Christmastime!

Christmas in Wheaton with Granddad and Nonna - what a wonderful time we had! It was our first Christmas there since Mattias was a baby (yes, that makes 4 Christmas visits where each of our 4 babies had their first Christmas there, so I think we know what to expect now with babies and Christmas celebrations...). One of the highlights was the beautiful snowfall we had on Christmas Eve, which was on Sunday. We were the only siblings/cousins in the house for Christmas this time (until the Brink cousins came for two nights at the end of our stay).

Of course Mom decorated the house so lovely  - every room of the house and even the bathrooms had cute Christmas decor and lights. The only exception was that she saved the tree until we arrived so we could decorate it with the boys. They loved going through the boxes and hanging up the ornaments. You could certainly spy which sections of the tree (at about knee level for the adults) had been thoroughly decorated by Timo and Mattias.

Most of the 9 days that we were in town were VERY cold (single digits temps) but thankfully Nonna pulled out lots of toys from the attic, so the boys stayed happy and busy indoors with the toy kitchen, micro machines, cars, old GI Joes and tanks, army figurines, muscle men, and lots of books. The first day, Timo kept repeating, "I'm so happy, I'm so happy" as he pulled out army guys and cars.

Mattias loved the kitchen and insisted on wearing the chef hat and serving us food on little plates and cups

Look who is sitting so well and pulling toys out of the box!

the GI Joes from Jim and Steve's childhood were a HIT (thank you, Mom, for saving these for 30 years!)

On Christmas Eve we went to the morning service at church, and then played outside in the snow. (Well, more accurately, the men played/worked outside; I went out for 5 minutes and then hurried back in for another cup of coffee.) Thankfully some friends loaned the boys snowpants and boots! What a peaceful, beautiful morning.

Timo shoveled snow with SUCH enjoyment! He worked for quite a while and pretty thoroughly cleared the sidewalk in the front and along the street. Later he told me, "See, I can do that now. You know why I'm so strong? Because I eat all the food you give me."