We Wish You a Merry Christmas

The wintery blizzardly weather may have changed up our plans quite a bit this year, but it did not stop us from having a very merry Christmas celebration. Christmas Eve day was beautiful and white, covered with nearly a foot of steadily falling snow. We were fortunate to attend church early in the afternoon....and surprisingly found seats for each one of us this year. in the same row. on actual chairs. The service was wonderful. Gorgeous decor and music filled the sanctuary, as the true spirit of Christmas and the joy in the celebration of Christ's birth swelled within the community.

The roads were already becoming treacherous on our way back home, and our pre-planned Christmas Eve party was cancelled. Instead of baked ham and sweet potato casserole, we celebrated our holiday evening alone with homemade pizzas of course!

Festivities were not quite as high or engaging on our own--there was no dice game, or cribbage tournament---though we did play some games, and it took some encouragement to keep the kids away from the laptops and other normal distractions. This was our first Christmas Eve on our own in more than 20 years!

For Bethany, it was all probably a good thing.....without strangers to make her nervous all evening, she was actually quite pleasant. She especially enjoyed the twinkling lights on the tree, the dancing fire in the hearth, and the candles of the advent wreath as the we took turns reading the story of the first Christmas so long ago.

The kids went to bed at a decent hour after putting out cookies and chocolate milk out for Santa.

Tubby: "SANTA! Where are you?"

Bob and I were able to go to bed at a decent hour as well. This was the first year EVER that we had finished wrapping presents ahead of time. No cutting and taping for us at 3am this year! Whew!

The next morning, the kids found a reasonable stack of presents....not too many, not too few...this year, Santa got it just right! We enjoyed watching the kids in all their Christmas morning excitement.

Alex and Michael played some Christmas tunes to herald the Savior's birth.

It was lovely.

As was the thickly falling snow. So much snow. We could not see the lake behind our house!

We cancelled our trip to Grandma and Grandpa's house in the cities. The streets had barely been plowed, and all the freezing rain made our cul-de-sac an ice skating rink!

We then decided we were indeed Minnesotans who could surely handle the travel, so we decided to buck up and go anyhow. However, upon Bob's return inside after more than an hour of clearing the driveway, and no let up of snow as we glanced out the window toward where our lake had been, we cancelled our plans again.

Once resigned to staying at home, we all got comfy in our pj's, sitting in front of the fire, putting all the new toys together. As Tubby and I were completing his new track, Bob yelled out from the other room that there was a break in the weather on the radar screen, so "Let's go! NOW!" We had a nice afternoon with Grandma & Grandpa and the twin cousins. More presents to open. Good food to eat. Laughs to be had. And special time spent with people we love.

And on Sunday, we got to celebrate a rescheduled Christmas all over again with the Zajac side of the family! A visit with the resident Santa made most of the kids smile.....though Bethany was quite leery. She screamed for about 30 minutes after this.....such trauma in her world!

We sang Christmas carols around the piano. There's not anything much more Christmas-y than that! Well, maybe the ham and sweet potato casserole. Bethany enjoyed some as well, from the comfort of her new high chair.

Yes, it may have been a bit different, but it was a very Merry Christmas this year, indeed!