Wonderful Week with Nema

We've been into the full swing of things around here, enjoying a festive week with Nate's mom, "Nema," visiting from Massachusetts. Claire loved every minute and all the spoiling. While I was at school each morning she had one-on-one time with Nema that included trips to museums in Bozeman, reading lots of books, and singing Christmas songs. We also took a weekend trip to West Yellowstone which included some cross-country skiing, a visit to the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center, a night out "on the town" for Nate and I (meaning choosing between one of two open bars in town), and a trip to the Imax Theater for Nate and Nema. Thanks for coming out and ALL the spoiling Nema!

Here's our group shot on early Christmas.
Claire showing off her beautiful Christmas dress, a gift from a family friend, Dot O'Connor.
It didn't take long for Claire to get into the spirit of ripping open the presents. Here she's in awe of her new princess castle.
Susan gave Claire her own tent; one of the things we love about her is that she really gets down to Claire's level to play. Of course Claire darted out of this picture right before I snapped it!
Claire skied with us the first day, but on the second day she was pretty frazzled. Nema kindly stayed with her while Nate and I skied again. For Nate, that meant being free of 30+ pounds on his back.
Claire watching some of the wolves at the Grizzly and Wolf Discovery Center. These are all animals that would have to be euthanized without this sanctuary, and they will never be reintroduced to the wild. Notice the wolf checking out the raven in the background. It's quite amazing to watch the wolves as the run, play, dig, and eat.

Getting into the Christmas Spirit

With cold, wintry weather around here (it's supposed to be a HIGH of zero degrees on Monday), it's been easy to get into the Christmas spirit. We've done some baking, are listening to Christmas CDs, doing our advent calendar, made a countdown chain and ornaments, wrapped most of our gifts, put up the tree, and even visited Santa yesterday at the Three Forks Christmas Stroll. I'm hoping this means we can enjoy some quality time with Nema (Nate's mom--who arrives Monday for a week-long visit) as well as focus on creating some memories with baking, books, music, and movies instead of frantically shopping and wrapping in the next few weeks.

Claire likes to wear the bows more than putting them on the gifts.
The end result of Claire's decorating means many ornaments on one or two bottom branches. Unfortunately, she seems to notice if I try to rearrange any.
A visit with Santa, first one ever actually, we "suggested" some things she might tell him she wants for Christmas which just happen to correspond exactly to what we got her. I'll be curious if she figures that one out on Christmas morning.