Christmas 2008

The whole Williams side of our family came to Walla Walla to spend Christmas with us this year! In so doing, they win awards for bravery on many levels.

1) The weather all across Washington State the week of Christmas was absolutely crazy. We had more snow than we've seen in our 9 years here and even the Western side of the state (where my brothers and parents live) got dumped on with snow. Conditions were treacherous and it took everybody at least twice as long to get to our house...but we were SO glad they did!

2) Anybody who knows us knows that our house can be a crazy and chaotic place...usually exacerbated by Christmas (gifts, sugar, etc.) My siblings don't have kids yet so imagine the culture shock involved with Christmas at the Nielsons! They did so well, though, and were very good sports.

We loved having them all here, played and visited and caught up - lots of truly quality family time. Here are a few pictures of our time together:

The traditional Christmas Eve picture with stockings
(notice the already apparent effects of sugar consumption)


Everybody in the matching PJs we gave them and forced them to wear
(see "good sports" above)


Twas the Night Before Christmas reading
(minus the boys who are listening on the other couch with Nana and Papa)


Aunt Erica playing games with the boys
(and their totally made-up rules!)


Games 'n' puzzles
(Lee, Lisa, Nana, Alyssa, Diane, BJ)


Gotta love Guitar Hero! Scott and Brad ruled!


Such a special Christmas for us. Danny was particularly cuddly the other night and I asked him what his favorite thing about Christmas this year was. Without hesitating at all he said, "Having the Aunts and Uncles here" Many thanks to Nana, Papa, Scott, Erica, BJ, Diane, Lisa and Lee for making memories our kids will hold dear for years and years to come.

Here you go, Rita!

Our friend, Rita, specifically requested a family picture from the office party we went to the other night...

Kristen, notice the great photoshopping job I did on my outfit ;)

And THIS picture...I just had to post it because those who know Jacob's shy personality will find it hilarious and adorable. He LOVED Santa...almost more than he was made nervous by him!

Birthday, Gingerbread & SNOW

Yesterday was Brad's 38th birthday! He had a great one - got spoiled rotten at work and at home. He is such a great Dad and husband. We love him a lot.

Another fun event from yesterday was our annual gingerbread house making class! This is a fun tradition the kids and I take part in every year. It's actually a graham cracker ginger bread house (graham crackers instead of ginger bread) that is put on by our local YWCA. Lots of fun! The kids had a great time, as usual.


Then this morning the snow started up again BIG TIME. It has not let up once all day long. We've been holed up, doing laundry, watching movies, enjoying the fire and occasionally braving the outdoors to shovel the drive way so Brad can get the car in when he gets home tonight. The kids haven't had school since Tuesday because of all the snow and my sister-in-law just called to let me know that tomorrow is yet another no school/snow day!
That's A LOT of quality family time, people - wish us luck!

Holiday Fun

We had a Saturday jam-packed with seasonal fun this weekend!

The day began with our first serious snow fall! The flakes started coming down while I was walking the dog at about 8AM and continued all day and all night! Everything looks so pretty and the snow coming down in flurries was the perfect backdrop to our Christmas-y day.

First, Alyssa and Danny had their last basketball games of the season. That probably doesn't sound very festive, but since poor Brad got conned into coaching both teams this year the end of the season felt like a reason to party! He actually had a lot of fun coaching their teams, but his schedule the past few months has been crazy because of it.

After the big games, the girls had their Christmas piano recital - that is always a fun and festive event. Each one of them continues to do well with piano and it is really fun to hear them play. Alyssa mastered 'Jingle Bells' and 'Jolly Old St. Nicholas', Haley played 'Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree', and Amber learned 'Oh, Holy Night'.

The grand finale of our day of Christmas fun was attending Brad's new office's Christmas party. This is a party held annually and it is quite the event - a catered dinner party held at the country club in town. The dress is semi-formal and, needless to say, it's a little bit fancier party than the Nielson clan is accustomed to attending! It was so much fun, though (not stuffy at all.) The food was wonderful, the people were friendly and at the end of the evening Santa made a special guest appearance! He brought with him a gift for each child in attendance (somebody went to a lot of trouble to plan this party!) and called them up one by one from his "nice list". I was impressed with how family friendly the evening was and Brad and I were very proud of how well behaved our kids were (a testament to the power of parental threats!) It was a great evening.

Our Christmas Mystery

Christmas traditions are such fun and we have a lot of great ones that we enjoy each year. One of our fairly unique Christmas traditions is the annual receiving of the Christmas card from the family we swear we don't know! For the last SIX years we have gotten a Christmas card from a family in Tumwater, Washington who we don't know. We are both positive we don't know them.

The first two years their Christmas picture was just of their kids. So, though the parents' names didn't ring a bell for us, we figured that either Brad or Amy must know the wife and didn't recognize her new last name. Year 3 changed everything. That year they sent out a family picture with their cards (Misty - another reason family pictures might be an improvement over child-only Christmas pictures.) The family picture confirmed for us that WE DO NOT KNOW THESE PEOPLE. AT ALL. So of course the only logical thing to do at that point was to...send them a Christmas card back! For the last 3 years this family has received a Christmas card from the Nielsons and Brad and I have chuckled wondering if they look at it and wonder who the heck we are! Now they have their own Christmas mystery and their kids, like ours, can squeal with delight on the exciting day in December when the card from the people they don't know arrives! Oh, the magic of Christmas!

Thanksgiving 2008

We had a great Thanksgiving holiday up in Canada! Yes, Canadian Thanksgiving is in October, but Nana Barb cooked us up a fantastic turkey dinner for American Thanksgiving (thank you, Nana!) Here are a few of the week's highlights:

1. First off HAS to be that Brad's alumni basketball team won the entire tournament this year AND Brad, himself, came away unscathed! His only injury this year (aside from total-body-soreness) was a bloody nose!
Yay Brad!

2. We had a great time with family. We loved spending time with Nana Barb, Papa Brent, Auntie Carolyn, Uncle Tylor, Halle, Maddie and Alaina! The kids played so well together and were all very well behaved. The house was decorated up for Christmas, which was so fun and festive.



3. Canadian junk food rules. Seriously. It's the best. We had many Slurpees (they're WAY better up there), bought our year supply of Canadian candy and had our fair share of oddly-flavored Canadian potato chips (Szechwan flavored was a new one...then the usual Dill Pickle, Ketchup, etc.)



4. We had a fun afternoon at Waterton National Park and learned that it's gorgeous in the winter, too! We especially enjoyed playing on the new playground!


5. The travel to and fro was relatively easy this year - the roads were great up and back. Our only snag was that Danny decided to break the Nielson family record for 'Number Of Times Vomited In The Car On A Single Road Trip' (6 times on the way home!) Kudos to Amber who sat next to him 1/2 the way (I finally traded places with her after vomit #3) and helped him very lovingly - what a nice sister!

All in all, a GREAT week and a very fun time! So much to be thankful for this, and every, Thanksgiving. We feel very blessed as a family.