Christmas Recap

Christmas is always so much for us and this year was no exception. As always, it involves a lot of planning, packing, early shopping and days on the road, but the time spent with family makes it all worth it. Obviously, I have tons of photos so I'm going to try my best to just put 'some' of them on here ;) We left the Saturday before Christmas and headed to Iron Mountain, MI, for a family gathering on Wellyn's moms side of the family. We stopped in Rhinelander, WI, for the night to relax and let the kids play in the pool. They had a great time in the water and we're tired out by bedtime. Sunday we arrived in Iron Mountain and were able to visit with some of the extended family we don't always get to see. After that we headed to St. Jaques to catch Wellyns' dads Chirstmas concert with the church choir. The kids were so proud to see their Grandpa up there singing and loved clapping after every song and making the audience laugh. Brendans favorite part was when Grandpa let him talk into the microphone at the end. The next morning we were on the road again for Gulliver. There we relaxed, helped my mom decorate and had a little fun outside. The boys always like going there, mostly because they have dogs ;) The weather was nice enough we were able to get out some and enjoy the snow. I can't tell you how many times I knocked icicles down as a kid! One afternoon we took the kids out in the woods by the house where I spent hours playing as a kid. Brendan absolutely loved it; Aiden, well, I think once his legs get longer he'll enjoy it more too. After our walk in the woods we pulled the kids around on the snow tube. Lots of fun for them, lots of exercise for us! And this is what it looks like after falling off the tube face first! ;)























Christmas Eve brought our usual tradition of dinner followed by gift opening. My sister, Katherine, and her family made it the festivites. The kids were super anxious to open gifts and were thrilled when we finally gave them the 'green light' to starting passing out the gifts. The family photo before the wrapping paper started to fly:







Christmas Day we loaded up and went to the Pomeroys to celebrate. We had a great suprise waiting for us - Wellyns brother Ashley had taken leave from the Air Force and was home for the holiday! Brendan just clung to him; he always worries about Ashley being stationed in Pakistan and says special prayers for him to be safe.



The kids putting on the first puppet show with the puppet theater made by Grandpa Herb and Grandma Donna. I wish we would have had the first ones on video - too funny!
The boys love holding their little cousins; thankfully Emmit didn't mind :)
The Saturday after Christmas was the Alumni basketball game at Big Bay de Noc High School. With all four of the Pomeroy boys home it was 'game on'! Ellie having some snacks - way more fun than anything else going on... although she did yell 'HI DADDY!' to cheer Colin on.

Ellie and Max kept Lindsey and Stacey busy finding things for them to do and eat - whatever one cousin was eating, the other one wanted too!

The guys after the game.

Sunday morning we needed to head out for MN. It was a crazy holiday with all the kids running around and all the different nap schedules so we missed a full family photo at Christmas but we did manage to get on of Ashley with the next generation before we left.

Our trip back was uneventful with the exception of trying out several bathrooms all across Wisconsin... kids always have to go; even after they just went! It took a while to get them settled, but finially they were asleep for the night and Santa made his stop.

The kids before the opening started...

Unfortunately, the rest of our winter break was frigid so the kids weren't able to go out and play much in the huge snowbanks that accumulated while we were gone. I'm still hoping for a little bit of a thaw - at least double digits???