R family after-Christmas

After spending the Christmas weekend in Willmar, S had to go back to work.  December through January is his "busy" time at the pharmacy...so many people trying to get things in before the year end, and then re-doing insurance and prescriptions once the new year begins.  G was still on Christmas break though, so we decided that the kids and I would continue on to the farm to spend some time with my family.

We did not get together for an official Christmas with my family this year, but since some of us were there during our visit, we opened gifts together.  On Monday night we opened gifts with Uncle L and Auntie J.  Here the kids are showing off their present from Boppa and Aahma...flashlights - best. gift. ever.

Here are the happy soon to be newlyweds in their new Roskamp Farms Etc. coats.  L's coat had worn out, and for J, this is the official "welcome to the family" coat...although S and I didn't receive ours until we had been married about 4 years! =) =)

This is the sweet gift that G made in school for us.  She was so proud that she helped make this and kept it a secret!

And yes, the boxes are still the best part of opening gifts...

On Tuesday, after I spent a wonderful afternoon visiting my good friend M, we picked up Grandma Kole and brought her to the farm for a visit.  So we opened more presents with Nana!

And the kids put on another Christmas program for her too.

It was a lot of fun to watch the kids play and have so much fun on the same snow piles that I played on as a kid (new snow though, obviously).  

Although there may not be anything growing in the middle of winter, the farm is definitely beautiful at this time too.

A great reminder of God's faithfulness through the seasons!

At first I was dragging my feet about traveling so much over Christmas, but it turns out the change of scenery and the special time with family was exactly what we needed after a rough couple of months.  We are so very blessed!