Christmas 2015 is in the books

We are experiencing our first snow/sleet storm of the winter today.

The sleet is hitting the windows so hard, it sounds so nasty out there.

And so ends our Christmas 2015 celebration.

I took all the Christmas decor down this afternoon except for the trees and I replaced it with all my snowmen, seemed appropriate for today's weather.

It is always bittersweet as the last of the guests leave.

Today Courtney, Paul, and the girls took off in the midst of the storm for home.  It took them 2 1/2 hours but they made it safely.

Our Christmas started on Christmas Eve day when Alissa and Nathan arrived around 3:00.

We headed over to Kev and Vikki's for our Christmas Eve festivities.

The White Elephant was a great time, as usual.  We enjoyed great food, good drinks, and fun conversation.

This was Courtney and Paul's first Christmas Eve to stay home and start their own traditions.  I must be mellowing in my old age because I was fine with it and actually looked forward to an adult night.

Here are a few photos from our Christmas Eve:

On Christmas Day, Courtney and family arrived around 2:00.

The girls loved their gifts and took lots of time to play with them in between opening the next one.

Our big gift to Tiz was a desk, she loved it and our big gift to Soliana was a doll house which she also loved.

My mom gave Tiz desk supplies and she gave Soli two families and a car for the doll house.

Over the next few days, those two girls played so much with their gifts.

Made me feel really good about the new gift giving-Something you want, something you need, something to wear, something to read.

We had a great dinner of chicken and rice after lots of snacking in the afternoon.

Later that night, the six of us opened our exchange gifts.

It was great fun and I think everyone enjoyed what they were given.

Photos from Christmas Day:

On Saturday, the day after Christmas Day, we stayed home and played with all of the fun, new things.  It was a stay in your pajamas kind of day until 6:00 when we went out for pizza at Capn's in Fort Atkinson.  We had won the pizza party at the Alpha LIfe Resource Center Silent Auction.  Kev, Vikki, and Mal joined us.  It was great pizza and another fun night.  When we got home, the girls, John, and I watched ICarly and the girls, husbands, and Mal went out on the town.

On Sunday, we went to church, played some more with the desk and doll house and then John and I took the girls to see Alvin and the Chipmunks movie in Johnson Creek.  Courtney and Paul spent the afternoon and night at a Bed and Breakfast in Cambridge.  We had said Good bye to the Hunters in the morning as they headed home to Bloomington.  Took the girls to Culver's for dinner and then it was more ICarly snuggled together on the couch.

Today, was our final day with the girls.  We had planned on going to the Children's Museum in Madison with some free passes that we also won at the silent auction, but the weather changed our minds.  We did some more playing and just enjoying each other's company.  It was a fine way to end our Christmas.




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So, we put this Christmas in the books.  Many new memories were made, old memories were rehashed, and a great time was had by all! 
Now on to our New Year's Eve celebration in Door County.