The above photo makes me laugh-- they were just laughing about something and you can see my dad in the middle of making one more wise crack. Grandma Alpha also has a nice smile here.
Below Zaria does a little people-watching in between present-opening. She's holding some fuzzy socks she got from my mother-in-law, her Grandma Marla. It was pretty neat to be able to bring Jamin's folks with us to have Christmas dinner with my dad's side of the family. Marla often has to work on holidays, but had today off. She enjoyed sharing a bit of her family history that went back to Red Wing, where we celebrated. Her family is currently in California, so it was interesting to hear a little of her Minnesota roots. We missed Jamin's siblings today, all of whom are now in Colorado. They also got together to celebrate and we talked to them briefly over the phone.
Oh no, Christmas is not over yet. We were still sick on the 23rd when we were originally going to meet with Dad and Dawn, so today was a make-up Christmas day. Zaria had already opened all her presents at previous get-togethers, so she helped her Uncle Jason open one of his presents tonight while Great Grandma Wilma watched. It was a fun afternoon and Zaria was in a fabulous mood, even with just a short nap in the Pack-n-Play.
Zaria tried on her new sweater from Marla, and we found one more package from Jamin's grandparents in California. Zaria loves musical toys, and was mesmerized by this one that has little dancing animals that move to the music. Gives me flashbacks to working at Circus Pizza.
The above photo makes me laugh-- they were just laughing about something and you can see my dad in the middle of making one more wise crack. Grandma Alpha also has a nice smile here.
It's Christmas Eve, and after several stories of hunting adventures and misadventures, it was nice to see these four men get red lumberjack shirts to keep them warm and make them more visible to hunters. Left to right: Dave (my stepdad), my stepbrother Brian, my brother Jason, and Jamin. I told Brian I was impressed that he was wearing Christmas colors with his Wild hat. Jamin was feeling much better today. We still took it a little easier, but today went well and we enjoyed time with family. Zaria really seemed to get the hang of opening presents, too. She has had practice recently with her birthday after all.
