Our 1st Christmas!

Today was a fun day as well! The festivities kept us going once again. We started the morning by sleeping in until 7 (thanks Gerrit!). We opened stockings (bottom right) and then took a break and had breakfast.

I wanted to use my pancake molds which were Christmas shaped and the eggnog flavored pancake mix. Gerrit didn't want to wait so he had a poptart. My attempt at the molds, didn't really work, a broken snowman, 1/2 of a snowflake, and crumbled elf was not quite the Martha Stewart Christmas breakfast I had envisioned. Adam took over and made round pancakes instead. (I'll have to work on perfecting the molds!) We had a yummy breakfast, even if Gerrit didn't each much pancake. He did let us eat and didn't rush us to open gifts.

Following breakfast, we went back to opening the presents that we have for each other and that Santa had left too. Even Grandpa Bob and Grandma Marcy/GG sent a few gifts for Gerrit to open. So of course, Gerrit had a nice ratio of 2:1 to open compared to us but that was fine. He loved opening gifts and wanted to open ours as well. Only having 3 of us to open gifts went by a bit faster than we are use to (it takes all night w/ my large family). It was a nice time for us to relax and see what it is like to open gifts just us (we've never had that before). Only a few gifts need to be returned too which is a nice thing!

Gerrit and Adam headed out to shovel the wet heavy snow/slush that fell over night. We felt like we were in MI today with the rain,sleet,snow mix we had all day. We were a bit disappointed we didn't get the snow like predicted, it was just too warm. If we had, we'd still be shoveling!

Nap time for Gerrit, Adam took a snowshoe walk on the golf course to blaze a trail for skiing, and I hunted down Whipping Cream at the gas station. I had a dessert all planned and then changed my mind after the grocery store closed yesterday. So I checked the gas station and low and behold, they had whipping cream! So Creme' Brulee' it was for dessert tonight! :)

Following nap time we set off to Dahlen's again for a late lunch. A wonderful roast dinner was had by all. We took a break from eating and Adam became brave and joined in on the Rock Band bandwagon. He took his turn at the guitar and drums and even did some solo singing! (I of course, knew better and saved my ego by watching). When we needed a break it was dessert time. I made reg. and Egg Nog Creme' Brulee' and they both turned out well. The boys even liked it and they had never had it before. Gerrit saved me the best part - the crusty sugar!

Here are a few photos from today's festivities:

Starting with the top row: the witching hour, Gerrit letting us know it was time to go home - he wanted the mic but Adam was singing, Gerrit holding the mic thinking he was singing, Gerrit sporting his new football jersey (his MSU one is a bit small), opening his 1st gift - farm equipment from dad.

Bottom row: 'playing' the drums with Paul, Adam relaxing as he sings, Gerrit noticing all the presents that were not there last night when he went to bed, Gerit discovering the stockings left by Santa. He liked the Cars slippers but didn't want to wear them - guess they will be going back to the store!

And there you have it, our 1st Christmas in MN as a family. We have made it a few more days with the little babe still inside which was nice of him. I'm definitely not very comfortable, but knowing we don't have much going on is helpful. I head back to the dr. on Wed and we'll discuss inducing dates if it comes to that (I don't think it will). The dr. doesn't think this babe will be as big as Gerrit - I'm not holding my breath!

Because we have such great friends here, it made being in MN for Christmas that much easier. We love our families, and missed them a lot these last few days, but we are very thankful we have a 'family' that we can spend time with as well. We have a lot to be thankful for and were reminded of it all these past few days.

We hope you had a great Christmas too!

Merry Kissmas!!

(as Gerrit would say)