Christmas 2012

I'll just warn you know this will be a wordy post without any pictures.  I failed epically and only took 3 pictures the whole entire Christmas week.  Fortunately for me everyone else has digital cameras and takes lots of pictures.  One of these days I'll get around to collecting all of the pictures and put up a separate Christmas Pictures 2012 post.  For now, I'm just going to log everything we did so I don't forget what we did.  We had a wonderful week celebrating Christmas and the New Year with friends and family.  Even though I'm tired from it all I'm feeling incredibly blessed by the people in my life!

Sunday, December 23rd - Sunday we headed over to my parents' house to celebrate with my family.  We got up early to an already loaded car and were there by 8:30.  The major mistake we made was we didn't feed the kids breakfast since my mom had breakfast casserole in the crockpot and fruit available.  Caleb pretty much screamed for half of the one hour car ride and I'm assuming it was because he was hungry.

After breakfast my grandparents arrived at my parents' house and we proceeded to open presents.  Some gifts that were fun to give were and Ergo carrier for my sister and her hubby (they're expecting a boy in April), a huge purple purse for my mom and some star gazing books/calendars for my dad since he's really into that.  We got a great pile of gifts but the most special ones were the homemade ones.  My dad built me an end table to complete my made by dad family room furniture set, he made Grace (and really Caleb too) a lego table, and he made a dumb truck for Caleb.  My mom also made a cool quilt for Caleb that he requests at bedtime now.

We finished off the day with lunch, napping, playing with our presents, and ham and potatoes for supper.

Monday, December 24th - We all woke up a little tired on Monday morning after a long day at my parents' but Christmas was only beginning:)  I still had to finish one of my sewing projects (I need to post about this one soon) and unpack, put stuff away and repack.  We also wanted to open gifts from each other all before church at 4:00.

I had ordered a couple of stocking stuffers online at the last minute so we waited for the UPS man to come and then I quickly filled stockings and the we opened our presents right before lunch.  This year we got the kids each a pair of fuzy Crocs.  We got Caleb a Little Tikes basketball hoop and Grace a super cool co-operative game called Max.  I was worried I would have to return the fuzy Crocs for Caleb because every time we put them on for the first two days he would yell, "Yucky shoes!"  The highlight of the stockings were flashlights and a Little People Belle figure for Grace and a Beast for Caleb.

After naps we headed to church at 4:00.  It was nice the service was early this year because then we could get the kids fed and to bed at a reasonable time.  Matt also had to help with teardown so he was even able to get home in time for bedtime.

After bed Matt when out and got Chinese carryout for us.  In the past we have enjoyed Chinese food with friends after church but this year the Christmas week was feeling a little bit full so we felt it wise to cut something out.  It was nice enjoying carryout with Matt at home.

Tuesday, December 25th - Christmas morning didn't feel like Christmas morning because we got the kids up early and left at 7:30 for Wisconsin.  I was sort of dreading the drive but I actually ended up loving it. NO ONE seems to drive anywhere on Christmas morning so even in the Chicago suburbs there was no one on the roads.  We made a quick potty stop at Matt's parents' house and let the kids play for a bit before we got back in the car and finished the drive.

Once we got to Matt's cousin's house in Wisconsin we had a nice day with Matt's extended family, eating yummy food and enjoying each others company.  We even had a silly white elephant gift exchange.  Neither of the kids napped that day so needless to say both were sound asleep by 6:00 on the drive back.

We only had to drive to Matt's parents' so we were home before 7 and the kids were tucked in bed early so we had a relaxing evening with John and Jane and Rachel and Rollin.

Wednesday, December 26th - This was our day to celebrate with Matt's immediate family so Jared and Yvonne and kids showed up around 10.  We got right to opening gifts by letting the kids go first and then the adults exchanged.  Some highlights to give were the quilts and placemats (that's what I need to blog about) that I made.  We got some stuff on our wishlists (mostly for around the house for me) and Rachel made a cool wreath for our front door.

After gifts we had a big lunch and spent the rest of the day watching HGTV and taking naps.  Rachel and I were thrilled that we got to watch Property Brothers as opposed to the usual staple football.  We felt kind of lame watching Property Brothers for 4 hours but I think it was much needed veg time for everyone.  After dinner and when the kids were in bed we just sat around and talked until the adults went to bed so it was nice not to have the TV on then.

Thursday, December 27th - Thursday was a laid back day.  Matt's Mom, Rachel, Matt and I went to Kohl's in the morning while Matt's dad and Rollin stayed home with our kids.  Then we watched a little more HGTV:) and had lunch.  After lunch we headed home.  I spent the afternoon unpacking and organizing but it was nice to be home.

Friday, December 28th - I honestly don't remember what we did this day.  Probably more cleaning and being lazy.

Saturday, December 29th - We packed the car and headed out again on Saturday.  Matt and I were invited to our good friend Renee's wedding so we were super excited to attend that.  Fortunately the wedding was right by my parents' house so they agreed to watch the kids.  We even took advantage of that and booked a hotel room at the reception sight so we didn't have to get up early with the kids in the morning.

The wedding ceremony was beautiful, the reception food was pretty good and we had a nice time.  After the reception we went back to our hotel room (which was like a suite with a living room) and hung out with some friends.  We got a few beers and ordered a pizza at 11:00pm.  I don't think I've done that since I was 24 years old.

Sunday, December 30th - Matt and I managed to sleep in until 8:00.  Boo!  But at least we didn't have to deal with the kids and could just take our time getting ready.  By the time we were ready to go it was almost 10.  We headed to Flattop Grill for breakfast and it was delicious.  Then we stopped at Gordman's to do a little shopping and finally headed back to my parents'.  We just spent the day with them watching football and capped it off with chili for dinner.

Monday, December 31st - By Monday morning I was exhausted and my to-do list was super long (well mostly my laundry pile was super huge).  My friend Sonya was supposed to come for the day and next day but had some car troubles so she didn't end up coming.  I was really sad and wish she could have made it but I did take advantage of her not being there and got some good rest.

In the evening we went out for dinner with a few friends and a lot of kids.  Then Matt went to see The Hobbit.  He was planning on going since Sonya was going to be there and I wouldn't be alone.  I ended up watching TV by myself for 3 hours and it was great.  He made it home by midnight and we still spent the first minutes of 2013 together.

Tuesday, January 1st - We spent the whole day taking down Christmas decorations and doing chores.  It was a great way to start the year!  Because now that Matt is back at work I'm not feeling behind.

Great end to a great year!  Merry Chirstmas all if you made it this far:)