Skip to main content

On The Eighteenth Day Of Advent We Had Special Guests and Went To Our Neighborhood Christmas Party

Ever since we moved in we talked about having the previous owners over. We wanted to wait until we had refinished the floors before having them. Since we never did that I finally decided to suck it up and call them.

It wasn't going to happen this winter.

The husband passed away this spring, but his wife was excited I called. I told her she could bring her kids if she wanted. That way we could hear stories about being a kid and a parent in the house. After calling back and forth figuring out a time we finally decided on a week before Christmas. Two daughters out of eight children came along.

 I always wondered how they had so many kids in the house. I guess they fit as many kids as they could into each room. They also had a dining table that fit 10 people. One of the kids said they would go down the stairs backwards because it was so deep. 

We had asked them to bring photos from when they lived in the house. I should note that they had owned the home from 1952-2006. It was so neat seeing old photos. Our home looked exactly the same with different decorations.

The only big change was the back porch. I always wondered what it looked like. I like our enclosed porch, but it would've been nice to have a small, open back porch.

They used to flood the backyard to make an ice rink in the winter. They also had swings and a giant chalkboard in the basement.

We also learned how the kitchen looked when they bought it. The sink was where our oven is, the oven was where our fridge is and the fridge was where we hang our coats.

They also said to look out for lost baseball cards and a paint set.

We got our picture taken with her.

They were so sweet and brought us a poinsettia, homemade cookies and a gift for Meadow. We told them that the other family members were welcome to stop by as well. 

After they left I baked some molasses cookies I'd prepped the night before.

Gingerbread cookies may be fun, but these are way better.

Later we attended the annual neighborhood Christmas party. At the last second I was given Santa picture duty.

Meadow loves sitting on Santa's lap. At least she wasn't crying, just tried to get away.

I talked with our neighbors while Meadow worked on a craft.

Meadow made a really nice card.

Everyone wanted a picture with Santa.

Not a bad a way to spend a December evening.

I think we all had fun.

Comments

Amanda said…
I think it is so sweet that you guys invited the previous owners. What a neat experience! I'll bet they loved it.

Popular posts from this blog

Backcountry Camping with Kids in Theodore Roosevelt National Park

Day 1  Back in May I stumbled upon Theodore Roosevelt National Park. I had no idea there was a National Park in North Dakota and that it was the northern end of the Badlands. Usually our summer vacations coincide with Scott's work trips. Since he didn't have any this summer I thought we should take advantage of actually taking a vacation. What, my workcations are always classics? I suppose a second real vacation this year wouldn't hurt. We definitely have more time than normal. As long as we took Covid-19  precautions and avoided people. We finally settled on a time to go. Blake joined us so we borrowed our dad's van so we could ride together. Scott had just driven from Michigan the day before. Blake had met my parents in Wisconsin to get the van and then drove from Duluth to pick us up. I offered to drive since I literally only drive twice a month.  I was still pretty tired from a long drive home. Since we were near Fergus Falls we had to stop by the abandoned state ho...

An Ice Skating Birthday Party for Theo

Since Scott was still not feeling great on his actual birthday. We postponed Theo's birthdays wishes a few days. Since seeing the commercials for Burger King, he has been begging to go so he could get the $7 deal.  That's the $5 Duo and $7 Trio, Brooke. I have to say it wasn't as good as I remember. Dont know the last time I ate BK. We picked this BK for the playground. Theo's other wish was to go the Dog Man movie. We tried out the Emagine theater in Eagan.  Got the whole theater to ourselves and didn't have to rent it out this time.  I swear, it was a good time. For his birthday party this year, we finally settled on having an ice skating party at our house. We had lucked out with the weather. Today was the last cold day before a big warm up.  Meadow and I barely decorated. As soon as his friends arrived we opened gifts right away. We used to wait to open gifts after the party, but I guess kids get really excited to see their friends open their gifts from them....

The Road back from the Valley

On Sunday morning we had to head back, so Brooke made the bed. We packed up early to make a few stops before heading home. After these photos were taken my mom complained we take too many "dumb" pictures. I think she was saying this to me. I like to document every minute detail of our days (or weddings ). She complained about the same thing earlier this year. Gail didn't want me to shoot her other daughters wedding. Ouch! I had oatmeal for breakfast (bet you didn't see that coming). I drank a Moutain Dew as we left Little Chute . Not exactly the most nutritious breakfast, but I feel like I have to drink soda when we're back home. It's not allowed in the Romenesko-Tuska household. We dropped off Brittany on the way and headed to Redgranite. I made sure we stopped at Mosier's first. Whenever I would visit my grandparents my Grandma would buy me a toy from here. I usually picked out giant coloring books.   This time...