Christmas

Here is a video of Lil Brother at his Christmas program. I started laughing when he did his little trick and that's why the camera is so shaky. Sorry about that. :D




Christmas this year was excellent, with the exception of my grandma being in the hospital. She had a medication issue that caused a series of problems so she spent 3 days in there. I feel so bad for her. She got out today finally. We went to see her tonight. She seemed pretty good in spirit...she has some bruising from the monkeying around they were doing with her blood thinner I guess...and she is bone skinny. If you are so inclined, do say a prayer that she will get some sort of an appetite back. She is far underweight and it scares me...it's not healthy at all and she keeps loosing more.

I had Friday and Monday off of work so that was awesome. Friday my aunt and mom came over and we made cookies....the kind my grandma used to make. Norwegian Krumkake is a very delicate cookie that is best when filled with whipped cream.

Almond ginger snaps are another family favorite:

I'm pretty sure I gained about 5 pounds in the last 4 days. So much good food. We had Christmas Eve at my aunt's house with my mom's side of the family and Christmas day was at my house with my dad's side of the family.

Here are a few pictures:

Christmas 2011, a set on Flickr.

On Friday a pair of Bald Eagles showed up right behind my house. I took this picture from my bedroom window. I just love to see them. When I was a kid there were not any around - it was a very rare sight to see them here. Now they are making a good come-back and I'm so glad.

I got three main gifts for Christmas - we draw names in my family....but everyone buys for the kids under 18. I asked for and received a blender...a quite awesome blender, an Ninja Professional - like this one:

You can't make it out clearly, but there are 3 rows of VERY sharp blades. While taking it out of the box on Sunday I managed to cut my finger. Deep. Like it opened up over and over on Sunday, bleeding. And once today as well. So I'm guessing it is way better than the one that I had before - my old one used to stink like something burning while it ran, it was way too loud, and it would vibrate off the counter if you didn't hang on tight to it.

I also got a heater for my living room from my dad and he always gets something cool too - this year it was a Soda Stream pop maker. You make your own soda pop at home. I heard about it on the radio and wanted to try it, until I found out the price. Now we have it, without the initial investment. The kids LOVE it. It's so simple. No electricity or batteries needed. Just the CO2 tank. So far we've tried cola and orange flavored. They are good. The cola tastes like Pepsi to me...and I'm a coke drinker but the orange is yummy!

The kids made out like bandits of course. They really loved all their presents. The girls are at that age where they are pretty fun to buy for. My aunt M. got them both clothes that they have already worn and love. MK got a lot of fun earrings too. Peanut loves the watch my dad got her. It lights up in bright changing colored lights around the outside. MK got the movies she asked for so she's watching one now. Little brother...hard to say which is his favorite...but he's now sleeping with 2 Angry birds (the red and the blue), he played his Leap Frog Explorer for a few hours already, and he's wearing his Angry Bird T-shirt I got him tomorrow to daycare. He also loves his cars - the hot wheels are all the rage right now with him....and he asked to wear his new clothes both yesterday and today. Happy, happy kids. Happy, happy mom.

I have the best extended family ever. My uncle surprised us all with 100 dollar bills too. I asked him if he won the lottery...he said no. :) That was awesome (and much needed and appreciated).

Today the girls and I met up with my aunt M., my cousins, and my sister for a movie - the Sherlock Holmes one. I have not seen the first one, but this one was great! Little Bro couldn't go since it's not a kids movie, so he got to spend some time at my brother's house. He really likes seeing my brother and his family, so I'm so glad that he could go over there. He doesn't get to very often. I hope as my niece is getting bigger, she'll get to come over to our house more often too. She's so darn cute! Here's a picture I took of her at Christmas:

Tomorrow it's back to work. Sad face. But happy to have a job to go to.