A very Merry Christmas indeed.

Christmas 2010 was celebrated in ND back at the farm. The 4 Lindgrens arrived before noon on Christmas Eve and the cousins were off and playing as soon as we got the van unloaded. Russ brought his snowmobile to the farm and that combined with Randy's snowmobile to create outdoor fun for the kids and for the brothers & brother-in-law. {Think extreme sledding & wildlife scouting}

In addition to outdoor activities, there were indoor projects as well. Abby had a zipper tragedy with her favorite purple high-tops which took up a bulk of Grandma's afternoon to remedy. Kristy put her sewing skills to use as she worked on Nixin's t-shirt quilt.

By late afternoon, the smell of traditional Christmas Eve oyster stew filled the house {which is viewed unfavorably by my own sniffer.} Near 4:00 PM, we were dressed up in Christmas finery to attend Christmas Eve Mass. Following Mass, we lined up for some family photos.

Rod & Rose beget Randy, Renae & Russ

Renae & Steve beget Abby & Angelique

Randy & Anna beget Makenzie, Kaleb & Logan

Russ & Kristy beget Noah & Nixin
And the grandparents with 7 smilin' grandkids.

After a hardy supper of oyster stew & potato soup, the elves passed out presents & one by one the gifts were revealed.

A surprise visit from Santa to make sure all the kiddo's were on their best behavior. Nixin was especially enamored with the jolly man.
Reviewing the annual 2011 family calendar which was created this year by Anna.
We thought we would help out the "chic-magnet" with this appropriate tee.
Kippy was especially excited with this Wii drawing gadget from her parents for Christmas.
Abby was totally surprised by the gift of cellular technology from her parents. The real trick will be if she can retain the privilege!!

So many wonderful memories from Christmas 2010:

• Exchanging White Elephant Christmas gifts between the adults with the hilarious addition of Uncle Bob and Aunt Judy. Kristy was the unfortunate winner of the repeat elephant... the singing red-neck hunter. Anna was the lucky scratch-off lotto ticket recipient. Uncle Bob was jubilant over his MacGyver walking stick & the reason I nearly wet my pants laughing.
• Nixin walking into the kitchen loudly asking, "Raise your hand if you want to play with me!" When Abby raised her hand, Nixin responded, "OH YEAH!" in a deep voice & a fist pump. Funny kid.
• Watching the kids play Wii Mario Cart and hearing Logan taunt Uncle Russ, "You're going down!"
• Hearing the kids tell of their respective adventures being pulled through deep snow on a sled behind Uncle Russ' snowmobile and brag about the number of times they DIDN'T fall off.
  
• Helping Kristy tie her first t-shirt quilt using Grandma Nita's quilt frame.
• Giving a very wiggly Nixin a haircut while he played some weird toilet paper game on Noah's ipod.
  
• Learning a new card game at Randy & Anna's called "Oh, Hell" or rather "Oh, Sell's Win".
• And the winning memory from Christmas 2010.... Randy stepped outside with the roaster with intentions to toss the turkey drippings outside and accidentally stepped too close to the foundation dug for their new addition and fell in. He ended up with one leg dangling in a hole and the other leg 90 degrees split on the ground, turkey drippings all over himself and unable to get out. He tried yelling over and over, but the rowdy group indoors couldn't hear his cries for help. He managed to reach his cellphone in the upper pocket of his ever-present bibs and was able to call Mak. He told her that he was stuck outside, but when she looked out the window she couldn't see him. It took some further explaining to understand that he had fallen half-way in a foundation hole and couldn't get out. To further add insult to injury, before helping Randy with his situation, pictures were taken {Anna has the evidence} and there was much laughter. When Steve bent down to pull Randy out he almost fell in himself, so Steve quickly let go of Randy. Gotta love the self-preservation instinct, right? Steve finally got better leverage and was able hoist Randy out of the hole before the hungry farm cats could begin feasting on all the tasty turkey drippings covering Randy.

I think that sums up Christmas 2010! Hope yours was memorable as well!!