After a wonderful extended stay with our families for the holidays, we are BACK!  Good to go, but nice to be home too.  As I tell the boys when we pull into the driveway, “Home again, home again, Jiggity Jig!”  Here are some snapshots of our Christmas.  (I pulled pictures from cameras, Facebook, Instagram, iPhones…aka…sorry about the lack of formatting!)

 

Espen says “cheese” during our little family celebration.

 

 

We did a lot of this!

 

It was so worth it though to see this.

 

And to eat this.  Elias says “COOOOOKIE!!” and then devours it like Cookie Monster.  Thanks Sesame Street.

 

 

Elias also loved cranking the radio and giving the girls a ride.  Oh boy.  I hope this is not a sign of my future!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We did a little of this.  It was wonderful!  Something I’d like to do more of.

 

An eager learner and a proud papa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s to the new year!   I’ll show you some of my handmade Christmas tomorrow.

Spending time with family at the holidays has to be one of the best things.  Our time is filled with falling snow, skiing, fishing, playing, and full bellies.  Dakota is in her glory tumbling around in wide open spaces.  Elias is a giggling machine.  Tony and I are happy and content.  Christmas is a good thing.

Tony and I traveled home to the Twin Cities area for almost a week of wonderful family time!  We did some sledding/snowboarding at the Barlow’s homestead, and some relaxation on my parent’s land. 

A candle just has a way of saying, “Peace, peace, peace be with you.”

Yes, I love this beautiful land!

I hope you had a blessed Christmas full of all the things that bring you joy!

I’ve been busy working on a number of projects in the last couple days.  My husband’s head is spinning because every time I sit down I’ve got something different in my hands.  Here’s a quick project that I finished tonight.  It is a Christmas gift tag and it will be so cute on the top of a “brown paper package” for the holidays.

It is a pattern by Whimsicals, from their book “Cabin Fever,” which uses Paintsticks.  It was the first time I used Paintsticks and my only thought on it is that there is a dry time.  This is not so great for those of us who want instant gratification.

Ok, so here’s a thought…only 3.5 months until Christmas… I attempted the –get everything made and wrapped in a week– last year and I don’t recommend it.  So this is me just giving you a friendly reminder to not get so stressed around the big month–do some early preparation!  Then you will have more time to relish the real reason for the season.