Zach had a great idea to bring a birthday cake for Jesus.
December 23rd is traditionally the day my immediate family celebrates Christmas. It is the only "holiday" we spend together, just us. Recently fondue has been a favorite. It is a great way to space out dinner and open gifts between courses.
I saw the movie Marley and Me and loved it!! It reminded me of my own mischievous clearance puppy.
Our first family Christmas celebration was at T+D's last weekend. My favorite part was that the party lasted two days. The highlight for the kids was, of course, the gifts.
For Hannah there were lots of Barbies, Ponies and her first Easy Bake Oven cake.
Zach had to sleep with his Rancor.
Aaron got a Nintendo DS and forgot how to talk, except to remind everyone not to let Uncle Brian play when he went to bed.
There was plenty of food, fun and bull rides from Uncle Bri. Saturday we spent the whole day in our P.J.s. Who has time to get dressed with all the new toys? We did get bundled up (well some of us anyway) to enjoy the snow.
Since this is the story of our journey to find our child I should include that I have had a little trouble getting into the Christmas spirit this year. When we submitted our Dossier in March I thought even conservatively we would be home with our child by Christmas. I was not expecting to spend my free moments this holiday season redoing stage one paperwork and trying to shake the feeling that we are back at the same point we were last Christmas. I try to remind myself that what I'm going through is nothing compared to what my child is going through and I'm lucky to be surrounded by people I love this Christmas. However, this reminds me that my child will spend his or her first Christmas alone. So, bah humbug, I didn't decorate. Luckily there are people who decorate enough for all of us.
Seriously? Christmas lights aren't tacky enough?
P.S. CIT has named switches after Brian and I, the BT and RT series. This is what we look like, I have no idea what we do.
I'm so excited for Maren, another family wedding and another brother!!
Maren's annual Christmas party was fun too. Jeff came dressed in his Christmas best.
Ruby Lou Who and Ella too made appearances. 
Ella worked hard as our guest photographer.
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Guests lined up for pics with the bride to be.
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_Then to cousin Ali's house for games and a place to spend the night.
Finally arriving at Grandmother's house around lunch time Friday for another entire Thanksgiving dinner. At this point I'm really full but never too full for games with my cousins.
We missed out on Black Friday but did our part to help the economy on Saturday. Shopping with a group this big sometimes means stepping out of your comfort zone.
Hey is that Topher Grace?
One of my favorite things about the holidays is that they are loaded with family tradition. For my mom's birthday this year we gathered at Grandma Angie's for a Kumla dinner. My mom is 100% Norwegian and I think she gets bonus points for having grandparents named Ole and Lena. So foods like Kumla, Kringla, Lefse, and even Lutefisk occasionally make appearances, especially around the holidays. I don't love these potato balls as much as my Norwegian heritage says I should but I love the idea of generations of my ancestors gathering to make and eat them.
Teaching the younger generation is important. Grandma Angie wasn't sure she could remember exactly how to make this delicacy so we got some help from Uncle Ernie's recipe in the St. Paul's cookbook. They turned out pretty good!!
It is not lost on me that our child will long for traditions celebrating his or her heritage so I'm sure there will be a future post about a Pelmeni dinner. 
On our way out the door Brian and Ken were making plans to relive the Rook game where they shot the moon and won. While I'm annoyed Maren and I will never live this game down I can't help but think Grandpa Reuben is smiling down from heaven. Ah tradition!!
