Moritz Adoption

Our Christmas Story! =)

We had a wonderful Christmas at the Moritz Household. It was really fun
to have the girls with us this year. I was often remembering last
December when we had just left the girls in Russia and came back to MN
without them. I told Regina that story on Christmas Eve when I tucked
her in and reminded her how much we love her and how glad we are that
she's here.

The boys could barely wait to get out of school for Xmas break. Their
last day was Friday, Dec 22nd. My parents and my sister, Linda, arrived
that evening. We were able to make a toast to each other that we've
waited 7 months to be able to do. WE OFFICIALLY SOLD OUR HOUSE!!!!
That made our holidays even merrier. It was great to see my family
again and spend time with them. One of the highlights of the weekend
was the gingerbread house we put together. My mom brought a kit and I
bought some extra candy for it. The gals and the kiddos worked on that
while the Papa and the Daddy were out in the shop or at the woodworking
store. I think the gals got a little more into it than the kids did,
but we can act like kids sometimes too, right? ;) I made a most
excellent duck out of gum, a gobstopper, and licorice, if I do say so
myself. We attended Christmas Eve service at our church, Harbor
Community, on Christmas Eve morning. The kids were all dressed up and
did pretty well during the service too. We let each of them open one
present on Xmas Eve night. Luckily they didn't pick a gift of
clothing. That happens sometime and it's a real bummer for them.

All 3 older kids wrote 'letters' to Santa that night and left out
cookies, milk, and reindeer food (of course!) It really was magical and
fun. They all woke up to stockings filled to the rim and reindeer poop
on the front step. After eating our egg bake and cinnamon rolls, we
headed into the family room for the gift opening. Emir and Jerry (Dan's
parents) came for this event as well. We continued our tradition of
opening one gift at a time although we whizzed through the kids' gifts
so we could keep it hoppin'. We were done by noon. We vowed to do less
gifts next year. It was kind of a big year with the addition of the
girls. My dad made a gorgeous doll house for the kids. Emir made
beautiful blankets for the doll cradles she gave the girls. The boys
got a roboreptile, an indoor helicopter, gamecube games, nerf guns, dart
boards, tamigatchis, cube worlds, and lots of other goodies. The girls
got lots of dolls, dress up clothes, Barbie things, make-up, princess
crowns, and everything pink and girly. It was quite the gift opening.
The rest of the day was spent opening all those toys that were packaged
beyond anything you've ever seen and managing the trash from 11 people's
presents. We had a ham meal together afterwards and then just enjoyed
each other's company.

My parents and Linda left on the morning of the 26th. Dan, the kids,
and me have been spending the week relaxing and bonding. It's been
really fun. Dan has had the last 10 days off from work. One night we
went on a car ride and looked at the lights on homes around town. The
kids all wore their pj's and ate a candy cane. We even sang carols in
the car. It was such a hoot. We rented all the Karate Kid movies. Dan
and I are catching up on our addiction to the "24" TV series (we rent it
from Netflix). We've had lots of pajama days, pancake breakfasts, and
game time (Memory seems to be the favorite right now). We watched home
movies one night, including video from Russia last year. I can't
remember a more enjoyable break time from school. I wish the kids
didn't have to go back on Wednesday. It seems like a short break.
New Year's Eve was spent toasting each other with sparkling juice during
our traditional meal of pizza rolls. It's touching to think of this
being a year that will always include us being a family of 6. We waited
a long time for this to happen. Every family memory from here on out
will include Regina and Lilia.
It snowed all day yesterday which made it even better. It was so
pretty. We had not seen our new house and yard covered in snow yet.
Another first....

Happy 2007 to all of our blog followers!!

posted by Dan @ 5:48 PM