Christmas with the Nelsons!

Christmas fell on a Sunday this year, and we knew we had family coming in from out of town to celebrate after Christmas. This meant I needed to plan carefully to make sure we spent time with all the family we wanted to see, as well as had time for our small family Christmas. Chris and I discussed it and decided to invite his side of the family over for dinner on Friday, December 23rd to celebrate the holiday.  

We were pleasantly surprised that everyone was on board with Christmas at our house! It's not something we've ever done before, so we just didn't know if everyone would be accepting of the idea. I decided to do pulled pork, baked potatoes, and mac-and-cheese for dinner, Cassie brought a nice salad, and Sharon brought desserts. It worked out great!

The weather was absolutely frigid this day and had been in the few days leading up to this. By frigid, I mean temps in single digits, which resulted in a main water line bursting. Thankfully, the water company quickly patched the leak, and we were able to carry on with our plans. Unknown to us at the time, though, this water line issue would affect us later!

The Nelson Family

Back Row: Brecklyn, Brooke, Brenson, Brianna, Zeke

Front Row: Joe, Cassie, Abby, Papa, Meme, Chelle, and Chris

After we ate dinner, we opened gifts. The girls were thrilled with their animals that can be warmed up in the microwave!

Brooke, Brianna, Brecklyn

I made Meme a custom "Meme" shirt.

Bren and Papa

Meme, Bren, and Papa

Bren had been pretty sick leading up to this evening. In fact, Chris had taken him to the doctor that afternoon because I didn't like the way his cough sounded. After the struggle he had with pneumonia a few years ago, I'm on edge any time he coughs. He ended up getting some medications that made him pretty drowsy, and I feel like you can really see it in the photos. Thankfully, he was feeling MUCH better about 24 hours after he started the meds. 

Brooke and Brecklyn also both received a Polly Pocket from Meme and Papa for Christmas. Those silly things were filled with confetti, and a week later we are still cleaning it up!

Everyone visiting and enjoying each other's company.

All in all, it was a really nice evening. We visited, laughed, and played, then everyone headed for home around 9:00pm. We are thankful for this time to be together!