Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!  The girls and I enjoyed a quiet day at home today.  My parents came for a short visit and the girls were excited to have visitors.  It was nice to spend some time with them on Christmas. 

We spent the week before Christmas soaking in more Holiday spirit.  It snowed last weekend so we got out for a snowy walk around campus and did a little geocaching.   

The best thing about our walk is that all of the students had left for the holidays so we had much of campus to ourselves.   It is such a beautiful place when it's quiet and covered in snow.

On Sunday, we drove to Nancy Moore Park to do a little exploring.   We had some interesting trail conditions which made some areas a little more treacherous than others.  We experienced ice, snow, and flooding on the trail, but it made for a fun walk. It was just nice to be outside in the woods.

We went downtown on multiple occasions over the week.  It is definitely my favorite place to spend time during the holidays. 

On Sunday evening, one of the local churches had carolers in front of the state Christmas tree so I took the girls for a short walk around the Capitol grounds and listened to the caroling.  It was a nice to see other people out enjoying a little holiday spirit.  And who doesn't love some Christmas carols?

The City of Lansing decorated Frances Park again this year so the girls and I drove through the park to enjoy the lights there while we were out on our annual Christmas light drive.  While it is a small display, it is nice that they make the effort to spread a little Christmas cheer. 

We saw many houses that were beautifully decorated on our drive, but it seemed that fewer people than normal decorated this year.  We still enjoyed the tradition.  It just wouldn't be the holidays without driving around enjoying all of the holiday lights.

We had a beautiful walk at sunset on the Ram trail early in the week to end our Fall.  I wish I could have captured the beautiful sky better.  It was a wonderful sunset. 

We took a drive out to Eaton Rapids later in the week to enjoy a little small town Christmas joy.  It is such a quaint little town and is always pretty all lit up for Christmas. 

The girls really enjoyed all of the new smells and meeting some new people while we were out and about.

Ruby loved all of our trips this week because she just loves to be in the car.

On one of our trips downtown, I was excited to get a picture with both girls in front of the tree.  I really do love it, even though it isn't a great picture.   

We also made our final trip of the year to our favorite taco truck.  It is always a treat to get some tacos from them for dinner and I thoroughly enjoyed my dinner.  Sadly they are now closed until March 1st.  But it's only two months away...I'm sure I'll survive. 

Thursday was my last day of work for the year, and after a busy week, I was happy to get the girls out for a nice walk around the neighborhood Thursday evening and then settle in for a quiet night at home.

I also finally got around to wrapping all of the Christmas presents for our Christmas Eve celebration before I settled in for the night to enjoy the tree.  There's not much better the a tree with sparkly lights and presents.

We started Christmas Eve with a quiet morning.  I also did some cleaning and food prep.  It was a productive morning.

It was nearly 50 degrees and the girls were anxious for a walk by mid-day, so we took a really nice walk around a different part of the neighborhood. It was great being outside after my busy morning of cleaning.  

Then we came home where the girls awaited the arrival of our special visitors.

Nicol and Tyler arrived for our Christmas Eve celebration and Peaches and Ruby were excited to see them both.  Peaches knows that Nicol always brings the best gifts, and she was not disappointed.  

The bones Nicol brought were a big hit and kept the girls busy while we opened gifts and talked.  It was so nice to be able to spend time with my most special girl on Christmas Eve.  Ruby and Peaches also loved having Nicol and Tyler here.  We had a wonderful Christmas Eve together. 

Christmas morning arrived and the girls were quiet most of the morning.   I'm sure that they were still tired from our Christmas Eve fun.   But eventually Peaches decided it was time to open her presents from Santa. 

With the nice weather, the girls wanted to spend a lot of time outside today.  We were also able to get in a short walk before my parents arrived for their visit. 

After my parents left, the girls had dinner and we all settled in for a peaceful night.  While I'm always sad for Christmas to end, I am looking forward to a relaxing week at home.   I'm excited to have the time to do some baking, make some special meals, and take the time to finish some projects around the house, as well as getting the girls out for some fun.  

I hope you all enjoyed a wonderful Christmas as well.  It's hard to believe we're only a week away from the new year!