Merry Christmas (part 3)

Since Christmas fell on a Friday this year, that meant we had a whole weekend left to celebrate, even after the holiday itself was over! Saturday the 26th was slated for Mike's mom's side of the family this year. We woke up early (as usual) and Rose promptly put on her new princess dress again - because what else would you wear in order to bake a cake, right?!?

While we waited for the "breakfast cake" (our contribution to the family potluck breakfast) to bake, we worked on some art projects.  Rose especially loved this mermaid mosaic!

We also shoveled the ~2 inches of snow we got, and then finally woke up Mike around 9am (!). And then we were off to Trula's!

We got to see Baby Eleanor (and her parents):

And Rose got to play with all her Rohde cousins:

While we adults talked, snacked, and drank mimosas. :)

Aunt Sara brought a fun art project for the kids to work on:

The finished product!

We opened presents:

Rose practiced "twirling":

And we all just basically looked photogenic :)

photobomb!

Rose received a set of princess dolls from Grandma Roles and Grandpa Fly that all the cousins fell in love with:

After all the festivities, it was finally time for nap. Some of the adults visited other family, then we all met up again for the big Fleischhacker Family Christmas party. I was totally overwhelmed so only got a couple photos:

As you can tell by Rose's expression here, it was getting to be past her bedtime by this point!

It was a whirlwind day, but I cherished every minute of it.  Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Merry Christmas (part 2)

After our Christmas Eve extravaganza at Jack and Marsha's, we hurried home to get into bed in time for Santa to arrive. The vast majority of the presents had already been set out by the tree weeks ago, but Santa did bring a couple presents for Rose. (We wouldn't want Rose to think that Mommy and Daddy buy presents for everyone else but not for her! Also, hiding a couple presents is a lot easier than hiding a big pile of them!)

On Christmas morning, I woke early to put the "Erik Estrada" (i.e., strata) into the oven. In one of our first Christmases together as a married couple, I happened to make this for Mike, and now it has become a part of our beloved holiday routine on Christmas morning.

As the strata baked, we opened presents!

Rose was thrilled with her mermaid doll from Santa, and also enjoyed the personalized princess book we got her.

She also began to spend the first of many hours with her old magiclip dolls and her new castle from Grammy and Grandpa!

Quick hot cocoa break, then back to playing!

 After breakfast she promptly changed into her princess dress from Great Grandma and Great Grandpa, and began to play with her biggie beads from Trula. (Thanks for the idea, Ryan!)

We spent all day hanging around our house, watching the fire, playing games, and eating delicious food. It was wonderfully relaxing, but not the "traditional" Christmas we're used to:   a quick breakfast and gift opening at home, followed by a big Christmas Day celebration at Mary and Mike's, followed by the chaotic-but-endearing Fleischhacker family gathering on Christmas evening.  Perhaps this break with tradition was what got me thinking so much about tradition in the first place!  I felt torn between enjoying the quiet time with just our family of three, and really missing the things that I hadn't realized had become beloved tradition for us with Mike's mom's side of the family. The distance to Hayward (WI) certainly upended our routines this year! Hopefully we can find a new solution that works for everyone next year.

Part 3 will be coming soon!

peas in a pod

Last night we (me, Rose, Mike, Lucy and Mac) all watched the Packers get trounced by the Cardinals.


I, of course, was cheering for "the green team." Rose decided she was going to cheer for "the red team."


I told her, "You and Daddy are just two peas in a pod!"


She responded, "And you are one pea in a pod, Mommy!"

Merry Christmas (part 1)

For some reason this year I was thinking a lot about traditions: Christmas traditions I thought we would have had (but we don't), Christmas traditions I never thought I would love (but I do), and Christmas traditions I have always treasured.

I don't know why I always assumed that Christmas Eve would include a church service for me once I was "a grown-up," since I certainly wasn't raised in the most religious household. I do know that stockings on Christmas Eve and presents on Christmas morning was something I was raised with as the "right" way to handle Christmas presents.  But now that I'm in my mid (late?) 30's, have been married for over a decade, and we have an awesome kid of our own, I suppose what we've been doing the last several years is now the "Burcusa family traditions" that Rose will grow up to treasure, expect and savor as she herself grows up.

So our beloved family traditions now include Christmas Eve with Mike's dad and step-mom, Jack and Marsha!

Mike always spends a few hours re-doing the annual 1000-piece Christmas puzzle that Jack previously completed: he won't eat dinner until it's done!

Jack puts on old-fashioned Christmas movies, like Rudolph. These classics hold a special place in Mike's heart, and now Rose's as well.

Usually Jack ends up napping during the movie. :)

Rose is also getting the puzzle bug from her daddy! She did this one about 20 times, both before and after nap. It won't be long before she'll be able to help with the official Christmas puzzle that Mike completes.

In addition to classic Christmas movies, we also usually zone out to some "bad tv," like this Alaska show that was surprisingly interesting.

Marsha is usually pet-sitting a dog or two. Rose varies in whether she loves the dog in question, or whether she resents it taking some of the attention from her grandparents.

Yummy snacks throughout the afternoon are also clearly part of our holiday traditions with Grammy and Grandpa.

The neighbors (Bob and Ellen, Karen and Allen) come over in the late afternoon / early evening to partake in the delicious snacks and the even more scrumptious dinner: prime rib, scalloped corn, twice-baked potatoes, bread and salad, followed by Sebastian Joe's ice cream. So good!!!

After dinner the neighbors leave and it's time for presents! ("Tired eyes" also made an appearance this year.)

Trula loves Christmas too! Grammy always gets the job of distributing the gifts, and the presents always get opened one at a time, in order from youngest to oldest. Rose did a GREAT job being patient waiting for her turn this year!

Every year I say to Mike, "Your dad and Marsha are SO generous!"

This year we started a new tradition with Mike actually taking my photo instead of me being the sole photographer! :)

Some of these traditions are different from what I imagined for myself as "a grown-up," but I've come to love them all so much. Sometimes the specific elements get tweaked a bit (like the year we tried chicken cordon bleu for dinner), but we always come back to the core elements: family togetherness, generosity, the comfort of beloved traditions, and bellies filled with scrumptious food. That's the Christmas Eve I've come to love, even if there isn't a church service involved!

Merry Christmas eve!

Saturday morning at MOA!

My friend Dotty and I try to get together for a walk with our kiddos every other weekend or so, although we've missed several weeks this fall for some reason. But this morning's walk has been on my calendar for a few weeks, so I had been looking forward to it for quite some time!

We typically go to one of the lakes when the weather is warm (or even just warm-ish), but it was 9 degrees this morning (which will never, ever qualify as "warm") so we opted for the MOA. Typically the mall isn't open when we walk, but there were special extended holiday hours this morning - thankfully it wasn't too crowded when we arrived!

We made about three laps around, stopping at all the requisite photo opportunities.

Somehow Dotty snapped this photo with no one else in it!

Rose was a rock star with completing the expedition sans stroller! (And Dotty and her boys were rock stars at tolerating our sometimes sluggish pace!) To reward us all, we got to go on some "roller coasters" before we left.

The scary thing I discovered today is that Rose is now technically tall enough to ride unaccompanied. Yikes.

Little Miss is growing up!