This year my older brother Mike hosted his first holiday with nearly the entire family. Ella was super excited and kept saying we were going to “my Mike’s house.” Unfortunately, Pete was on call, so he couldn’t make the trip with us. I packed our bags on Friday morning, we jumped in the Jeep, and off we went.
On the way, we were surprised by this lovely Grand Casino billboard featuring one of my very best friend, Jessica. Yes, it would be nice to call in rich to work. We saw two more right around St. Paul. Nicely done, Jess!
We made it to Uncle Mike’s in the late afternoon. Ella couldn’t believe all the gifts under the tree!
My sister Jenny and her family were able to make it. This was Wyatt’s first Christmas. He’s almost nine months old.
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| the poor guy took a tumble & bumped his lip |
My niece Hailey is always ready for a photo. She’s almost four.
After an amazing dinner prepared mostly by Uncle Mike, it was time for presents. It’s not easy to capture these moments since the kiddos move so fast. I did my best!
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| new magnetic paper dolls from Great Grandma Scott |
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| the girls working together. the gift wasn’t even for them! |
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| Miss Hailey loves Hello Kitty |
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| and Ella loves coloring books |
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| an impromptu fort with Uncle Mike |
Ella & I spent the night at Mike’s and had planned on hanging around there for the morning, but Ella woke up early. The poor girl was throwing up, so I whisked her into the car and drove the three hours straight home. Fortunately, she slept most of the way and wasn’t too sick the rest of the day. We did have to cancel our trip to the Christmas Eve service, but that was all we had planned for the day since Pete was on call.
Ella has adopted the Cabbage Patch I grew up with, though she also has her own. I think this was Patti’s 26th or 27th Christmas. Ella kept giggling, saying that Patti was tickling her. It was adorable!
And, for my Christmas Eve gift from Ella, I got a make over. Isn’t that sweet? She used different colored crayons and drew all over my forehead. She was very proud.
We had a great Christmas celebrating with my family! I’ll post more pictures very soon of our other Christmas adventures.
