Busy, Busy Holidays and Good Family Times

The culmination of the year seasonally is fall and winter, and in our household as in many, there are a ton of special events and milestones that are cause for celebration.  Melissa, Madeline and I have the opportunity to celebrate a wedding anniversary, Melissa's birthday in addition to the important and reflecting holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas.  Needless to say, between decorating, traveling and family dinners..this is one of the most busy, exciting and special times of the year!  Melissa is such a special person in our lives that she deserves a great birthday.  So this year as per her request Jon made her favorite..shrimp enchiladas!  If anyone wants the recipe..this one is a keeper.  The night was relaxing..staying in and hanging out with Maddie and then a movie night.  Oh, and we enjoyed the "common" birthday, Christmas gift for both of us...our new high efficiency washer and dryer....that's how we roll!
The preparation for Christmas this year was especially delighting.  With Madeline getting older, we were able to involve her more in depth with our own family traditions.  It was exhilarating to watch her help prep the tree and set it up.  She especially liked bringing the ornaments from Mama to Papa, an subsequently telling us where to hang them.  We even let her hang the star.  It was special.  Other traditions included the extremely popular chocolate advent calendar, with an additional one from Omie for extra choclateness:).  Jon decorated the home more in depth this year from the outside, and the family enjoyed the "lighting ceremony"  Christmas was topped off by a fabulous home cooked meal by Melissa, I mean all four courses, trimmings and candlelight.  We took in the Christmas morning church service to pause and reflect on the blessings God has given us with his Son Jesus.  We are truly blessed!
The holidays wouldn't be complete without the family.  We were again fortunate to spend extended time with both sides of the family.  The day of Christmas eve we traveled to Menomonee Falls to see the Schweinert side of the family along with the Lehners.  It was a great evening with again more home cooked food, celebration and of course the annual "exchange"  All three kids (cousins) got along perfectly.  It was so exciting to see them interact and enjoy the holidays together!.  The weekend after New Years we traveled to New Berlin to see the Meyer side of the family.  We enjoyed good company as well, with a close group of siblings and a great meal provided by Jon's dad!  Maddie enjoyed the company, and all in all it was special to see the family:)  Merry Christmas everyone!
Christmas "break" for our family was a special time.  Melissa had a great opportunity to spend some one on one time with Madeline.  They continue to be very close, and everyone can see that Maddie loves and enjoys being with her Mama.  The time off work and continued park, museum and snow playing was really a great time to sit back and relax for the both of them!
And what Holiday time period would be complete without a daily viewing (not kidding..) limited to 30 minutes of "The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat"  One of Maddie's favorites and continually a request in the morning.  She loves the Grinch...of course the bad guy:)...we're trying to convince her the cat in the hat is really the man...but she likes the green guy.....:)
Papa continues to be thankful and he was especially when his family went all out on his birthday.  Papa woke up to happy birthday's right along side his bed from Madeline accompanied with a great smile.  And the enjoyment continued with his favorite home cooked meal.  Schnitzel..complete with potato salad, cucumber salad and cake!!! Thank you family!!!