It was a wonderful at-home Christmas this year. We received a record-breaking amount of snow (biggest storm in 60 years, supposedly) which resulted in several inches at our house. And the timing was great - we didn't leave the house in the seven days preceding Christmas. Good thing we do Christmas small, and good thing Nick and I declared a "gift of self" Christmas for each other - my favorite kind!
The best part was having all my siblings and their families here. My kids love all the aunt/uncle attention, and the cousins always have a great time together. Here are just a few of the pre-Christmas festivities.
Kathryn is really into doing hair lately. It feels really good, so I always cooperate with her. Lucky for her, Uncle Chace did too. He is such a great sport - I can't imagine that having sticky 3-year old fingers running through your hair and a comb cutting into your scalp felt good to him, but he endured it all with a smile.
I love these pictures of Kathryn with Auntie Kiki ("She's sooo cuddly - she's my cuddliest auntie ever!") To avoid getting her hair done, Kiki suggested they take pictures of themselves. Quick thinking.
I'm not sure where I came up with this outfit, but here I am valiantly trying to keep my chickens alive during the continuous snow fall. They HATE getting their feet cold, and literally would not come out of their coop to get to their food. I bundled them up with a heat lamp and insulation and made-to-order food, just for Christmas. You can tell I really like these little ladies. And speaking of foul...
One poor little turkey named Isfahan had a killer of a Christmas. My mother has a particular fondness for her turkeys, and didn't have the heart to butcher them for Thanksgiving as originally planned. But come Christmas time, the maternal feelings must have left her (at least relative to the turkeys) because she was intent on cooking one up for dinner.
Poor Chace got the privilege of doing the dirty deed with Dad. My unfortunate siblings-in-law - they had no idea what they were getting into when they married Mikkelsens. "Normal" is such a relative term... and they're all such good sports! Chace got the whole experience - from butchering to plucking to washing to dressing. And the final product:
Farewell, Isfahan - it was nice knowing you, and nice eating you.
Which leads us to the much-anticipated Christmas day! Breakfast must consist of at least pigs 'n blankets and orange juice, which the kids are learning to love as much as I do.
As mentioned before, the first trip out of the house in a week (for our family) was to my parents house on Christmas. I had attempted the trip the day before out of desperation that my baby sister was there and I was not soaking up her company, but alas - I didn't make it up the hill, and came home defeated. My dad promised to come pick us up on horseback, if necessary, to get us there Christmas day. Thankfully, it wasn't necessary.
Here is just a glimpse of the living room before the present exchange began... we could barely get into the room. It was amazing.
And it got better from there! We have a family tradition, torturous though it is to the in-laws, that we open one present at a time so we can ooh and ahh sufficiently. It wasn't really feasible this time around, but even a modified version of our Christmas tradition provided quite a lengthy bit of entertainment.
I'm not sure what Kate is doing, but Dad apparently has everyone captivated. And then comes the sing-along, where Dad takes every request for favorite Christmas songs, or any song for that matter. Thanks for the accompaniment, Dad.
Little Ava favors us with a kindergarten song. It was so sweet. And what inevitably comes with all this music? That's right, dancing.
Jack was really feeling the beat. This picture will be great blackmail when he grows up.
For those who don't know, Jack is obsessed with pirates. He made it through only the first part of the evening without changing into his preferred attire. These scarves were meant for the kids to dance with, but he recognized their potential as pirate paraphernalia right away.
Max was getting in the action as well as he could for being a little guy. He enjoyed trying on as many shoes as he could find - especially Lani's boots.
The day after Christmas, four of the guys took off for a two-week trip to Panama. Those left behind still had a wonderful time together, even with the ratio of boys to girls decreased.
You get the idea - my kids have the best uncles in the world. And other than Christmas day, my favorite part of the holiday were times like these:
My sisters are the best company in the world. It's a treat to all be together, and this evening we enjoyed a particularly fun, uninterrupted time together. The party went till 2 am, when we closed with this parting clip. (You can comment on which sister you vote as "Judy.")
...spending time with Grandma and Grandpa, cousins, Aunt Nikole, and Uncle Nathan. You could have put us all in a cabin in the middle of nowhere, and we'd have come up with fun just being together. Of course, Disney World is a blast, but so is our family.
We'll return for more "magic" in a few years, but until then, the memories of the wonderful time we had are keeping us all happy.
