot in my stomach the entire time she was gone but it was much better to look forward to her coming home Christmas day, rather than anticipate her having to leave.  Before she left, she worked on her annual Christmas craft (still waiting to be finished).

In the mean time, my family threw caution to the wind and broke every Christmas tradition we’ve ever known. It was a blast! For the first time since we were kids we went to mass Christmas day as opposed to Christmas Eve, we had a wonderful roast for dinner instead of the traditional chili, and then we opened EVERY gift when we usually wait in suspense until Christmas morning (in the comfort of our pj’s).

The next morning we attended a beautiful church service and my sisters and I loaded up in the car to collect our Christmas joy in the form of a four-year-old! Back in Spirit Lake she opened gifts at my parents’ house where a singing Queen Elsa doll from my mom absolutely made her day!  Soon after, everyone migrated a few blocks over to my house for a little more Christmas action!

This Christmas I learned just how much wine can be consumed in the amount of time it takes 1 child to open all of her gifts… plenty.

It was so much fun to spend Christmas at home for the first time and I loved hosting the Christmas Day festivities. The wine was flowing along with the gifts plus snacks, and chili for dinner. We finally ended the night after a relaxing viewing of How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Emerson was in bed without a struggle that night and the only disappointment of the whole day was after she had opened every gift and asked me where her new brain was hiding…. luckily we imaginary ‘switched brains’ and that was the last I’ve heard about it!