Christmas at the Hugs

Every other year we spend Christmas in La Grande with Caleb's family, and every time we do things get alittle crazy (past experiences include, but are not limited to, roasting a goat in a pit and making a turducken). This year was no different. Some highlights include: leaving all 5 grandkids with the grandparents while we went up skiing with Caleb's brothers and spouses, watching Josh stir up a fancy brine for the the goat and then eating the fruits of his labor, and a couple sessions of family pilates (pictures below). This might have to become a Christmas tradition!

Here are some picture highlights

Every year Santa finds it necessary to stop in on Christmas Eve to give all the little kiddos who live in Elgin OR a bag of treats. But don't worry he doesn't tire out his reindeer...he travels via firetruck around the whole town. So naturally, we went out to Elgin to visit Caleb's grandparents and to get some treats from Santa. Hannah didn't want to get her picture taken with Santa, but she did except the bag of treats!

Here I am with my sis-in-laws, Celeste and Elizabeth.

Liz and Kiefer

Great grandma and Peter

Here I am next to all the presents and the Christmas tree. With 17 of us celebrating Christmas together, there's bound to be alot of presents!

Peter and his stalking

Hannah riding around on a horse in her Christmas dress.

Here are the 5 cousins in front of the Christmas tree: Kiefer, Hannah, Peter, Joe and Judah. We took about 30 pictures and this is the one where everyone is looking. :-D

Hannah opening one of her presents.

Hannah and her two favorite presents: a rocking chair and a "puter"

"Slim Jim" riding his horse "Blacky" around the house.

Family Pilates

All of us around the table for Christmas dinner.

Hannah and Grandpa playing with Hannah's new laptop.

Elizabeth giving Judah and Hannah a bath in the sink.

Hannah's Favorite Christmas Carol

Can you tell what it is?




Her new word from the previous post was cinnamon. Kuddos to Mary Beth & Els!

Electric Blanket

So Caleb got me an electric blanket for Christmas. Eventhough I was skeptical at first (remembering the bright pink electric blankets that we owned when I was a kid), this has easily become one of my favorite gifts. For those that don't know, our bed room has heating issues and thus is about 10 degrees cooler than the rest of the house. So now before I brush my teeth, I "pre heat" my bed, and then when I'm ready to actually hop in, my bed is warm! It is also very handy for when I have to get up in the middle of the night (like for small crying children). When I get up I turn the heat back on and then I when I return my bed is still warm. How cool is that!!

(Don't worry, this wasn't my only Christmas present from Caleb :-D)

Can I hear an Amen!

This last Sunday I helped out with the 2 year old child care, so I downloaded the sermon. I was in the kitchen making dinner with Peter and Hannah was playing with Legos in the living room, so I started listening to it. And when the pastor said, "Can I hear an amen?" Low and behold, I heard an amen ring out from my living room. And sure enough when he said it again, Hannah again shouted out amen. Who knew she could say amen? It's not a very hard word, but she doesn't say it after we pray for our food, or after we pray before bedtime, so I just never knew.

It makes me wonder how much she understands. I know she understands everything I say and all the conversation that goes on in our house, but I guess it just never occurred to me that she understands the sermons that I listen too, or the lyrics of the music I listen to. Huh...good thing I listen to good stuff!

Hannah's new word

Can you figure out what she's saying?



I'll give you a hint: it's a spice.

OK, so most of her words are more understandable, but this one is so cute. And just the fact that she's trying is great. :)

Our Christmas Tree

Last weekend we went out and cut down our Christmas tree. We went up with Kim and Ben and found some really nice trees. The weather was sunny and roads were clear. The only bummer was that Hannah was afraid of the snow. She didn't even want to stand on it...so we had to carry her the whole time. But besides that, we had a great time. Here are some pic's.

Here's Kim and Hannah in the Truck.

Here's a scenery shot of our views from the day.

Here's Kim and Ben cutting down their tree.

Hannah and Caleb on the way up to find our tree.

Caleb, Kim and Ben after successfully loading up our trees.

After returning home, we promptly put up our tree and started decorating. Actually, Caleb and Hannah did all the decorating - Peter and I watched.


Hannah decided that it was easiest to hang the ornaments on the lights. She also figured that once she found a good spot, she should hang at least 3 or 4 there. Luckily Caleb was helping to balance out our tree.

Here's the finished product.

This picture is without flash so you can see the lights.

Hannah's moving out

Today Hannah told me she was going home. "To mommy and daddy's home?" I asked. "No, MY home," was the reply. And then she said bye-bye and gave me a hug and went to her home. Here's a picture of her in her home.

Here she is coming out of her home.

Hannah has just recently started using her imagination more. She loved to bring me over "toast" or "meat" in the form of a coaster, which I eat graciously, of course. She will also go over to the wall and pick "beebas." And she shares too. She'll give me some beebas and then go and pick some for baby Pete. She also shares with Ug. And then when we are outside she'll cook up some "hot juice" on her little outdoor kitchen and then she'll bring over a plate of "treats." They are so good I always ask for seconds, which she gladly serves. It's fun living with a 2 year old.