Christmas v.MN, Part 2

And then it was Christmas morning. One new thing we had this year for Christmas morning that I hope becomes a tradition was Jen's chai spiced hot apple cider. She makes and sells her own blend of chai, which you can check out on her etsy site. I'm assuming she used the mulling spice to add some amazingly tasty extra flavor to hot apple cider. Seriously the best cider I've ever had, and if you're unfortunate enough to live somewhere cold right now, I highly recommend making yourself some. But stupid me didn't take any pictures of it, so you'll just have to believe me.

So, Christmas morning, Santa, and all that, then.

Lily was probably most excited to see that Santa and the reindeer had eaten the cookies we had left for them.

She's still talking about it, actually.
And then we moved on to presents. Stocking presents are kind of a big deal at Nana's house. Lily was more than happy to join in.

Ben and Erik may have been less thrilled.

But I'm pretty sure Lily's favorite stocking stuffer was the orange.

But it was fun to open them.

Shari and Lori were supposed to be there on Christmas day, but they were snowed in (winter=total crap). At least we were able to visit via technology. And we still had our ugly ornament contest. (I was totally robbed, btw. My ornament was the worst, but it's in poor taste to vote for yourself. Next year is mine, I tell you.)

Later on, we had a big turkey dinner.

Since there were enough cooks in the kitchen, Lily and I set the table.

This picture cracks me up. When the food started to land on the table, she was ready to eat it.

Eventually, the rest of us sat with her, too.

And that was Christmas in Minnesota, and since I have no logical way to work these pictures in, I'll just put them here. Mom's townhome is on the corner lot and they have a big pine tree in a rather prominent position. For the last couple of years, they've been stringing blue lights on the tree, and this year they added a star on the top. Since it looks like it's no easy task to put it up, I thought it deserved a couple of pictures to share with the four five of you.