Christmas at the Lutz's

We celebrated Christmas breakfast at Grandma Hansen's and then we headed to Lutz's to celebrate Christmas there. The kids talked Grandma and Grandpa into letting them open gifts right away. Actually they didn't have to do much convincing. I think grandpa was about as excited for them to open their gifts as they were. 

We bribed them into a picture before the opening began.

The girls looked adorable in their Christmas dresses!

Bryce got a super cool gift. It was a duffel bag and inside was a binder of all the basketball stats for the Big 10 tournament. He just loved the binder but then they explained that he got to go with them to Chicago to all the games and he was over the moon excited!

Emmy got a very realistic doll and named her Hannah. Now she had 2 babies that had to go with her everywhere she went.

Caleb got an awesome pair of shoes that he had been eyeing and he also got a really nice camera that Grandma and him had been scheming about for a while now.

We had a delicious supper and desserts.

I am not a fan of prime rib so Robb got his very rare hunk of meat that he had been waiting for.

Every year Grandma Hansen picks a gift that works for all the kids and then she starts sewing like crazy because everyone keeps adding children every year. Each year the kids are super excited to see what she has made. This year it was a Snuggie, a blanket with arms,in case the craze has passed by the time someone is reading this. The kids all loved them mainly because you can keep your blanket on while working on your computer, holding and iPad or playing video games. They were perfect!

This picture was too funny to not include. Ginger or Aaron took it but it is adorable!

We had so much fun spending the day together and the kids had a nice relaxing day to just play with everything they got and we went home the next morning. So thankful that we are able to see all of our family over the holidays!

Santa Must Not Have a Naughty List

Santa was good to us again this year. I'm starting to think this naughty list thing may be a sham or Santa needs higher standards because all the kids get great gifts year after year.

He liked our cookies and milk too!

The stockings were stuffed by the fireplace with care.

Everyone was up early and super excited to open gifts! This year it wasn't one of the kids that was sick on Christmas, it was the mom. I was super tired the night before and had a fever when I went to bed. I woke up achy and with a headache but still determined to make the best of it because after all it was Christmas!

Abby was excited to have her own Chromebook computer.

Bryce got a new controller for his Xbox and gift cards to eat at some of his favorite restaurants.

Caleb got a new hard case for his gun that he is borrowing and he also got food giftcards.

Emmy got the baby from us so Santa brought a baby play station and clothes.

We had fun seeing what Santa had brought and then it was off to Grammy Hansen's to see her for Christmas. We had to get moving or all the bacon and sausage would be gone.

Christmas Eve

We had a fun and quiet Christmas Eve at our house. I was suppose to have to work until 2:00 but the schedule was light so I got to be off which was great! The kids opened their gifts from us in the afternoon and we went to 5:00 service that evening. Our church is very large and it is hard to get a spot in the sanctuary so we went an hour early and we were still in the over flow room but it was still a lovely service!

Susie made the girls their adorable little dresses.

Abby got a dance bag and some clothes.

Bryce and Caleb had been given the choice to go skiing as their gift or to get Christmas gifts. They both chose that they wanted to go skiing so they got a few little things and warm hats and gloves that they would need for our ski trip in February.

Emmy got her baby Anabelle that was able to cry, coo, drink a bottle etc. She didn't put this baby down for about a solid week after she got her.

Abby had wanted a tumbling mat for the basement. She was thrilled to have a spot to tumble at our house.

Caleb also got a few little things but they were both super excited about the skiing trip.

Lucy was excited to open her gifts too!

The story of the pinecone tree

Susie has this cute tree made out of pinecones and she has put it out at Christmas for as long as I can remember. Last year they found these little mini lights to put on it and it was especially cute. When I had asked where she got it she told be that Grandpa Orville had made a bunch of pinecone trees as gifts one year and had given them to all the kids. She was pretty proud that she had the last remaining pinecone tree. The others, including Grandma Virginia's, had fallen apart over the years or had met the fate of mice. I got the feeling that Virginia was a little irked that Susie had the last remaining tree. Anyway, long story short I told Robb about a year ago that he should make Grammy a new pinecone tree for Christmas. It could be a fun little project for him and the kids. Now fast forward 11 months and 3 weeks to the week of Christmas and Robb suddenly remembers that he was going to make pinecone tree. He makes a chicken wire base in the garage for the tree. Now in the garage it looked like it would be an okay size. Now in our kitchen it was a huge pinecone tree! Second problem: how in the world did Orville attach these things? Third problem: Where are we going to get enough pinecones to cover a 3 foot tree? All great questions. That didn't stop him! After about 12 stops at Menards for wire, lights, zip ties etc and 2-3 trips to Pioneer Park to steal all the pinecones we were set. So it got down to crunch time. Twas the night before Christmas and all the the house not a creature was stirring except Robb and his wire cutters until about 2am finishing up his tree. The tree is huge, the tree is adorable, the tree has a great story and most of all, Robb wonders how in the hell Orville convinced himself to make more than one of these darn things! I know grandpa Orville was getting a kick out of watching all of this unfold!

Christmas at Our House

We hosted Christmas at our house again this year. We had a great time and lots of yummy food. We had decided that we would do hors d'oeuvres instead of a big meal this year. So by about an hour in we were so full of cream cheese and snacks that we could hardly move. 

We had to get the obligatory family pictures.

Dad Cindy and the grandkids

Grandma Jody and the grandkids

Steph Lester and the boys

Our family

Bryce and Caleb 12, Abby 9, Emmy 4

The whole group

Emmy and Weston loved the idea of a snack night! They were all in for eating chips and cookies all night. Then we wondered why they were running around the house like little crazy people. I think they had a bit too much sugar.

Welcome to the family Lester! We love the shirt and we are so excited at this time next year you guys will be married. We love having you in the family.

Santa even showed up at the party!

Grandpa Steve is going to let Caleb use his gun to shoot trap at school this year. We are terrified about Caleb having a gun in the house but we are excited that he is trying out a new sport.

It's not very often that we are all in the same place at the same time so it is always fun to catch up with everyone!

Grandma Jody and the girls

Boys table!

The girls stood in the kitchen closer to the snacks and wine.

Emmy and Weston were dying to open gifts all night!

Emmy wasn't scared to sit on this Santa's lap.

Seeing Santa

 Emmy has been super excited about Santa coming this year and shehad thought long and hard about what she wanted to put on her list to Santa. She finally decided on asking for a crying baby and baby supplies. She made her Santa letter and was really excited to give it to Santa but once we got to the mall she got pretty nervous about meeting him. She ended up sitting on his lap long enough to toss the letter at him and get the heck out of there. The thought of Santa was more appealing to her than actually having to sit on a strangers lap. Smart girl!

Grinch Christmas

This has become such a fun tradition to our family that I don't see the kids giving it up any time soon. They will probably be in college and want to know when we are doing Grinch Christmas. This year the girls helped with a lot of the preparations. As always we had Who-hash, Roast beast, green veggies, special drinks and green pudding dessert. And don't forget we have to eat "Grinch Style", which according to Emmy is by candlelight.

The girls helped with supper preparations and also made dipped dog  bones for all the dogs we know.

 These are the famous green pudding and oreo desserts that are a must for Grinch Christmas night.

This year a new version of The Grinch had come out so we switched it up a little and watched the new version of the movie. I love this little family tradition we have!

Nutcracker at the Lied Center

This year Abby's best friend Addison was dancing as an Angel in the Nutcracker Ballet. I admittedly was a little sad that the girls hadn't tried out together but it was really fun to see her dance in the Nutcracker. It was a really neat performance with some really talented local dancers. It was a fun girls night out.