We had 3 wonderful Christmas celebrations this year. First, we celebrated at our house a few days before the 25th. Santa was so kind to make an early stop at our house to accommodate our travels! We left him a plate of milk and cookies, along with some carrots and an apple for the hard-working reindeer. All the food was gone in the morning when we woke up! Speaking of waking up the next morning - Cassidy was the first to crack open her bedroom door. I heard her in the hallway, but she was too excited and overwhelmed to peek into the living room on her own. She came into our room, and I told her I'd walk out with her, but I asked her to give me a minute to "get 
dressed." All I meant was that I wanted to grab some socks and a warm sweatshirt. But she ran out saying, "OK! I'll get dressed too!" A full 10 minutes later, she finally emerged from her room in her "fanciest" clothes (which ended up being her beloved twirly skirt from Grammy and Aunt Belinda, which really should have had a shirt on underneath, along with her ballet slippers and a crown). By this time, Gavin was awake too, so we made our way into the family room to check out the tree together. The gift-opening started right away. Cassidy had been saying for weeks that she desperately wanted a "talking Hiro", which is a special train character from the Thomas the Train movies. She was thrilled that Santa had one with her name on it. Gavin is too young to have a real wish list, but he was very excited to open some new books and a special plush Thomas train that plays bedtime messages when you press a button on top. It was a magical Christmas, and we spent the whole rest of the day immersed in toys!
A couple days later, we made our way to Rockford to celebrate Christmas with the Reders. This year, we arrived to find that Grandpa Reder had set up his old Lionel train set in the basement. It had been a gift to him from his grandfather back in 1950. It needed a little TLC, but it was up and running most of the weekend! The kids were fascinated and spent hours downstairs watching the engines chug along with Grandpa at the controls.
So neat! We had fun visiting with the whole family. The kids love seeing their cousins! We all went out together for a wonderful brunch at a local cafe on Christmas Eve, and we spent the rest of the day exchanging gifts and going to church just before dinner. Once the kids were asleep that night, the adults had a gift exchange. This one is always calmer than the daytime kids' exchange! It was a wonderful day all around.
Christmas morning, we woke up and got right in the car to join the Brown family for our next
celebration. We always love seeing Grammy and Grandpa Brown, Aunt Mel and Uncle Aaron, and of course Cooper the dog, whom the kids adore (despite Gavin's current hesitation around all canines!). We had a Christmas morning gift exchange, and had a relaxing afternoon spent playing with new toys and catching 
up with everyone. The kids took their naps on Grandpa's lap after all that playtime! Grammy made a delicious dinner (homemade Swedish meatballs are the tradition!) and Erik and I got to enjoy a night out to see a movie later
in the evening. The next day, we went to a morning church service and watched the Bears game together (a win!).We had such a wonderful visit with all of our family, and we are so thankful for all the Christmas blessings we enjoyed throughout this season.
