Treasured Christmas moments

Our company arrived a day early (Dec 23) to avoid getting caught in the huge Christmas 2009 blizzard. Our guests included: Russ & Kristy with Noah and Nixin arriving from Esko, MN as well as my folks coming from Guelph, ND.

The snow came early in the AM on Christmas Eve and Russ was more than happy to help out with the snow blowing multiple times.
The kids were entertained by some afternoon sledding at Roosevelt Park.Late in the afternoon, we got dressed up in our Christmas finery to attend Christmas Eve Mass.

We feasted on our traditional supper of potato soup {mmmmmm} and oyster stew {ewwwwww} before moving on to the excitement of present opening.
Nixin was a very happy elf who helped out whoever needed it. The excitement in the faces of the kids really captured the fun of gift giving.
Kippy was very happy about the combination art set she got. We were missing Randy & Anna's family, but were glad they made it safely to Casper, WY to celebrate with the Kaup family.

Abby is the typical tween-girl and most excited about clothing.

One of my favorite memories was from the night of Kippy's Christmas program when I introduced Luke, kindergarten son of our dear friends, to my mom. He looked back and forth between my mom and me and exclaimed, "Hey, you look the same! {pause} But your not. She's taller!" pointing to my mom. We definitely do look alike.
A plate was set up for Santa and his reindeer before the kids snuggled into bed wearing their new Christmas jammies.

We were greeted Christmas morning by more snow and some very excited kids. Santa brought wii Sports Resort for the girls and we spent hours and hours playing and being entertained by the action.
One amazing thing was that I actually beat Steve in a video game... it was wake boarding and I barely squeaked a win out, but hey, it was a win!
In the afternoon, the temperature hovered around 32 degrees and made for the best snowman making weather.
We were very proud of our snow sculptures. Christmas day also included taking the kids swimming at the AmericInn were my folks were staying. The adults enjoyed a very rambunctious game of throwing dice for White Elephant gifts. The competition was loud, but I think everyone ended up happy in the end... except Russ, who got the dreaded singing hunter with the deer on its back.