Miller Time: 2014

Hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! We got a little bit of a wrench thrown into our plans when we all got sick less than a week before the big day, but we were all together and we know that's what really matters. It's been an extremely rough month on my floor at Children's, and it's hard to feel sorry for us when I know so many people who would love to be at home with their kids for Christmas.

Our Christmas celebrations started with church on Christmas Eve. Afterwards Ellison and I managed to bake a few more of the cookies we had started earlier that day (very late to the cookie making this year) so that we had cookies to put out for Santa. The kids got to open their Christmas Eve gifts - they each got new pajamas and a book - before bathtime. We read The Night Before Christmas, plus Kellen's new book (A Christmas Prayer), before he went to bed. Ellison stayed up a little later to decorate a few cookies - and eat one! - and then we read her new book (The Crippled Lamb) and finished up her Advent calendars. She told me to buy a new one since we were all done. That girl!

Then Jay and I set up the presents. I get so excited to see what the tree will look like with all the gifts underneath...it makes Christmas feel so magical to see everything ready to go!

Santa ate his cookies and drank his milk!

Advent calendar - all finished!

Christmas morning, we had our alarms set early so we could shower before the kids woke up. I actually ended up going into their rooms to plug in their Christmas trees (and make a little noise) because we needed them to get up so they could open a few presents before church! Ellison was SO excited to see the tree and wanted to open all the presents right away - whether they were for her or not. Jay had made a breakfast casserole in the crockpot the night before, so we had breakfast ready to go. Unfortunately...Ellison wouldn't eat it, Jay didn't feel well enough to eat anything, and I couldn't taste anything because I was still sick too.

I ended up taking the kids to church myself. Thank goodness my aunt Tina was there because I'm not sure we would have survived the whole service otherwise! Because Jay is a trooper, he was dressed to take a picture with us when we got home. He definitely knows how important certain things are to his wife :)

Then we let Ellison dig in to the presents! Kellen wasn't that into the whole unwrapping thing yet. He liked playing with the bows and paper once they were off, though! Ellison's big gift was a dollhouse (which her wonderful Daddy set up for her on Christmas night, despite feeling absolutely awful). Others that she wanted to play with right away were Kinetic Sand, a magnetic dress-up Anna (Frozen), a doctor kit, and any gift that was Kellen's. And Kellen finally has some toys that weren't Ellison's first! So far we've played with the Little People airplane, some cars, and a drum, but at this point he just wants to chew on everything :) They both got some new clothes and books (my favorite thing to shop for), and Kellen got a personalized duffel bag like Ellison got for her first Christmas.

After we finished up at home, we headed over to my mom's. Gramma and Papa really know how to throw a Christmas bash! The hit of the day (probably the hit of Christmas) for Ellison was her horse, which she named Bullseye. She had to go back and take a quick ride in between opening her other gifts. She also loves her singing Elsa doll and Lincoln Logs. We haven't let her play with all of her gifts quite yet...there's enough chaos in the living room for now!

Jay didn't make it to the extended family part of Christmas with my family. He ended up going home sick before anyone else got there. He never gets sick, so it was definitely a bummer that it happened on Christmas! We didn't stay late either - both kids were pretty tired, and Ellison really wanted to play with her new toys.

Here's Ellison after opening all the presents at Gramma and Papa's...

Friday night was Christmas with the Warzinskis. We are so lucky to still have my stepdad in our lives, even though he is no longer married to my mom. I'm very blessed to have such a wonderful second dad! Jay, Sandy, and the rest of the family are SO good to us, and the kids absolutely love seeing them. It's sad that Jay and Sandy don't live in Wisconsin anymore, but we are looking forward to having a place to stay in Florida when we decide to take a vacation someday! Ellison loves the Duplo farm that she got from Grandpa Jay and Grandma Sandy. It was one of the only toys she saw in a catalog before Christmas and said she wanted.

Saturday was supposed to be Christmas with my dad and Nancy, but it got postponed to Sunday with everyone being sick. I'm finally on antibiotics now - I need to go back to work on Tuesday! We also still have to celebrate with the Millers. It's hard to make plans with family when you live far away from them and have to work around the holidays. But we are looking forward to it, whenever it happens!