Gimbel family Christmas includes a visit to the movies on Christmas Eve. Grandma Claudia insisted that Nora attend the movie, even though she spent most of her time crawling up and down the ramp to get into the theatre. We saw the Tale of Despereaux. We missed the first 10 minutes, which really confused me the entire movie. 
I wanted to get Nora some Christmas Eve Jammies (a common tradition I've read about on other blogs). I wanted to jump on that band wagon once I saw these adorable jammies at Target. Additionally, the brand of these jammy jams is Nick and Nora. How about that?
Wowza. Is that cookie as big as her head? Maybe! She really enjoyed all the holiday treats.
Nora was excited that Santa ate some of the cookies. I think she was more excited that he left two for her. 
We used this Little People nativity to tell Nora the Christmas Story. She mostly just tried to stick the sheep in her mouth, but I was glad that we have it.
The Gimbel tree on Christmas morning.
Nora was excited to celebrate with some of her favorite people. Including Karl and Emily.
Of course, Mommy.
And Margie, Brandon and Puggy Lilly.
Nora really loved one of her gifts from Grandma Claudia and Grandpa Ed. Doesn't she look so relaxed her jammy jams and lounge chair? I brought a puzzle this year for the family to complete over the Christmas break. I got mocked by Richard. He asked me if I was an old lady and if we were going to play shuffle board and go to Red Lobster afterwards. Seriously. He gave me such a hard time. Well, we started our first puzzle before Christmas and finished it in one day. Richard was hooked. Now it was time to convince the rest of the family that puzzling was awesome.
My mom had this really horrible Gone with the Wind puzzle just laying around, so we busted it out on Christmas day.
As you can see, it was a huge attraction at the Gimbel house.
Most everyone got involved. Brandon was a grinch and didn't participate in the puzzling. I think he was just intimidated by our puzzling prowess.
Puzzling got a little intense at times. At one point or another, each of us wanted to give up. I almost cried at one point. There was some pretty insane parts of this puzzle. Rhett's greasy hair and the green sash were pretty intense.
But we made it! We finished this 2000 piece puzzle on Christmas day! There was some debate about who should lay the last piece. Emily and Richard had a bit of a stand off. Each hid a piece, trying to be the one to lay the last one. Finally, after some tense moments, they decided to lay the pieces at the same time. A truce was reached. Phew!
We rejoiced after the puzzle was complete. Can you tell it was kind of intense? We both look a little crazy!
We rejoiced after the puzzle was complete. Can you tell it was kind of intense? We both look a little crazy!
7 comments:
Seriously, Richard? If puzzles are just for old people, what are you going to ban from all but the geriatric set next? Lawn bowling? Alaska cruises? Harsh.
I'll have Richard know that I have lots of puzzles. I find them cathartic. But yes, I did get the puzzle thing from my great-grandmother.
SO awesome. I have been the lucky beneficiary of Christmas jammies for most of my life (this year I had to buy them myself...at Target! their selection really was cute) and I firmly support the tradition. I like the idea of movies on Christmas eve, too. I'm really feeling the traditions these days. You can anticipate tradition solicitation on my oft-neglected blog soon. I mean, what is actually fun on Valentine's day besides eating chocolates? You, with your birthday bird or whatever it is, I think you're just the lady to beg for ideas. So get ready!
Glad you guys had such a happy Christmas. Your crazed-ness is always delightful to me!
I love the jammy tradition. I read about a lot of people doing that this year, and I think that's one we're definitely going to need to pick up next year. Nora looks so adorable and snuggly!
Also, I LOVE the puzzle tradition. We always got a puzzle for Christmas and worked on it the next few days when we were growing up, and I totally forgot about it until reading your post. I'm definitely going to start that up again in my family! I don't care if puzzles are for old people, they're awesome and totally therapeutic. But then again I'm also proud of the fact that I whooped Brian at shuffle board on our honeymoon cruise!
I love doing puzzles and especially enjoyed the narrative to go along with your puzzle story. Little Nora is growing up so fast!
We always do a puzzle at Christmas. Santa's been bringing one for more than 30 years now!! Wow. I'm so glad you all got into it and loved it. We didn't finish ours this year :-( and I was sad. So thanks, I feel better knowing that you guys finished yours!!! :-) Love you!! (so so so sad we missed the Chard in the Cleve! why didn't I check my email?!)
DO NOT let Richard give you a hard time about the puzzle. It's a Thomas Family tradition every year and we love it!!! He needs to figure out what cool is. Puzzles are cool. :)
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