Christmas Time!

Okay, now its time for a slew of Christmas posts!  Instead of one giant post, I'll break it into smaller ones to keep you wanting more. :)  I wrote out what we did for the week and I'll add more of the pics in the upcoming days.

This year we had Christmas with the Hubs' family.  His parents drove from CA to TX to pick up the Hubs' brother, SIL and our nephew Austin, and then drove up to IL.  Talk about a lot of driving!  They finally arrived December 18th and his parents were with us through the 28th.  Uncle Nate, Auntie Jenny and Austin spent most of their time with Jenny's family.  Thankfully they ended up spending the last two nights with us, which was a great surprise!  We loved having the company and of course the girls love their mormor, poppi, Uncle, Aunt, and Austin, as well as all the extra attention.  We kept ourselves busy with fun things around the area.  On Wednesday, the family packed up their car and started their trek back to TX and CA.  As sad as we were to see them go, it was nice to have a quiet home again too.  I was SO ready to get the house back in order that I cleaned the ENTIRE house the minute they walked out, Christmas decor and all.  I usually leave it up as long as possible but since we were actually in town this year, we had enjoyed it for awhile and I was already cleaning up and wanted to just get it all back in order again.  I did not sit down at ALL that day and the Hubs' was in complete shock when he got home from work. :)

Here's what our Christmas break looked like:

Monday:

Had Brynn's class over for cookies, milk, and a movie

Tuesday:

Walked around Gurnee Mills, enjoyed Santa's workshop and looking at fishies, and getting a fabulous hat from Mormor while we were there. :)  

Fun at Santa's Workshop

 What are the boys teaching my baby girls?

 Not cool mom. :)

 Looking at all the fish!

 And lastly a train ride with Mormor.

That night we attempted to go see the Winter Wonderland, a light set up we have near by.  We were low on gas and the Hub's asked about it but I said I thought we'd be ok, I had no idea that the line was FOREVER.  On top of that the Hubs was coming down with a migraine.  So I decided to drive and he was curled up on the floor in the back.  After about an hour of waiting we were about 8-10 cars from the entrance but even once you were in it was moving SUPER slow and with the Hub's dying in the back the last thing I wanted was to run out of gas in there and have no way out and cause a traffic jam!!  So we left, the girls were so bummed but perked up when we drove around different neighborhoods on our way back.

Wednesday:

Enjoyed putting up a semi-successful gingerbread house with Mormor, playing Zingo with Mormor and Poppi, and then enjoying The First Noel while snuggling with them on the couch.

Thursday:

Hit the nursing home that morning, Uncle Nate, Aunt Jenny, and Austin joined up with us for the evening and we went into the city to enjoy the Chriskindlemarket and the Macy's on State's windows and Christmas trees.

Friday: 

Nate, Jenny, and Austin came by in the AM and we took some family pictures.  Afterwards we opened our presents to and from just them, after lunch they headed back to Jenny's family.  That night we drove up to Kenosha, WI (only about 20-25 minutes from us) to see Christmas Ln.- actual name of the street.  SO cute!!  The girls just loved it and every house was decorated, and its completely free!  One house also had a giant train town set up.  He said it takes 2 months to set up!  It was impressive.
This pic is just of one corner, doesn't do it justice:

Saturday:

Went to Christmas Eve service, had a fabulous Ham dinner, and opened presents!

Sunday:

Cooked up some Swedish Kringle for breakfast, opened stockings, and enjoyed a yummy turkey dinner

Monday: 

Us ladies hit the shops while the men cared for the kiddos!  Then Portillos for dinner with just mormor and poppi.

Tuesday:

Met daddy for lunch and just got out and walked the mall.  That night the whole family had a Chinese dinner to celebrate Mormor's birthday.

Wednesday:

Enjoyed Mormor's Swedish pancakes one more time and said goodbye to the family. :(