Carlson Christmas

Grandkids

They were giggling about photos of G&G when they were younger. 

Swedish Christmas

Happy Hour was very happy. :) I didn’t get many pictures, but it was a fun celebration!

Uncle Bob snapped this photo and it’s so nice! The big cousins like their littlest cousin. It’s so fun to watch them enjoy Elias’ company. 

A lovely Swedish plate of goodies. 

This photo magically appeared in my photos...Lisa’s famous white fudge. 

Christmas Morning

We started our day out with some snow play. They played and played and played. 

After Mass we opened gifts. Everyone was very happy with their surprises!

Christmas Eve

We had such a great surprise on Christmas Eve morning! Snow!!!

We spent the afternoon and evening with Grandma Kathleen. 

She made a delicious dinner. 

Desserts too...even dairy free! 




It was a great day of celebrating!

A New Adventure

We bought a house!!!! I’ve waited to post anything about it because wowza...what a process to buy a house. It’s nuts. But we did it, and we LOVE it!

It’s over double the space we had. 

There were a few projects we tackled on closing day. We closed at 8am so we could do the projects and decorate (finally! Because I refused to decorate at the old house and create more packing for myself.) for Christmas! The built in bed pictured above was torn out. 

The carpets and duct work were cleaned. The garage was also cleaned out...an unexpectedly big job, but it’s done and looks amazing!

This was the majority of our Advent. Packing and living among boxes, because when you’re using every inch of your small house, where do you put the packed boxes?! Everywhere. You put them everywhere. 

It felt SO GOOD to take that sign out of the yard!!! (And if you’re looking for a realtor, don’t call Jane (seller’s agent there on the photo) call ours (see first photo on this post)!!! Erika Bartles with Home Real Estate was unbelievable. We totally stumbled upon her (although we are convinced God knew exactly what He was doing) and she does amazing work. 

We got a good start decorating on closing day. The boys just LOVE the carpet. It’s hilarious!

Augustine got to skip school on moving day. He was so.excited about the truck. 

And since we only moved six blocks away, he got to ride in it too. 

We had so.many.helpers on moving day. 


Not all of them are pictures, but we were so grateful for all of them! 

Including the tree decorating committee. ;)

And the “everyone needs to take a break” committee. 

Our biggest project was getting a new back door. We knew from day one that this would have to happen. The sliding door didn’t lock, and you could see daylight around it. 

Voila! Can’t wait for nice weather!

We walked through this house back in August but we were planning to wait a few years before buying. Then we noticed two month later that it was still for sale. Long story short, God will not be outdone in generosity.

Fr. H came yesterday and blessed the house for us...the deluxe package. Blessed salt and everything! He put Lewis in charge of the salt (bold move, but Lewis did great!), and Augustine was in charge of Holy Water sprinkling (he also did great). 

Our last project was to make a temporary mud room book for the boys. We’ll fix it up fancy next summer before school starts, but for now it just needed a bench and some hooks. 
The unpacking is mostly done. Just wall hangings and the guest bedroom to work on. 

We’ve been thoroughly enjoying our new space, getting it organized, making it our own, and Christmas break. 
So now we pause to relax and take in Christmas Day. Moving and preparing a new home during Advent has taken on a lot of meaning, so maybe it’s not been a minimalist’s Advent after all...maybe it’s been our best one yet.