Day 20 - Christmas at Grandmas

We love this day each year.  Grandma always picks a day away from Christmas day to have everyone to her house for Christmas.  I L.O.V.E. it!  As many know - figuring out the holidays between sides of families can be so stressful and often impossible to ever feel like you are making anyone happy.  We are even lucky enough to have both sides being kind and patient as we figure it out.  We do not have anyone placing demands on us.  The demands merely come because we want to spend time with both sides of the family.  So the holidays are just packed.  You spend so much time watching the clock, trying to be equal, trying to keep people from having to wait on you, and then, if you can, trying to enjoy yourself.  By the time the holiday is done - sometimes I feel like I didn't get any quality time with anyone and all we did was hustle one way and bustle the other.  To me, it defeats the purpose of trying to get together with family in the first place. 

But not this day.  This day is slow, leisurely, time to play, time to talk, and most importantly, no where else to be.  Today was extra special because Rich's Uncle Marvin was in town for it.  Uncle Marvin is someone we don't see nearly often enough and he is a joy to be around.  A true Nebraskan farmer, through and through.  The kids had time to play, we had a lovely lunch - Marilyn is a great cook, and we opened packages - one at a time, so that everyone could see what was given and from whom it was.  No sense of urgency.  There was time to open toys to be played with right away.  No need to pack up the moment we were done.  We just enjoyed the day, the family, and the space.  I need to find a way to make each holiday as nice as this one was. 

The boys playing outside.  Many adventures and battles were tackled on this afternoon.  The imaginative play only intensified after they received matching power ranger swords to ward off the evil enemy. 

I suspect this is a memory that we will all have of Grandma's house.  Gathering in the kitchen to chat, laugh, and enjoy each other's company (and eat the relishes that Grandma sets out).  Elizabeth and Sydney (the kids' cousin) were having a lovely time teasing Grandma about burning some cheese bread that set off the fire alarm.  However - the steam seen in this picture is merely coming off the hot noodles.

This will be today's selection for DPP as it best depicts what I love most about our get togethers. 

Elizabeth worked really hard to make this present for Billie.  She wanted Billie to have something made by her for her new cabin.  The kids LOVE to go visit Billie's cabin and Elizabeth picked up that Billie has a beach theme throughout the cabin.  These types of things make a mama proud.  She noticed, she remembered, she acted, and she gave.  If I teach my kiddos nothing else - the ability to see another person's passion, remember it, and use it to show kindness to them in some way would be a really good one to have them walk away with.  Truth be told - it wasn't me teaching that lesson.  That is Rich, all the way.  :)













 This picture was a MUST.  Most people know, that when a kiddo receives clothes for Christmas - they typically get cast aside without a second glance.  Not Katie.  She wouldn't let the clothes go.  She was so excited and kept trying to put them on right away.  This has me concerned for her teen years.  :)

Brandon has a knack for commanding the attention of a room.  I am not sure what he was telling Rob about here - but it clearly is impressive enough to hold the attention of Marvin, Marilyn, and Billie too. 

Elizabeth would be in pjs 24/7 if she could get away with it.  And so the moment she opened these pjs - she was in them.  They are super soft - so I can't really blame her. 

When we arrived home, we didn't have much time until bed time.  Especially for Katherine who missed her nap.   But Elizabeth had new canvases and wanted to get to work on her next project. 

I can't help noticing that I have asked her at least 1000 times not to paint without newspaper under her project and there does not seem to be any newspaper.  . . .

Brandon had to open a package of Legos the moment we hit the house.  Here he is concentrating on getting those little pieces together. He LOVES to build Legos.  He will sit down to work on it as many times a day as he can. 

Ben joined Brandon in building Lego time and is studying the book to know what to do next.  I love his focus and concentration here.  They are building the same set.  It will be interesting to see how they are the same and how they are different.