8 Days in Dec--Day 2

Day 2 is Christmas Eve! We spent the morning visiting and then went over to Nana's house for our get together with all of her children and spouses (7), grandchildren (11+8 spouses), and great-grandchildren (12). I think there were 14 that couldn't be there this year.
It was fun watching the little ones open their gifts.



Later that evening we went to church for the Christmas Eve service by the kids who presented the play called, Snowflake County. Cade and Sydney sangs songs with the Pre-K/Kdgn class; Isa was a tapdancing Wiseman and a Christmas tree; Cade was a raccoon who dashed across the stage a few times.

8 Days In December

The month of December seems to have passed so quickly, but oh, did I soak them in. We, family in California, had been talking about "When Jen and Steve and Amelia and Nathan come to visit..." for a few months. And then, all of a sudden, the time had come. Now it's already been 3 days since they went back to Iowa and the weather of a high of 17 and low of 5 degrees. Is it any wonder that I kept adding to my list of presents of blankets, socks, tights, hats and scarves?

Our 8 days together were such a blessing!

Day 1: They arrived on the 23rd, after a long trip by car on icy roads to Des Moines the day before, a 6 AM flight to Denver and then LAX, and then another drive to Bakersfield. That afternoon when we got the cousins together, Amelia and Sydney started playing dress-ups just like they had last July. And Nathan couldn't get enough of Cade's Nerf guns and action toys.



I also discovered that I would need to get sneakier about getting pictures of Amelia. She likes to step away or turn her face when she knows you are trying to take a picture!

 Then when Isa and Cade had to go to their last practice for the Christmas Eve program, Sydney came with us to go see Grandma Lue. They sang songs to her that were so sweet.  

Well, for some reason I can't get any more pictures to post, so I'll do Day 2 later!