On December 22nd Jane played her violin in our church congregation with her
teacher and other violinist friends.
I look forward to many more concerts and performances...
especially holiday ones!
On December 21st we wrapped last minute gifts, made Hygge-pudding,
and started our family movie marathon (Mission Impossible).
On December 23rd Mr. Nielson and I took our three beautiful daughters
to The Nutcracker in Raleigh.
the performers, the colorful costumes, and the live orchestra is
quite possibly my favorite part.
On December 24th we took the Nies to Star Wars at the movie theater.
My opinion of Star Wars is this: boring.
And as per our Christmas Eve tradition, we stopped by the local
fire station (just a block from The White House) and
dropped off some Christmas cheer (chips and salsa).
We always honor the fireman on Christmas Eve, and
feel so grateful for their service as they are away from
their loved ones on the most sacred of holidays.
We came home and as per tradition (and practically the entire world),
the Little Nies opened up their new Christmas PJ's, put them on and then
posed together on the couch for me while I took photos.
This year they included cute little Norwegian elves that my mom gave me
for Christmas. These elves are family heirlooms and I am so lucky
they are in my possession this year.
(Thanks to the Little Nies for putting up with the
photo, it truly was a Christmas miracle).
feel so grateful for their service as they are away from
their loved ones on the most sacred of holidays.
We came home and as per tradition (and practically the entire world),
the Little Nies opened up their new Christmas PJ's, put them on and then
posed together on the couch for me while I took photos.
This year they included cute little Norwegian elves that my mom gave me
for Christmas. These elves are family heirlooms and I am so lucky
they are in my possession this year.
(Thanks to the Little Nies for putting up with the
photo, it truly was a Christmas miracle).
Then we watched Santa on the NORAD tracker get closer and closer
to North Carolina. Once Santa showed up in Haiti we had
a little family devotional recalling the birth of Christ, reading out
of scripture and reading what
our modern day prophets have said about that holy night.
We prayed then the Little Nies all went to bed.
Well, not really, they went up the stairs armed with food, card games,
board games, and a stack of Christmas picture books to read to Lottie.
Mr. Nielson and I popped in the hot tub and ending up staying
in way too long which put us back (if you know what I mean)
and we didn't get into bed until 3:00 am.
