Merry Christmas!



First Photo with New Camera of Cathy's Tree

Wow! I realized it's been a while since I posted. December just flew by...I had a crazy busy month with working at Harrington, tutoring like a mad woman, finishing up teaching the tots art class and Christmas shopping. It was nuts...and now it's almost over! I can't believe Christmas came and went already! This year I just couldn't believe it was Christmas time and now it's done! Geez, time flies!

We just got back from a nice week in Omaha for Christmas. We stayed with my sister at her new house. Her house is really nice! It was also super nice to have a place to stay with our own room and bathroom..oh and a garage spot! We had fun shopping one day and getting our nails done too!

 We spent Christmas Eve with my Mom and Cathy in Omaha, doing our usual routine of eating at Biaggi's and opening gifts at Cathy's. This year we went and saw a movie too, Little Fockers, which wasn't that great, but it was fun anyway.  We spent Christmas Day with Joe's family and extended family in South Dakota. We also had another "Christmas Eve" with Joe's parents the day before Christmas Eve. We went out to Big Fred's for pizza with some friends had lots of fun. It was nice visiting family and friends, but the time always goes so fast. So many people to see and things to do. We did get some time to just hang out and relax, which was nice.

Frosty Morning in Flandreau, SD - 12/26/10

We got some great gifts for Christmas this year! I was super surprised to receive the Cannon DSLR camera that I put on my "wish list" thinking I would never get that in a million years. Joe's parent's always spoil us. I still can't believe I got it. They are WAY too good to us. I have been playing with it ever since I got it and I took lots of pictures in South Dakota. I think I want to take a class or get a book on it so that I can learn all of the fancy tricks to taking good photos. We'll see. I will be sure to post some pictures.

Joe got all of the toys he asked for to go with his new guitar. Now he should have everything he needs! We always get so much nice stuff for Christmas, from all of our family. I feel guilty coming home with a trunk full of new toys, but it sure is fun playing with everything this week!

More soon and more pics, I'm sure!

Here is the slideshow of some of the photos I took. Hover  below and click on the play button to play on this blog.
Or view full size on my picasa page here: http://picasaweb.google.com/116844502255534108940/Christmas2010NewCameraPics?authkey=Gv1sRgCKmwss_TqLuQwAE&feat=directlink

Snowed in on Christmas

So we decided to leave for Omaha a day early to beat the bad weather that was headed for the Midwestern states. We left Tuesday at 2:00pm and arrived at my sisters in Omaha around midnight. We left behind a couple inches of snow in Chicago, drove through some near freezing drizzle in Iowa and Illinois (which wasn't really that bad) and arrived in Omaha to find some rain and then ice the next day and now almost a foot of snow! Our usual Christmas day in Flandreau, South Dakota was cancelled for those of us who were driving from out of state. Our "Zimmer Christmas" is also up in the air for tomorrow due to the weather,... and if it happens will be a very small group of people! What a strange Christmas it is turning out to be!

The "Christmas blizzard of 2009" started here in Omaha on Christmas Eve during the day and is still going strong as I type this. There was only a couple inches of snow on the ground when we headed out on Christmas Eve, but the wind was so strong it was blowing the snow everywhere and pelting us in the face.... no fun...not to mention Omaha already had huge piles of snow on the ground from the last big snow storm they had a couple weeks ago.

So, we managed to get out to church on Christmas Eve with Joe's parents and Andy. Was nice to be back in the church where we were married, even though it was super crowded and standing room only at this mass. I love that church at Christmas and all the time. Its such a nice place to be. Feels like home when I'm there.

After that we went out with my mom and sister for our usual Christmas Eve ritual. We had a nice dinner at Biaggi's and then to my moms and back to Cathy's for presents and treats. It was a nice night and Cathy even managed to get my mom out of her snowy parking lot when she left for the night. There was a lot more snow at that point and my moms car was not made for deep snow at all!!

So we woke up on Christmas day with the hopes of going over to Joe's parents but we were snowed in for sure. There was at least 8-9 inches of snow on the ground and the drifts were super big all around the cars. Boo. So we are stuck at my sisters for today, hoping it will be better tomorrow and we can get out and get over there. But, we tried to make the best of it, Cathy and I played UNO and ate some snacks and a few of the cookies I made. Joe watched basketball and movies. The dogs are getting a little stir crazy because they haven't been on a walk, but they probably wouldn't enjoy a walk in the snow that's taller than them. :-)

Anyway, so this blog is being written to pass some time, as you can tell. We are a little bored, but we are hanging out. Not often we just sit around with our family, even if its just Joe and my sister and our dogs.

So I better get back to doing nothing.... Merry Christmas to all of you and hope wherever you are you aren't having as much "white Christmas" as we are.