Christmas Joy

The best Christmas gift we could receive from Amazon was to release us early on our last night so we could get some decent sleep before our long drive on Saturday. Our wishes were answered. We were released at 11:00 pm on Friday night with a bag of Godiva chocolates as a good-bye gift. Yum!

We slept until 7 am on Saturday. Kevin quickly winterized the 5th wheel which we left at the campground before we drove to Moorhead, Minnesota. It took us just under 12 hours with one stop for dinner, one stop for fuel and a few bathroom stops. We arrived around 9 pm. Both boys were here. Yippee!!! I feel so blessed to have been able to spend the holidays with my three guys!

On Sunday Cathryn’s family invited us over for dinner. They had not met Eric yet. We had a great time. Dinner was delicious. After dinner I got to help make lefse. It’s a traditional Norwegian dish, kind of a cross between a potato pancake and a tortilla shell. Sorry, no pictures because I forgot my camera, but it was fun working with Cathryn, her mom and her sister. After dinner we played a few games with lots of laughter.

Here we have Cathryn, Korey, Samantha (Cathryn’s sister and maid of honor), Dennis (Cathryn’s dad), Eric, me and Kevin. Her mom, Sharon, was taking the picture.

Sharon took such a nice picture of our family, except doesn’t it look like Kevin and I have arms growing out of our ears :)

Christmas Eve we hung out at Koreys apartment, and then attended church with Cathryn’s family at the church where the wedding will be. It’s a beautiful church! Here’s our annual family Christmas picture.

Christmas Day the four of us went to see The Hobbit in 3D on the Ultra Screen. The guys really enjoyed it. I thought it was pretty good. Then it was back to Korey’s place where we made a delicious ham dinner.

Yesterday I went wedding dress shopping with Cathryn, her mom, her sister and her best friend. We went to three different dress shops looking at wedding gowns and bridesmaids dresses. I can report that Cathryn said yes to the dress, but no other details can be shared. It’s a secret :)  Let me just tell you that she will be a beautiful bride!!

The bride with both moms. Thanks for including me. It was such a fun day!

Eric left yesterday morning to head back to Wisconsin. We had dinner last night with Cathryn’s family at Granite City which is a micro-brewery/restaurant in Fargo. Dinner was delicious and the company was excellent. The manager came over to ask us if everything was okay. Cathryn’s mom told him we were celebrating their engagement, so the manager gave them a complimentary giant hot cookie dessert with ice cream. It was so big all seven of us got to eat some. Here’s the happy couple. Aren’t they so cute!

We had met Cathryn’s family once before in June, 2010. I’m so glad we got to spend a little more time with them. They are wonderful people, and we had such a good time with them.

Today we’re going to check out the reception venue and spend some more time with Korey and Cathryn. Tomorrow we are headed back to Coffeyville to pick up our home on wheels. Then its on to Texas for the winter.

A belated Merry Christmas to everyone out there in blog land.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!