Christmas 2010

This year for Christmas, my family celebrated in Greenville, S.C. at my Aunt/Uncle's house. We all decided that it would be best if we went there as it would have been hard to be at grandma/grandpa's house given the passing of grandma. So Gary, Julie, the 2 dogs, and myself all loaded up the car and headed for our 14 hour road trip from Chicago-Greenville.

When we got there the weather was beautiful, but on Christmas Day they had a record amount of snow. It had only snowed on Christmas Day 3 times in the last 100 years. I will say, that it was beautiful, but did make for some rather scary driving home through the mountains.

One thing that I've always been really proud of is my Swedish heritage. On Christmas Eve, my family always has a traditional Swedish dinner followed by a HUGE Swedish brunch. I LOVE it! Our Swedish heritage is something that both my grandma and grandpa were/are so proud of and they have instilled such pride within me.

Of course there were also lots of gifts to open. There is no shortage of gifts in our family!

The newest addition to our family was Tessa and Newton. I must say that even though I am not a big animal lover, they are pretty cute.

But most importantly though, there was family. Spending time with family is something that I love more than anything. My family is so close. This Christmas, while it was extremely difficult to celebrate without my grandma, I became so grateful for the legacy that she left behind. She raised a wonderful Christian family and so much of our family connectedness is attributed to her relentless desire to pray for each family member everyday and to remind us to live daily for Christ. I am so appreciative that I have a close Christian family that I can always turn to in times of hardship.