We started out in Green Bay on the day before Christmas Eve with Papa's Pizza in tow to feed the hungry foreigners who miss our Chicago way of doing things with Pizza.
Christmas Eve began with Mass to celebrate the true meaning of the season, the arrival of baby Jesus.
The family was joined later by some close friends in Green Bay increasing the joy brewing in the household. We were honored by a visit from Santa and his entourage of wife and elves. Everyone had enough nice marks to receive a present. Even Bob and Don.
Of course, the big surprises were on Christmas morning when the children awoke to see what Santa left under the tree during the night. Elise received the biggest dollhouse I have ever seen. I can only imagine what it took for Santa to assemble it. It had to be that large to accommodate Barbie and Ken.
The best part of the time however, was the individual. time I was able to spend with each of the children. Spinning with Robbie, eating grapes with Jacob, cooking with Ella, playing angry birds with Jack and playing air hockey with Elise to name just a few.
We returned home the day after Christmas to get ready to head south but not until we celebrated a little more. I had a holiday meal for my favorite nurses from Mt. Sinai and another one for my brother Jim and niece Lindsay. We celebrated New Year's Eve in style with champagne and dancing with our friends at Grand Haven, and headed out the day after New Year's for Atlanta and one more Christmas with Mike and his family.
More presents. Ollie loved his Buzz Lightyear toy as did Drew, but the best gifts of all were a coffee table book Don bought him about the stars and planets, and the old walkie talkies we gave him out of the camper. Those were "the best presents ever". The stuffed animal I gave him which was collecting dust at home also seemed to out play Buzz. After we stored up a lot of the giggles and hugs to keep us warm for the rest of the winter, we hopped into the bus and are now ready for our annual exile to Florida.