Happy happy holidays! - Brady

Oof, I did too much over the holidays to write about it in depth. You'd be bored out of your mind. But I did have a lovely Christmas and a fun New Year's Eve down in Nashville (which I'll write about later). I'll post some photos below.

(Grandma and Grandpa, if you want any of the photos of your beautiful house printed out, let me know and I'll make it happen!)

First! A few photos from our family shopping trip in Chicago, mid-December:

As soon as I was officially done with school/work for the holidays I begin my first duty of Christmas: making limpa (Swedish rye bread) for Christmas Eve. Here are photos of the process:

The ingredients.

Everything all mixed together.

Limpa has to rise for a LONG TIME. It's a two day process to make it.

Ready for the oven!

Baked and braised with butter.

The final product, at Christmas Eve.

And the big day itself. Christmas Eve at my grandparents', Christmas morning at my parents' house in La Porte, and Christmas day at my in-laws':

Getting ready for Christmas Eve!

My grandparents' beautiful Christmas house.

Around the fire.

Six handsome gentlemen.

Our big Swedish meal.

Siblings.

Cousins.

Post celebration. 

Getting ready for bed, Christmas night.

Molly and her present.

The chaos.

At the Rasps'.

Merry Christmas!

And that's it! I'll leave you with two pictures of Ms. Molly.

This is how we felt during the holidays. 

And this is how we feel now that they're over. :)

Sisters - don't read this until you open Grandma & Grandpa's present! - Brady

Thanksgiving (Veggie and Real) photos are coming soon. But for now, I want to say one thing to my number one blog readers, Grandma and Grandpa:

I love the candle you gave to Kevin and me, and it, along with our tree, is the first Christmas decoration we put up. I even burned it for awhile this morning while I was getting ready for work.

Candy canes…glitter…what could be better? You've always made the holidays so special for us. I'm 31 years old and I still get excited when I see Grandma's familiar handwriting and signature smiley face on  a piece of mail or gift bag. We love you!