Tales of the dynamic trio: The night before Christmas

Happy 2010 loyal blog readers! I know, I know- it's been forever since I've posted! And believe me, I've been anxious to share with all of you our adventures from Christmas but today is the first day that I've had my camera back since we went to Nebraska. You see, it's always a good idea to check the house before you leave for the airport lest you leave behind a bag that contains your camera, toothbrush, and most importantly, Conner's snugs. Our Christmas was especially wonderful this year, probably due to two innocent children to share it with and an abundance of snow to make it truly feel like Christmas. And since I've slacked on the blog lately, I'm going to write not one, not two, but three blogs (I think) all about our Christmas trip! I hope this makes you feel as though you were right there with the Hatzi since we would have loved to spend Christmas with you!

First up, Christmas Eve. My family has always had the tradition of making a dinner of appetizers for the Christmas Eve meal and then opening presents that night. There have been spins on this, including a hidden bell that had to be found prior to present opening when we were at my Grandpa and Grandma Dano's house. But this year, all traditions were bucked. Instead of appetizers my sister prepared a most elegant Tofurkey feast for us, and Grannie Elaine insisted that we couldn't open presents that night because Santa wasn't bringing anything for stockings on Christmas day. I will cut Santa some slack this year- only because of the snow. I mean, unless his sled had 4 wheel drive or a large shovel attached to the front of it, then there wasn't anyway he was going to make it through the snow drifts in Nebraska. So Christmas Eve was pretty low-key. We ate, the girls watched The Hangover, and Chris and I settled in for a long winter's nap (seriously, we went to be around 8pm or something ridiculous like that!). But most of all we spent Christmas Eve feeling incredibly lucky that we made it to Nebraska before the blizzard hit and instead of spending the night at the Detroit airport, we were spending the night in a blissfully well-insulated house!