Christmas in Richland

Highlights of Christmas 2011:

Mom bought the girls matching Christmas pajamas. Adorable. Getting a picture was tricky. Guess who's children are harder to photograph?  

Mom also made all the girls (excepting Jane) tutus. And tights and leotards. And wands were involved. Best Christmas Eve entertainment ever.

Grandma Carroll is 92 and lives close to my parents. I hope I grow up to be a sweet old lady just like her. 

Seriously, Cate's FAVORITE present was a box of nerds that Santa Claus left in her stocking. She thought that nerds came in little tiny boxes and so to be presented with a huge box of nerds almost blew her 3-year-old mind.

We spent a fair amount of time chasing Jane around my parent's house, trying to keep her from hurting both herself and Grandma Rose's treasures. The girls kept trying to color at small tables while Jane was hurling color crayons and pads of paper just as fast as we could pick them up.

My parents made our traditional Norwegian Christmas breakfast for Christmas morning. It's always my favorite thing ever. Jane, in her mighty eating fashion, became the first baby to ever try and LIKE every element of the breakfast (meat, bread and cookies). Usually the babies stick to the cookies. My dad also generously opens the good wine at Christmas…

Mom stayed home with the kids and the rest of us went wine tasting. Of course we took pictures. So fun.

And then we came home. I love going but I love coming home just as much. Telfer has been off for days which is about the best New Year's gift you can possibly give me. We have been doing projects together and enjoying our girls. We have never been huge revelers on New Year's Eve. We made steak, opened a bottle of champagne and watched Return of the King managing to stay up until midnight. To be completely honest, I slept on the couch from 10:00-11:55 but since I was awake for midnight I think it counts, right?