Christmas Day 2011

It is Christmas morning and Lucas wants to play with the presents.  He knows they are covered in one of his favorite things, something the big people call "paper", but how can he get that paper separated from the other thing and into his mouth without someone stopping him!

Ray and I had really wanted stockings for the kids for Christmas morning but after lots of looking we could not find any.  In retrospect we should have brought some with us because stockings are not part of Swedish Christmas.  We were so lucky that our Danish cousin Trine wanted to make some for us and mail them to us.  Thank you Trine and we love our "Danish socks"!  When Annalise saw her stocking she remembered picking out the fabric and she was excited!

The stocking has "God Jul" embroidered on it which is Merry Christmas in Swedish.  These stockings are very special to us and we will use them every year from now on!

Annalise is excited!

Yes blocks!!

We gave Lucas his elephant blanket for Christmas. We will see if it will become as beloved as "Bubu." 

Santa gave the kids a few toys to share.  This one is from a Julmarket in Denmark.  It is a rocking horse that rocks down a ramp.  A hit with both kids!

Annalise got her first real computer- exciting! She is teaching both of us how to use it!

Now that the presents are open it is time to play with everything! Mmmmm ... blocks!

After some play time and a quick nap we took the bus across town to eat Christmas dinner with our dear friends Hannah, Wes, Ellie, and Sadie.  Thank you for having us over and making us feel so welcome!

This was our second Christmas with no family (but our first 6000 miles away from family!).  Our first was the year Annalise was born and Ray and I both have fond memories of relaxation and expectation!  This year was sad and both Ray and I felt homesick.  Thanks to skype we got to spend lots of time talking to family but of course it is not the same as being there.  Overall it was a good Christmas but it is nice to know next year we will be in Arizona surrounded by family and friends and probably much busier than we'd like!