To all of you reading this, we wish you a very, Merry Christmas! May the magic of the season be with all of you and may God's blessings shine upon you and yours during this special time of year.
We started our month off by having breakfast with Santa at Arrowhead Golf Course. It's become a fun family tradition for us - four years now. This year was great! There was maybe 20 people at the noon session, the food was hot and ready to go and there were no waiting times or lines. The best part was Easton not being afraid of Santa Claus this year. Both him and Kyla were quick to hop up on his lap and tell him exactly what they wanted.
Kyla joined Girl Scouts at the start of the school year. At this level, the girls are called Daisies. She has only had three monthly meetings thus far, but she loves it! Two of her good buddies from her kindergarten class are in her troop, so she really likes that. She's made some new friends too, which is great. This month, her troop went to the Claire Bridge nursing home to sing Christmas carols with some of the residents and pass out a holiday ornaments. The residents really seemed to enjoy having the girls there, so that was perfect. It's never too young to teach the importance of doing things for others and bringing a smile to a stranger's face.
Easton will soon be finished with his free in-home speech therapy. After that, we will have to decide whether to let nature takes it course or get him additional help through another in-home provider or through services offered by Children's Hospital. At this point, we are taking it one day at a time. He loves Miss Theresa. She will be hard to replace if we decide to go that route.
Both Easton and Kyla had school holiday parties. Easton decorated many sugar cookies. In turn, he also ate many sugar cookies. His teacher, Miss Karen, read Pete the Cat at the end. It was apparent it's a favorite among the kids because they were all yelling out the words and singing along with Pete.
For Kyla's party, they made snowmen out of donuts and decorated them with various pieces of candy. They also made a snowman keepsake ornament and played an ice fishing game. It was a fast and crazy hour, and the kids had a blast! The only thing more fun than the party was the fact they all knew winter break started that same day.
Santa came to visit our house on the 20th. Once again, we had to get word to him that we were leaving for Minnesota to celebrate Christmas with the family. Santa has much to finish up the week of Christmas, but he is always able to accommodate our requests to visit a bit earlier. This year he brought Kyla a new bike and Easton a scooter. He also brought some Disney toys and video games for his two favorite Anderson children.
We left on the 22nd to drive to Grandma's house for Christmas. When we left CO, it was 40-some degrees outside. When we got to the farm, it was below zero. Needless to say, we didn't venture far from the house. Grandma was super good to us this year. She showed us how to make lefse and her Christmas cookies. The lefse making took some practice, but by the end, we were rolling out circles instead of oblong shapes. Hopefully it doesn't mean she will stop making lefse for us? We need more time before we can consider ourselves in the same league as her.
We celebrated with the entire "Anderson" clan on Christmas day. It's a fun-filled day and goes by way too fast. It's always great to share smiles, hugs and time with everyone though. If only for a few hours, a day a year.
We spent the rest of the time in the cities. Again, trying to stay warm. It is funny when 20 feels like a heat wave. Yes, we aren't used to it being that cold for too long out here. (Of course, when we came home, it was just as cold here and took many days before warming back up to more reasonable temps).
Kyla (and Easton too though he won't admit to it because he wants everyone to know he's a complete Mama's boy) had so much fun spending time with the family. We finally had time to drive up to Michelle and Tim's house this year. Two years in the making, but we finally got there this trip.
We must take a moment here in this blog to remember those who were not with us this Christmas. Grandpa John and Auntie Marie, we think of you nearly every day. Christmas is not the same, but we thank you both for the memories you made with us at this time of year and every other day we spent together. You will be in our hearts forever.
We look forward to 2013 and making more lasting memories with our family and friends.
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