As I mentioned earlier, our little family of four celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve day. We ate our apple dumplings, opened gifts, listened to Christmas music and just enjoyed the day with each other. That evening, we headed out to church. My brother's three youngest kids were in the Christmas program. Each of them had to say a piece into the microphone and sing two songs with their Sunday School class. All three did a great job--not needing any help with their parts at all! It's so fun to watch them every year, and I look forward to when Gemma turns 3 and can participate, too.
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| Gemma opening a gift. Harper is waiting in the wings in hopes that she will need some help! |
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| Our little family before Christmas Eve service. |
After the program was over, we headed to Jeff's parents house. Jeff's sister is lucky enough to celebrate her birthday on Christmas Eve, so even though we arrived a little late, we wanted to be there for her day, too. (Coincidentally, my sister celebrates her birthday on Christmas Day! We don't usually get to see her, though, so we make a quick call to her.)
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| Celebrating a birthday! |
On Christmas Day, we opened gifts with the Lin family and my mother-in-law made "hot pot." (I'm not sure of the proper Chinese spelling, so I won't even try!) It's basically a pot of boiling water that sits in the middle of the table. You pick the meats (scallops, thinly sliced beef, these Chinese balls of fish, ground pork balls, chicken, etc.) and veggies (mostly spinach and bok choy) that you want to boil and make your own little soup. Delicious!
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| Gemma with G+G |
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| Gemma's pretty Christmas dress from Grandma |
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| Harper felt she should have gotten more presents |
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Cousins in matching dresses. E is showing Gemma who is boss! :)
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| All three Lin babies! |
It was a hectic weekend and Gemma didn't sleep well at Grandma and Grandpa's house. So, we were all a little exhausted, and ready to get back into our normal routine. That didn't really happen, though, as we decided to pick up my niece Kaitlin on our way home. She spent a few days with us while she had days off of school.
We celebrated Christmas with my side of the family on New Year's eve day so that my brother's kids could all be with us. (It ends up working out really well this way, so we're really not driving all over in a couple of days span.) I sadly forgot our camera from this day, but managed to steal a few pictures from Kaitlin's mom. It was a fun day. My mom made a big turkey dinner, my brother's kids said their pieces for everyone, and Kaitlin's family acted out the Christmas story with Gemma posing as baby Jesus. :)
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| My side of the family--Minnesota cousins! |
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| Gemma and her oldest girl cousin, Kaitlin. |
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