Day 116

Saturday December 11, 2010

Christmas had arrived!! I've come to realize that the entire month of December is Christmas, one celebration after another, as it should be!

Today, we started our annual Christmas weekend with the Dawsons. Ever since they returned from Holland 5 years ago, we have alternated spending an early Christmas weekend with our families. Last year it was at their home so this year it was at ours. The kids were elated to be together and to open presents. We had such a wonderful time!

Nina got her Dipping Dot Maker, while the three boys all got matching Nerf Guns (courtesy of moi...and to Robert's horror....he gave me the stink eye!). Sarcastically, Yvonne said that we should start a pool about how long it was going to take for one of the boys to start crying that they'd got pegged by the Nerf gun. A twinge of guilt kind of emerged in me....but it quickly dissipated! The boys had the Nerf guns at the top of their wish list; Auntie Rosy is the favorite for a reason :) Unfortunately, Yvonne was quite the prognosticator and within 45 minutes Sander was crying. Dang it!!! Eventually, the Nerf battling got under control and the boys were able to engage in combat without additional causalities.

Nina got everyone she loves a Pillow Pet for Christmas, including Sander, Niels and Teddy!
Pillow Pets for Everyone!!

While the boys played S.W.A.T. Nina relished in her Dipping Dot Maker. Eventually, Sander joined in. The entire contraption was way more complicated than it should have been so the kids eventually decided to skip the machine and just do it by hand. It didn't really matter! All that mattered was that they were having fun!!

After playtime with the Christmas gifts, it was off to the Nutcracker Ballet. The kids actually did decent. They were very interested the first half. As Sander later commented, the first part was the best because of the battle scene! Ha!! Boys!!! The second half was a bit harder to get through. Everyone was a bit wiggly but they made it nonetheless and the mama's were extremely proud.

Later that night as I tickled Nina's back, I reflected on what a gift we were being given. Three months ago I would have thought that this weekend was impossible. But it turned out to be very much possible. Here we were all together. Celebrating the miracle of Christmas with our very own miracle....Miss Nina!!