2010 Holiday Recap

Today, as I took down all our Christmas decorations, I found a little time to reflect on the wonderful blessings I have in my life.  I won't lie, prior to Christmas I was feeling a bit Scrooge-like.  For some reason, I just couldn't get into the spirit of Christmas.  I loved watching the kids delight in the season, but I just couldn't get excited myself.  But after spending time with family and seeing Jackson and Morgan fill with excitement, I couldn't help but feel blessed.  And like every year, I was sad to put away the ornaments, the stockings, the tree, and the decorations today.  It is such a special time of year, I hate to see it come to an end (even when I was Mrs. Scrooge).

So after getting everything put away today (between running to the bathroom with my potty training duo, lunch, and naps), I sat down to sort through our pictures of the season.  Here are my favorites to give a recap of our holiday season...

Morgan posing by Grandma & Grandpa's Christmas tree (in Jackson's Polamalu jersey).  We arrived at my parents house in Nebraska on the 23rd and the Steelers were playing that night.  Couldn't leave home without our Steeler attire. 

Two Polamalu fans!

Wow!  Santa arrived at Mom & Dad's a little early.  We celebrated Christmas with my Mom, Dad, brother, & my sister's family on Christmas eve morning.  The kids were in heaven!

Morgan with Cousin Garret - so excited to start opening presents.

The Cousins - Mason, Morgan, Jacob, Jackson, Nolan, & Garret

Let the gift opening commence!

Jackson, Garret, & Nolan working at Jackson's new work bench (Thanks Uncle Jeff!).  Jackson is pretending he is talking on the phone with Granny & Pup Pup in Pennsylvania... "Yeah, yeah, sure, sure.  Merry Christmas to you too!  Okay, bye-bye.  Doot, doot, doot."  The doot's are the beeps of the phone as he dials or hangs up with someone... so funny! 

My nephew Mason posing for the camera... talk about one lean, running kid!

Jackson trying to get in a little more play time before we left for church.  Isn't he handsome in his Christmas outfit?

Not sure what this face was about!  Maybe Morgan didn't want to go to church?!

My sister's family - Mason, Lisa, Garret, Mike, Jacob, & Nolan.  I love seeing everyone dressed up!  And I know someone caught a picture of Tom, Jackson, Morgan, and me that evening in our Christmas best, but it wasn't on our camera... bummer.  So maybe I'll have to post that later. 

Another photo of the cousins.  We couldn't miss an opportunity to catch them one more time. 

Grandma & Grandpa with the grandkids.  I really can't believe we got them to all sit still for photos at this point!

My Dad giving Madi a little extra love.  Poor Madi really does get forgotten sometimes. 

Jacob & Jackson watching Toy Story.  I think Morgan was wanting to cuddle up there too. 

Christmas day was spent with some of my Dad's side of the family.  The kids loved reading books with Uncle Greg (and Aunt Dianne too).

Morgan's helping Uncle Jeff shuffle the cards for the next hand of cribbage. 

Grandma & Morgan

My brother Jeff helps Jackson build a Lincoln Logs barn for the tractors.  Jackson loves tractors these days.  He even got a John Deere sweatshirt from Grandma & Grandpa... looks so cute on him!

Morgan playing in the toy box.

Another cheesy grin from Morgan. 

Mom, Morgan, and me at dinner at Red's Steakhouse in Vermilion.  Super yummy dinner!

Jacob, Garret, & Dad at Red's.

The whole family!!  So glad we got a shot of all of us, even if it wasn't that clear. 

Morgan had to lick every drip of the bread dip from the plate.  It was so funny to watch - but such poor manners.  Oh well!

Poor manners at the dinner table must must be a family thing!  I think Garret got up to 10 straws in his mouth... or maybe it was 12. 

Finally back home on December 30th after a long drive in the fog and wind.  Thankfully the weather wasn't worse though.  We ate dinner and got the kids to bed.  Then we set to the task of playing Santa for the kids at our house.  We even put out cookies.  We had told the kids that we let Santa know that we were gone on Christmas to Grandma & Grandpa's, so he would make a special delivery for us when we got home.  The new kitchen was from Santa and the easels were from both sets of grandparents.  It took us until 3 AM to get the three things assembled!

December 31st - even though it was New Year's Eve, it was our Christmas morning.  Both kids headed straight for the kitchen.  Here's Morgan's first pose with it. 

Jackson discovered the kitchen phone right away and set to the job of calling everyone he could think of.  Remember his doots from earlier?  He did those probably 15 times that morning. 

More cooking!

And now time for more gifts from Santa. 

Jackson loved his new Lego set from Santa and plays with it everyday now.

Santa realized that we really weren't prepared for Wisconsin winters... or at least he didn't want Tom wearing his ski gear when he goes out to snow blow the driveway. 

All the new toys are out... what a mess we had.

Morgan with some of her new gifts - a baby stroller, baby bottles, new hair ties, and a brush.

The Lego truck was officially completed that morning.  This was at about 11:00 and we were all still in our jammies... that's allowed on Christmas, right?

And my new coffee mug - customized by Tom just for me.  It has the hand prints of Jackson, Morgan, and Tom plus the year "2010".  I love it!  He also gave me a new coffee maker - the Tassimo Brewbot!  So cool!  But what a horrible picture of me.... why didn't Tom remind me to do something with my hair at least?  :)

I have no pictures from New Year's this year... a very low key one for us.  Tom made us a yummy prime rib dinner, but we didn't even enjoy a glass of wine with it.  We got the kids to bed and we watched a little TV.  We made it to midnight, but I think we were in bed by 12:15.  How pathetic!  I think we were so tired from the travels that we were just glad to crawl into our own bed again. 

It was a wonderful Christmas & New Years for the Neuberger family.  I hope you all had a very blessed holiday too!