We had a whirlwind of Christmas festivities this year. It started on December 21, when Tony's parents, Don & Julie, his sister, Kelly & her daughter, Carley arrived at our house. They were
followed by Tony's grandma, Juanita, later that same day. The next day we housed the family Christmas party at our house where we had 42 people altogether!! It was a lot of fun and craziness! During this time, Chelsea was down for the count with a horrible case of the stomach flu. She felt horrible for 2 days, but by Sunday she was pretty much back to normal.
On Sunday, we all went to brunch at the Mystic Lake Casino where Don & Julie were staying. Then, later that afternoon (during a
snowstorm), Kelly & Carley left and then Don & Tony went to a Vikings game (during which the Vikings got clobbered!). The next day, Don & Tony took the kids sledding at a local hill and they had a blast! That night (Christmas Eve), my dad, Gary, flew in to spend 9 days with us. We had Christmas Eve dinner at the casino again and came back to our house to open a few presents. Aft
er everyone was ready for bed, Chelsea & I set out a plate of cookies & chocolate milk for Santa, along with a note that Chelsea wrote saying, "Dear Santa, Is Rudolph real? Yes or No (along with a checkbox). Love, Chelsea Cloyd." It was so cute!On Christmas Day, we had breakfast at our house and then
immediately began to open presents. The kids were delighted that Santa had made a visit and couldn't wait to see what he brought. They all seemed extremely happy with 
their gifts, as was I. I got an I-Pod Nano complete with an armband and a Nike work-out tracking device (Does this mean I actually have to workout?!) Anyway, I absolutely love it! Later on that day, Tony's parents and Grandma left and we had a relaxing, lazy rest of the day.My dad stayed until
January 2nd and we had a wonderful time, again, during his visit. We played ping-pong, played with the new Wii that we got for Christmas, went to the Mill City Museum, played Dominos & Yahtzee and went sledding a lot thanks to the 10 inches of snow we have on the ground. Did I mention that we got a white Christmas?! It was my first white Christmas ever and let me tell you it was absolutely gorgeous sitting inside and watching the snow fall on Christmas. I loved it. So, we had a great Christmas and New Years and, although I'm sad to see it come to an end, I'm looking forward to a wonderful 2008. I hope you have one, too!
