OH.MY.GOSH. I just looked at the date to when I last posted on the blog. June. I can't believe it has been that long. Actually I can. Life has been a little on the busy side and I guess facebook has taken over my blogging skills. However, I will try my hardest to blog more often....and maybe less facebook. This is for you papa Henriksen:)
Last week we traveled to ND for Christmas. It would be a short visit for us. We left the cities on Friday, getting there late at night. We spent Christmas Eve with my family (which is no longer small, not sure it was ever small). It is now enormous. Last time I counted it was at 25 people! And this is only our immediate family. Our traditions start with going to church, where we take up 2 entire pews. We then head over to Cary and Trish's. We first eat ourselves full with appetizers while we try to figure out the right proportions for our infamous rice pudding. Cary made it this year and I have to admit, it was probably the best we've had in years. This rice takes about an hour to make, with constant stirring. Thus the vast amount of apps and drinks near the large kettle of rice (we all stand close by to wait our turn to stir until our arm hurts). Once done, we drop in a blanched almond and mix it up well. As we top our rice pudding with milk, cinnamon sugar and butter, we try to figure out who has the almond. This year was more chaotic as the "older" kids are now with the adults, which means the odds of getting it are slim. But we have so much fun staring at each other while we eat, laughing and having fun. Now that we are filled to the brim with rice pudding, we now try to eat our Danish Dumpling soup. I was so full this year I couldn't even eat it. But I was able to get leftovers to take home. Its soooo yummy!
And now the true mayhem begins.....Now imagine 13 kids opening presents at one time. The scene was insane and loud; paper was flying in every direction; kids were screaming in delight; and the adults were scrambling to keep their child's presents near them and trying to figure out who it's from. And I loved every minute of it. Our family wouldn't be our family if it wasn't for chaos and mayhem. The little kids go off and play with their toys while the adults play a white elephant gift exchange. This year I got an electric wine opener. A steal for me as I like to drink some wine:) Jeremy got a nice pair of hunting gloves.
Christmas is spent with the Henriksen's. The boys get to wake up extremely early because the anticipation of Santa's arrival can barely be contained. However, they have not figured out that no matter how early they wake up, they have to wait for Dawn, Chris, Mallory, Drew & Syd to come over, which is usually around 9:30. I'm hoping that one day they will sleep in past 7:00am. Until then, I just will continue to drink lots of coffee in the morning:)
As we wait for the other crew to come, the boys fill up with treats (Bennet has found the two dishes with M&M's, which are his favorite). Grandma Kathy bakes a ton of yummy breakfast foods; Logan keeps looking at his stocking full of presents; and Jeremy puts on The Christmas Story that airs all day, but we never seem to watch an entire show.
As soon as the cousins come over we open up our stockings first. This year Bennet has learned that opening up anything that is wrapped is a lot of fun. He was the child ripping up every present in delight. Logan screamed with excitement every time he opened a present. His big items this year were a new "big" bike and a John Deere quilt that Grandma Kathy made. His bedroom theme is.....John Deere. Who would have guessed? Bennet was excited about his blue tractors that he received, as he asked Santa for those in his words..."boo"!
After we have opened our gifts, we fill ourselves with brunch (egg bake, ham, monkey bread, fruit, banana bread). I swear I gain 5 pounds in 2 days while back for the holidays. We then sit around, watch the kids play with their toys, try to watch The Christmas Story, have a few drinks, and pray for a nap that usually doesn't happen.
As we headed out Monday morning, Logan bawled for 15 minutes for Grandma and Papa. It's so hard to be far away from family, especially when your child cries really hard for them. I keep asking Jeremy if we can move back but he's not ready yet. Minnesota is where he wants to be. I guess we will just have to make it more of a point to get back to ND more often.
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