Christmas Update

So I have been MIA for a bit. A couple months to be exact. But I am back in action and things are (I say this hesitantly) somewhat slowing down. I am sorry I know we have all left the holidays a long time ago but I am going to revisit them again. SO here is my holiday update:

Christmas was spent in two parts. And this year we did not have to travel anywhere. Everyone came to us!

We spent Christmas Eve with Alex's family over at our house. It was very fun and very relaxing. I would post pictures but I forgot the CD they are on so I will have to post them next time. We attened the Christmas EVe candlelight service at our church which was beautiful and packed! We had a nice traditional Christmas Eve dinner with ham and mashed potatos and Mom Ganzel's delicious pumpkin pie for dessert. Stella kept us all entertained by just being her! And we opened up all of our presents to each other. One of the funny parts to the evening was Alex's 5,00 gifts he recieved from his parents. (It was combined Christmas and birthday) but they were all individually wrapped tools so it took him for ever and he kept getting embarassed.

Alex and I woke up bright and early on Christmas morning to drive down to the Springs where my whole family was waiting. When we walked outside we were greeted to beautiful fluffy white flakes! We did have a white Christmas. We drove in the snow the entire way down to the springs until we got within four miles of my sisters place and then yup not a flake in sight. It was quite funny. But we got to my sisters place and we felt like Santa bringing in tons of packages. It was a really fun morning with my parents, Sarah, and the boys. We had a great time watching Henry and Cole open presents along with each other.
One of the big moments of the morning was when my Dad opened his present from all of us. It was a long board skate board that Alex made for him. He had been working on it for months and along with the help from one of our friends designed and made it from begining to end. I could (and might) dedicate an entire post to the making of the long board. Needless to say my Dad now has a new hobby that he is dedicating much effort to mastering.
I finally got to open my big package from Alex that had been sitting under our tree for months (o.k. well it felt like months). Our friends had begun to joke that he had gotten me a rifle for christmas because of the shape of the package (it looked like a gun case). Instead it was a professional tournament volleyball set and a new v-ball! So fun. I am now set much summer v-ball fun! I know it will definantly get used.

We had quiche for breakfast and a yummy turkey dinner.
(Can you tell this is the first turkey I have had the pleasure of cooking. Slippery little fellow!)

The day after Christmas I spent the day in bed (feeling sick) and Alex and my dad hit the slopes. I was thankful for a day to just rest and they had a blast on the mountain.

Then on New Years Eve we all went to Fort Carson to welcome my brother-in-law Captain Clay Hanna home from fifteen long months in Iraq. It was a very emotional event to see the soldier of the 2nd Brigade Combat Team and their families reunite. I will post pictures of that later. What a relief to have Clay home. He showed us pictures and filled us in a bit on what he did during his time over there. But what was most precious to see was Clay playing with his boys wrestling and tickling and hugging them.

The rest of the time with my family while they were here was spent talking, eating (surf and turf), one long search for a never found sledding hill, games, and snowboarding/skiing.

It was great to have them all out here and a wonderful holiday season. I am so thankful for the blessing of all of our family.