christmas at the lake

The first few days at the lake we were running on the generator.
A mega huge ice storm shut off the power for a few days for a lot of people in the area. 
It was even too icy for Auntie Gracie to drive up from Missouri. 
(We're still sad about that.)

Annual Christmas picture.  And this year there's a new member.   Hi Tyler!
(Well two -- if you count Lambie ;)

Elise's favorite present is her Doc McStuffin's Doctor kit. 
We saw it at Costco and told Lauren to get it for her.  She LOVES it. 

She spent the rest of the day giving people check-ups. 
She of course remembered Grandma's owie foot.  

Carl - thank you for taking these pictures.  Otherwise I wouldn't be in any. 

Caught this precious moment coloring with Aubrey and Tyler.  Also you can see some of the contents of Elise's stocking - her favorite was the "white gum" and "my very own little ball chapstick!"

Little weirdo.

We all ventured outside and turned the pond into a skating rink. 
It was SO fun.  I kept my boots on though - I'm really bad at skating.

Elise was super excited to try skating.  My mom even made her a special skating-helper-thingy.  Do these have a real name??

Lauren's not that giant.  She's wearing skates.

The skating crew.  Elise's face looked like this in every picture.

The ice storm made everything really pretty. 
Although I'd rather have power than pretty branches.

Grandpa took this lucky girl swimming in the hot tub. 
She has so much fun. 

We all have matching Christmas jammies, but we didn't get a group picture this year. 
Lauren and Carl got Nick & Tyler keychain breathalyzers.  Trust me when I say they all tried their hardest to blow the highest number.  Not everyone felt perky the next morning...but I can tell you I haven't laughed that hard in a really long time. 

Such a wonderful Christmas.