the night before christmas

as always, we gathered together with my mom's side of the family on christmas eve. as we have gotten older, the gift giving has gotten less and less. we seem to have discovered that the real reason for the season and the greatest gift of all is to be able to spend time together with such an amazing family. in past years, we have adopted families in need and all bought gifts for them. this year we donated money to caring partners - the program that my grandpa goes to three days a week. they are hoping to get enough to purchase a projector and screen. grandpa has enjoyed his time at this program and we are all grateful for the much needed break it gives my grandma. the littlest members of the family - the great-grandkids - opened presents:

we had to pry miles away from the karaoke machine to open his present!

a new puzzle!
nykkole & cambelle
trying on sara's uggs

and we also celebrated olivia's 13th birthday! she was born on christmas day :)

if you've ever met the greseth family, you will not be surprised to see what game commenced after we had opened gifts and eaten a delicious meal complete with meatballs, polsa, cherry coke jello salad, and lefse. behold: the paper bag game.

rules: you must lean over and grab the edge of the paper bag with your teeth while balancing only on ONE foot. you must be able to stand back up with the bag in your mouth. after each round, approximately one inch of the bag will be trimmed off. good luck.

check out the techniques!

grandpa and grandma were thoroughly entertainedmiles was taking notes from daddy...

...and thought he would give it a try!

note - this pregnant lady decided NOT to take a go at it. I can hardly balance on two feet!

miles finished off the night with an episode of signing time...he realized at 10pm that he had not yet watched it. I guess time flies when you're having fun!