Christmas in Brookfield

We were happy to have the Midwest kids all here with us for a few days over Christmas.  The Wissinks and Abby and Neil arrived on Saturday, the 22nd, and Ben joined us on Sunday.

After church on Sunday some of us (Rachel, Abby, Neil and I) drove to Cedarburg for lunch at the Cream and Crepe Cafe and some shopping.  We noticed some new items on the menu, and some of us even tried them instead of our old favorites. We didn't actually do much shopping--just hit a few shops, ending with a stop at Amy's for some chocolate and caramel apples to take home.  The others (Dad, Adam and Jeremiah) had lunch at Panera and then went home for naps and football on TV.  In the evening we went over to Brassers for some visiting and some apple pie.  Ben arrived during that time and joined us there.

Monday was Christmas Eve, and since we were planning our usual appetizer menu for the evening, we decided to go out for our main meal at lunch time.  We went to Bravo at Brookfield Square, after striking out with our first two choices (not open on Christmas Eve). We discovered that they do something really neat for the kids---the waitress brought Jeremiah a little plate with a ball of bread dough and he could just play around with that while we waited for our food.  She said that they would even take it back and bake it for him if that's what he wanted, but we didn't opt for that.

We had a beautiful Christmas Eve service at 5 p.m. and then came home for our appetizer feast and gift-opening.  It was a great evening, and obviously Jeremiah was pretty much the star of the show (as you can see from the pictures.)

Jeremiah enjoying his Christmas Eve goodies.

Abby's gift for Jeremiah was a construction themed Play-do set.

Checking out the construction machinery

Yes, the adults did receive gifts, too.

Neil, Abby and Dad checking out their gifts

I wish that I had some audio to accompany this next picture. Rachel got a video of it but I don't have that. 

"MY BOAT!! I FINALLY GOT MY BOAT!!"

This is one happy boy!!

Checking out the remote-control truck that came with his construction set. I think you can catch a glimpse of Ben in the background, proof that he was here.

Modeling his Hawkeye helmet---just part of his uniform from Matt and Cheryl.

Christmas morning brought butterhorns, cinnamon rolls (for someone who doesn't like butterhorns) and.....STOCKINGS!  

"Hmm, is there anything else in there?"

Here he's looking at what was probably the "most annoying" gift---a harmonica. Josie got one, too.  I couldn't resist when I saw these at the Music Museum in Traverse City last fall. A Grandma is allowed to give annoying gifts, right?  And who knows---maybe they will become accomplished harmonica players.

A big bear hug!

Oh, the adult kids also got stockings---just no pictures taken.  I should have gotten them all to pose holding their dental floss. After stockings we had more food---a couple of brunch casseroles. 

Abby is re-living her childhood, playing with Jeremiah and his Play-do construction set. 

In the afternoon the adult kids joined the throngs of people at the movie theater while Jeremiah and the grandparents stayed home for a nap. And then we had our Christmas dinner.  Somewhere in there, we also watched some holiday movies and played Scattergories.

It was time to say good-bye again on the day after Christmas.  Abby and Neil left at about 9 to drive to Ohio to spend time with Neil's family.  Ben left at around 11 because he had to work later in the afternoon.  

We had one more day to spend with the Wissinks, though.  Grandpa brought out the old plastic sled for a little fun in the snow. Jeremiah was not quite sure what he thought about that.  He did get a little ride around the yard....

....and one trip down the little "hill" across the street with his Mommy.

And then he learned how to make a snow angel.

Good job, Jeremiah!

Late that afternoon we went downtown Milwaukee to see the Christmas lights and displays that they have.  We started out with dinner at Pot Belly.

Jeremiah liked our restaurant choice.

After dinner we walked a few blocks to the BMO Harris Bank Building where they always have a special Christmas display in their lobby. 

Jeremiah posing with one of the bears.

That's a train engine behind Jeremiah, and he really thought that he should be able to go for a ride on it. It wasn't that kind of train.

Getting bundled up for another cold walk. 

We had one little glitch in our plans for the evening.  We were planning to ride the Jingle Bus that would take us around to all the downtown parks so that we could see all the different light displays.  Unfortunately, I had not read the online info carefully enough---it was Wednesday, and the Jingle Bus only runs Thurs. to Sunday. In my defense, when I checked the info again, I saw that this detail appeared at the very bottom of the article that I had read. So that called for Plan B--we drove out to Waukesha and took in the drive-through light display at Country Springs Hotel.  That was enjoyable, but what Jeremiah really liked came after that.  You can go into a building where they have a really neat model train display. 

The next day it was time to say good-bye to the Wissinks.  But before they left, Jeremiah entertained himself with a new game. He dumped out a bag full of trash (mostly wrapping paper) and then picked it all up with my salad tongs and put it back into the bag.  Kept him busy while Adam and Rachel were busy packing up for the trip home.

And then he posed for one last picture before they headed out.  Notice that he is still holding the salad tongs. :)

And after they left, the house seemed incredibly quiet.  We're getting used to that again.  So why has it taken me 2 weeks to get this blog post done?  Good question!