Ho Ho Ho....Merry Christmas!

We had a fabulous Christmas this year! Luckily, despite all of the various illnesses that we have endured, we somehow managed to be healthy for Christmas. I am thankful for that most of all (we are since sick....again).

We started off with our annual Christmas party which was a ton of work and a ton of fun as always! The food was great, the drinks were flowing, and the company was wonderful! I think we totaled about 45 people this year!

We celebrated Christmas day with Jasen's family, and then Raegan and I flew to Illinois the next day. Shari made some delicious chicken and dumplings (gluten free! God bless her!) and gluten free lasagna! Delicious! My favorite was the cheesecake factory cheesecake for desert. Had I known that was for desert, I would have eaten much less dumplings and lasagna. Ha! Raegan enjoyed finding the candy canes on the tree, and figured out quickly that if she snapped them in half then the wrapper would break and she could eat the candy cane!

The travelling was smooth on our trip to Illinois, and we arrived to a house full of family! Raegan was excited immediately, and she was yelling, "Papa! Papa!" in the airplane and at the airport when we were looking for my dad. She really enjoyed all of the socialization and attention at my parents. Ben and Andi brought their new little puppy, Yadi, and so the two toddlers had a blast chasing each other all over the house. It kept Raegan occupied.....maybe we need to get a puppy! Reagan quickly learned everyone's names, however somehow "Meggie" turned into "Peggie" and it was a joke during the trip. I even started calling Meghan "Peggie." It's catchy!

It did snow while we were in Illinois, just a couple of inches but enough that Raegan could go out and play in it. The weather was mostly COLD. I ended up buying Reagan a real coat while we were there, because her California coats were just not cutting it. We did a lot of visiting with Grandma T as well, and Raegan enjoyed all of the things that I enjoyed at Grandma's house when I was a kid.....the piano, the little figurines, the cat, the food!

Raegan received so many gifts for Christmas that we have to do some purging to make room! Everyone was so generous and thoughtful. :) She got a lot of new books, so we are enjoying reading those! She likes to show me her toy airplane and remind me that we went on the plane into the sky. I wish I enjoyed flying as much as Raegan.

We had a wonderful holiday, and we're looking forward to a terrific new year! Happy 2013!