Christmas!

Christmas Eve:

My mom, siblings, Aunty Kathy and Uncle Pete, and I went to visit my Grandpa. He's looking good! My sibs and I went on a tarantula run (more on that later) and then I stopped back home to pick up Dan before heading back to my parents' house. We had dinner, opened gifts (each year, instead of getting gifts for everyone we swap names) and watched a Muppet Christmas Carol. 

Everyone was back! All five of us haven't been together since August! 

We got my dad a Kindle Fire :) 

Meagan, Molly, and I noticed we were all wearing the same color, so of course we had to take a sister picture.

We surprise-visited Grandpa in his new assisted living center.
He was super excited to see us! He read us a poem about a mouse that drank some guinness, jokingly named my baby Melvina, and told us about how he has "sugar-diabeetus" (which of course we joked about for the rest of the day). 

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We got my  mom a tarantula for Christmas!
She loves it and named her Daisy. 

I'm not totally sure why, but we got sister nightgowns from my mom :)
We wore them while we watched a Muppet Christmas Carol and ate cookies. It was perfect. 

Christmas Day:

We went back over to my mom and dad's for a good breakfast that included black pudding (the sausage, not chocolate pudding), dipping eggs, bacon, and corned beef hash- so lots of meat haha. We have a tradition of seeing a movie as a family on Christmas. This year, the guys and girls split up- I don't remember what the boys saw, but they got to sit in a newly remodeled theater with fancy chairs. The girls saw Annie- and it was so good! After the movie, Dan and I went to his mom's house for Mass, dinner, and family time!

My mom also made all of us new 'weasley sweaters". I haven't read Harry Potter and I've only watch a few of the movies, but I'm glad we got these sweaters! Everyone can use a good monogrammed sweater :)  

Check out my handsome man in his new sweater :) 

The next few days:

Meagan and my mom came over to help me clean out our second bedroom/soon-to-be-nursery! They did most of the work, which was wonderful! Aside from a crib and some random baby supplies, it's all cleaned out and ready to be painted!

Molly and Meagan came over for dinner and a movie. Molly is Nella's new best friend- Nella knows she's not allowed on the couch, so if she keeps two feet on the floor it doesn't count :) She half curled up on Molly's lap and fell asleep for the movie!  It was super cute.

Dan, Meagan, and I went to my favorite Hmong market and finally braved the hot food line! Usually we just stick to spring rolls, but this time we got some chicken curry soup, sticky rice, and some egg rolls. I couldn't leave without getting some spring rolls too. Meg and I both stocked up on those and tried a bean bun. . . it was interesting.

On Saturday, Dan and I went to a 50th anniversary party for his aunt and uncle. At dinner, they projected their wedding video and it was so cool to see! There were also lots of toasts and songs and it was a good evening :)

Sunday was a soup day. Dan made a delish turkey and wild rice soup while I worked on painting the nursery. We went to my mom and dad's house for the packer game and then my mom, dad, brother, and I went to a graduation party for a friend.

I made french toast with a dulce de leche type sauce and banana slices for breakfast. It was very sweet and very delicious. 

I though pomegranate season was closer to Thanksgiving time, but the pomegranates I've had in the past few days have been very, very tasty! 

Bean bun. Mine was red in the middle, Meagan's was green. 

I started painting the baby's room! 

Poor Nella broke a nail :( It looked really sore and she started limping a little after a play session.  After some googling to see what I could do to help her feel better, I soaked her little paw in epsom salt, put a little neosporin on the nail, and covered it with a sock. Hopefully her nail gets better soon! 

Tonight Dan, one of his sisters, and I are going over to another sister and brother-in-law's house to do his side of the family's gift exchange. The rest of Dan's siblings, their significant others :), and his mom are in cincinnati visiting Elizabeth and Greg since they couldn't come home for Christmas. We'll have a skype party as we open presents!


It was another good Christmas! Now onto the new year :)