Christmas 2009 - Part 1

We made it! We ended up having 11 straight days of having plans at least in the evening (some of our Christmases were during the day), and even though it was hectic, even though Max was still recovering from being sick, even though we had many late nights, it was a great Christmas. For the sake of blogging ease, I'm splitting it up into three posts. I'll start with the Rassi Christmas at Dad and Mom's on the 24th. We had lunch, then did the Nativity play with the grandkids (and Grandma and Uncle Greg) dressing up to be the characters, sang Christmas carols, opened presents, ate supper, and in between talked and laughed and just enjoyed being together. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of the Nativity play since I was the narrator this year.

Presents!

More presents!

Aunt Ellie holding Nora

Mom with her personalized cake pan

Max with his red kitchen from Grandpa and Grandma Rassi! He absolutely loves this thing...every time he wakes up and comes out of his room, the kitchen is the first place he goes.

It was a big hit. :)

The boys played some foosball...I think Jacob won quite a few games!

Settlers of Catan...I don't remember who won this one.

Max and Nora went to bed pretty quick after we got home that night. Since they were in bed, Greg and I did our own exchange of gifts. No pictures of it, but my gift was A NEW COMPUTER! I'm pretty excited about it! :D The next morning Max and Nora opened their presents after they woke up.

Nora with her present 'from Max'

She likes it! :) (It's a ladybug pillow buddy.)

For some reason, Max was never just wild about opening presents this year. I'm sure next year we'll be wishing he would be a little less excited. :)

Yay, a bath toy! (A boat that is self-propelled)

We were a little nervous about how Christmas Day service would go...this is the scene at about 9:10. Oh, boy.

Much happier after church! This is Nora's Christmas dress, a gift from Paulo and Roseli. Greg didn't think it looked 'Christmasy' enough, but I overrode him. It's blue velvet with a frilly blouse...not every Christmas dress has to be red, green, or black!


Here are some Nora giggles for you.

I wanted a picture of us with our tree.

Christmas Day in the afternoon we went back to Dad and Mom Rassi's, this time for the Gramm Christmas. We had some wonderful brunch food and had a great time being with family, even though it was a small group this year. The only picture I have is of Lincoln...he loved 'holding' Nora, even crying and getting upset when he had to give her up!