Christmas in Connecticut

My mom and dad and Tory came to our house for Christmas!  It was such a treat to get to wake up in our beds on Christmas morning.  We had a great, great time and they put up with all the snow and cold weather.

Nannie came with edible craft projects.  Lilly loved it!  She got to put the sprinkles on the chocolate-covered oreos and she really went to town :)

Pre-sugar overload meltdown

Tracking Santa's progress on Christmas Eve

We put together a plate of snacks for Santa and his reindeer.  Lilly insisted on tasting the milk before we put it out.

Settling in to read The Night Before Christmas and the true account of Jesus' birth

Sledding

Lilly went sledding for the first time!  We've had a lot of snow this winter and Mike got out of work early, so we headed to a small hill at the school next door.  It was COLD so we were bundled up like snowmen.  She liked it, but we probably took five runs (of 20 feet each) before she had had enough and we headed home for some hot chocolate.

Christmas Tree Shopping

Since were were going to be home for Christmas this year, we decided to cut down our own tree.  We went to a farm in Glastonbury on a sunny but bitterly cold day.  Mike and Lilly kindly let me look at just about every tree before finding the right one.  And they only complained a little bit :)

I think at this point they were discussing how it drives them crazy that I have to see ALL the options before making my decision.

Here it is!  Our tree!

Then I made everyone pose with it...

And by now Mike was frozen and just wanted to cut it down.

Done!

Visit to Hazleton

After our visit with Amma we headed to Hazleton to visit Mike's grandmother Clemmie.  She is so sweet and we love that we're close enough that we've gotten to see her several times since we moved to CT.  She showers us all with food and love and Lilly with lots of Tastykakes!

Lilly got to try out Clemmie's new massage chair and loved it.  Lilly's life is so rough that it took a while to work the knots out :)

Lilly had a REALLY strange love for Clemmie's magnifying glass.  She actually just thought it was cool to see her breath on it.

Reading together

Clemmie just treasures Lilly.  She's a lucky girl to be so loved.

We stayed in a hotel and when we walked into the room Lilly stopped in her tracks and asked "Whose house is this?"  It occurred to me that she hasn't stayed in a hotel, at least since she could remember it.  The weather was snowy and the roads were icy, so we stayed in and had a picnic dinner.  She was in heaven with her own little bed right next to mom and dad.

The last time

The week after Thanksgiving we headed out to Pennsylvania to visit my grandmother Amma and Mike's grandmother Clemmie (see the next post).  We had a great visit.  We got to spend a lot of time with Amma.  She watched Lilly play and they played together.  We caught up on everything going on with the family and talked about our little baby.  It was a beautiful time with her.  She told us that she was having a hard time breathing at night, but we thought it was just something that could be pretty easily cleared up.  She was in wonderful spirits.  I will treasure that visit forever.

Three generations of nosy women :)

She often called me her clone.  She called me that a lot that weekend.

Being silly with Lilly

Playing doctor.  Lilly pronounced her blood pressure good.

I am so thankful for that time and for my wonderful Amma.