Christmas 2016

This was a great Christmas. Compared to last year I felt that we were able to enjoy the season from Thanksgiving through today 26 Dec 2016. There are a great number of reasons for this, good friends, wonderful family (albeit far away), good co-workers, a warm home, plentiful food, and the list goes on and on. Or maybe the reason is the fact that we watched the Muppet's Christmas Carol about 10-20 times...

Whatever the reason, here are some pictures of our Christmas.

Christmas Eve started off at work. Here I am with the crew in the ER (L-->R: SrA Moore, SSgt Yang, Chu-Chu-Stella [Miss Yi, just married so I don't know her new last name if she changed it], Arn Allen, Myself, Arn Berrand, Capt McFarling). Dr. Helbling came in around 9-9:30 to take over after she sang at Mass to let me go home. 

Before I got home Jari sent me a picture of the faucet. Nice way to start off the evening.

Jari made nightgowns for the girls with some nice dark green knit material with gold sparkles. Here are some funny pictures of the kids.

4 hours later (1 am), Things were set, the kids sleeping soundly, Jari and I were exhausted, and we closed our eyes wondering what our kids would experience the next morning when they woke up.

Charlotte was the first to rise and was actually really quiet and waited for us to get up. She came in to ask a few questions but did not wake the other kids. How strange is that? I woke my parents up at 5 am to announce that Santa had come as if they were not aware! Bless her heart. 

Zachary was more thrilled with the balls he could through at people than anything.

Charlotte with a new stuffed animal cat. 

Zachary on his new Tricycle with his new stuffed animal (really a desperate attempt to get he and Charlotte to stop fighting over her stuffed dog named Bling)

Hazel with her new scooter. She got a girly stuffed lemur.

All the kids got a movie from Santa. 

And we really could have stopped there. The kids were happy with their stockings and Santa gifts. So we had a quick bowl of cereal and went to church.

Quick family photo in front of our "fireplace" 

And an extra of this lovely lady.

And the presents under the tree? Not yet on the radar...

Next up was our traditional breakfast but knowing I would be tired I cheated and bought the ready-to-eat sausages. 

  

Near nap time the kids found an excuse to not take naps, presents. 

The fun of dividing the haul was overcome with need for sleep... so we let him open a gift from grandma Nielson

Saying he was a happy was an understatement. A boy and his tractors. 

Hazel was more than happy to receive paintsupplies,

coloring books,

candy,

pillows

and books. 

Charlotte was likewise happy to receive gifts from grandma, Necia and mom and dad to include 

coloring books,

pants (she has jeans but for some reason does not like them. She likes colorful pants made from non-jean material, so when grandma sent these she was more than happy. Great job grandma, you sent EXACTLY what she was hoping for!),

and other art supplies.

Jari purchased a marble set for Zachary which was a hit. 

And Jari purchased some new compression stockings for me going off the size of the other brand I own. Turns out the sizing is a bit different. They fit Charlotte great though ;)

Zachary is kind of a pain around dinner time. He wants to climb on the stool and pinches or pushes anyone he thinks may be in competition...

So getting him involved is the key.

The potato and ham casserole was slightly undercooked (ham precooked) but the kids ate it OK.

Overall, a pretty successful day. The kids are scooting non-stop, loving their slippers, have watched their movies, and consumed loads of candy. We even made waffles (thanks Jari for the waffle maker!) which the kids loved. Now I need to figure out how to get the digital picture frame that Jari got me up and running and things will be complete. 

Thanks to all who sent presents (Grandma Nielson, Petrie, Necia, and anyone else I am missing right now) or otherwise offered their love and friendship during the season. We have been blessed.