Christmas Day
Chase woke up at 7:30am. I told him Santa had come, and I wanted to watch him open his gifts. Since we had to bring gifts along to Wisconsin, I opted for some small presents. He got a Muck, from Bob the Builder, a Jay-Jay the Jet Plane video, play-doh and a Dora puzzle. He seemed to enjoy them all. I made some breakfast and then we headed over to my Dad's for a visit.
We arrived at Dad and Judy's a little before 11am. I am happy to report, that my dad had refrained from consuming any alcohol that morning. Thus we had a very pleasant visit. Chase made out like a bandit. He got Legos, Bob the Builder, a computer learning game, Chutes and Ladders and a double rider blow up sledding tube. Eric and I received a Dust Buster. We were both very excited. Clean up in the kitchen and dining area will be so much easier now! Dad played two games of Chutes and Ladders with Chase, which made me happy. It is really the first thing that my dad and Chase have ever done together. After our visit we headed back to my mom's.
Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Cheryl came early. We weren't having dinner until 6pm. The rest of the family was coming around 4:30 or 5pm. Aunt Cheryl brought the ingredients to make pomegranate martini's, as seen on Oprah. They were fantastic. They went down like cool-aid, not a good thing. After one and half, I was done. I am a lightweight these days.
My mom had a brilliant idea this year for Christmas. She decided to order two already made meals from the grocery store. All we had to do was heat up the ham, green bean casserole and potatoes. She bought a fruit tray and made a salad. Everything was delicious, and we had plenty to snack on later in the evening as well.
This year we deviated from our traditional gift opening. Normally we open one gift at a time youngest to oldest. This way everyone can see what everyone else got. Madilyn and Chase had been patient all day, so I think their excitement kind of lead to the mass chaos of the opening of the gifts. We all started opening them as they were still getting handed out. Wrapping paper, bows and boxes were everywhere. It was fun to change it up and watch the kids tear open their gifts. Afterwards we remembered we wanted to take pictures with all the grandkids and Grandma and Grandpa. Amazingly, we all got assembled and we took pictures.
The whole day Anthony never took a nap, and was still content and very sociable. I finally got him to bed around 9pm, and Chase shortly afterwards. Justin, Anne and Aunt Cheryl decided to stay the night. Justin brought along a DVD game called Rift. We had to split into teams and the questions were about music groups, artists and songs. I know very little when it comes to actually knowing the names of bands etc... Luckily Aunt Cheryl and I had Eric and Anne on our team, which gave us the edge. Around 10:30pm I was really dragging. I was ready to crash, but Aunt Cheryl wouldn't let me. She said, "We only get to see you a few times a year. You have to stay up." In a whining voice I said, "I know, but I am a nursing mother." To which she replied, "I have to work 16 hours tomorrow and I am 17 years older than you. If I can do it, so can you!" So we stayed up until 2:30am. I hated going to bed, knowing Tony would be up in 2 hours to nurse. Thankfully I was able to take a few cat naps on the way home to Iowa on Monday. So ended our visit to my homeland.
We arrived at Dad and Judy's a little before 11am. I am happy to report, that my dad had refrained from consuming any alcohol that morning. Thus we had a very pleasant visit. Chase made out like a bandit. He got Legos, Bob the Builder, a computer learning game, Chutes and Ladders and a double rider blow up sledding tube. Eric and I received a Dust Buster. We were both very excited. Clean up in the kitchen and dining area will be so much easier now! Dad played two games of Chutes and Ladders with Chase, which made me happy. It is really the first thing that my dad and Chase have ever done together. After our visit we headed back to my mom's.
Grandma and Grandpa and Aunt Cheryl came early. We weren't having dinner until 6pm. The rest of the family was coming around 4:30 or 5pm. Aunt Cheryl brought the ingredients to make pomegranate martini's, as seen on Oprah. They were fantastic. They went down like cool-aid, not a good thing. After one and half, I was done. I am a lightweight these days.
My mom had a brilliant idea this year for Christmas. She decided to order two already made meals from the grocery store. All we had to do was heat up the ham, green bean casserole and potatoes. She bought a fruit tray and made a salad. Everything was delicious, and we had plenty to snack on later in the evening as well.
This year we deviated from our traditional gift opening. Normally we open one gift at a time youngest to oldest. This way everyone can see what everyone else got. Madilyn and Chase had been patient all day, so I think their excitement kind of lead to the mass chaos of the opening of the gifts. We all started opening them as they were still getting handed out. Wrapping paper, bows and boxes were everywhere. It was fun to change it up and watch the kids tear open their gifts. Afterwards we remembered we wanted to take pictures with all the grandkids and Grandma and Grandpa. Amazingly, we all got assembled and we took pictures.
The whole day Anthony never took a nap, and was still content and very sociable. I finally got him to bed around 9pm, and Chase shortly afterwards. Justin, Anne and Aunt Cheryl decided to stay the night. Justin brought along a DVD game called Rift. We had to split into teams and the questions were about music groups, artists and songs. I know very little when it comes to actually knowing the names of bands etc... Luckily Aunt Cheryl and I had Eric and Anne on our team, which gave us the edge. Around 10:30pm I was really dragging. I was ready to crash, but Aunt Cheryl wouldn't let me. She said, "We only get to see you a few times a year. You have to stay up." In a whining voice I said, "I know, but I am a nursing mother." To which she replied, "I have to work 16 hours tomorrow and I am 17 years older than you. If I can do it, so can you!" So we stayed up until 2:30am. I hated going to bed, knowing Tony would be up in 2 hours to nurse. Thankfully I was able to take a few cat naps on the way home to Iowa on Monday. So ended our visit to my homeland.
posted by Rachel | 8:46 AM
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