Holy smokes! I'm a bit overdue for an update. We had an amazing Christmas holiday this year! We were all sufficiently spoiled, exhausted, and stuffed by the time we made it back to Lincoln after our whirlwind weekend full of family, food, fun, and festivities! We started off all the festivities by getting a couples massage the Saturday before Christmas. In previous years, Craig and I have exchanged pretty insignificant stocking stuffers, so this year we decided to try something different. Craig had never had a professional massage, but definitely needed a little R&R so we decided on a couple massage in lieu of traditional gifts. In hindsight, although we both really enjoyed the massages I think it would have been a better Valentine's Day or Anniversay gift instead of Christmas. I was a little sad when Christmas came and went and we didn't really exchange any gifts! Live & learn....
We started off the marathon that was Christmas with the annual Hassler Family Christmas celebration consisting of Southern Comfort punch, homemade chicken noodle soup, grab bag gifts, and general shenanigans that inevitably ensue when you get all the Hasslers in one place at the same time.
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| Craig started growing his "Stick it to the Man" beard on Thanksgiving, but we were pretty surprised to see the beard trend had infiltrated the rest of the Hassler clan. |
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| Delaney received some great gifts! One of the best was a tote full of dress up accessories from cousin Hannah! She loves that stuff, and is in the tote almost on a daily basis! |
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| Delaney also had a lot of fun with the catnip-filled rate toy Kayla brought for the kitty "Princess". Something about seeing a little girl playing with a toy rat puts you in the Christmas spirit! |
Since the Hassler shindig was in Lincoln, we had a sleepover that night with Grandma & Papa and Jess & Chase. We love to have our house full of family...even if nobody gets much sleep! The next morning we all got up early to head to the Bryant Family Brunch in Omaha at Aunt Jeanne's house. We hadn't gotten everyone from the Bryant side at Christmas together in about 4 years, so this was a big deal! All the second cousins got along pretty well, and we all had fun catching up!
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| Delaney got a super cool magnetic dress up doll set! It's pretty genius compared to the paper dolls of the past! She has a lot of fun dressing up those girls! |
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| Delaney is a little outnumbered with the "Bryant boys". We grow them big in this family! Nolan is 5 and Leo is 2 (he's about 5 weeks older than Delaney), so it's fun to see them all together once in a while! |
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| Delaney wasn't much into the whole picture thing, but she warmed up at the end! |
As naptime neared, we hit the road again to continue our journey up to Tekamah for more festivities! Sunday night was our only chance to be all together & alone with my immediate family. We had a delicious meal of grilled steaks and twice baked potatoes, and then we exchanged gifts. This year we tried something new by drawing names for all us siblings and spouses/spouse to be. We drew names and the gift had to start with the letter "N", and Nebraska Husker stuff was off limits! I think everyone had fun with this, so I'm sure it will evolve more and more over the years!
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| Chase is always such a smiley guy! If you know his parents, this will be no shock to you! |
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| I found this hat for Chase on Black Friday, and I made Grandma get it for him! Isn't it perfect!?! |
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| Thanks to some wonderful eye scratching I had endured, I was in glasses for all of Christmas. Acutally, I just got back into contacts this week...no fun! |
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| This was the year of the iPad. My parents generously gave all of us iPads so we could all stay in touch more! As you can see, they were a big hit with the boys (and us girls too whenever we get to play with them!) |
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| Auntie Jess wanted a picture of her and Delaney's matching pink outfits. Delaney was less than cooperative...surprise, surprise! |
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| Once he got over the shock of the beard, Chase buddied up to Craig for some video viewing! |
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| The annual sibling photo! Yes I'm the oldest, biggest and shortest... |
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| At this point Delaney was a walking zombie hopped up on all sorts of sweets and presents! |
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| The entire sibling photo! |
The next day was Christmas Eve. We spent the day out at the farm trying to squeeze in a few naps here and there. I watched White Christmas with Jaccie while Craig, Steve, & Delaney took afternoon naps! After nap, we got ready and headed up to Tekamah for Christmas Eve Mass and more fun! We had another yummy dinner...Nick made chicken cordon bleu, and it was wonderful!
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| Jess and I dressed the kids in matching plaid without planning it, so pictures were a necessary evil. Grandma & Grandpa coordinated nicely! This was the best picture I had of this attempt...I hope Mom's camera or Jess's had better results! |
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| A little quiet time with Papa and the iPad. I swear these kids can work those things better than I can! |
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| Papa and Grammy saved the kids big kids for Christmas Eve. Delaney got a really neat kitchen set, but she was so tired by this point that she could barely stand! |
We said our "Good-byes" and headed back to the farm to prepare for Santa and the Christmas Day festivities! More food, fun, and gifts to be had! Jaccie made the traditional feast of turkey and ham with yummy pies for dessert! Talk about a food coma!
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| Here are Delaney's Santa gifts! |
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| The theme with gifts this year turned out to be dress up and Princess. This Princess castle is too cute and a big favorite of Delaney's! |
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| Out happy girl on Christmas morning! |
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| More castle time before the cousins come! |
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| Snuggling up with Grandma! |
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| A family photo on Christmas! |
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| Delaney adores her cousin Sydney! I keep trying to convince Brent & Buffye to let Sydney move int our guest room! |
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| Delaney has Papa right where she wants him...opening and playing with baby dolls! |
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| Delaney and Sydney snuggled up in the too-small toddler bed! Cousin fun! |
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| Delaney was having no part of the cousin photo! At least Brent's kids look cute! |
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So, as you can see we had a very full Christmas, and I wouldn't trade it for the world! Thank to you all those that made it so extra special this year! I hope you're was a amazing as ours! Thanks for reading the longest post in the history of the blog!
