Christmas at Home Sweet Home

Similar to last year we stayed home for Christmas and asked Jimmy's family to come to us. I maintain (for now) that it is easier for 4 adults to make the trip north than 2 adults and 1 toddler (and all his paraphernalia) to go south.  They may feel differently but if they do they are kindly keeping it to themselves. As it gets harder for grandma (Momo) to travel away from home we'll have to change this strategy, but for now it's working.

Lolo, Momo, Popo, Aunt Ashley and Lucky (the dog) arrived Sunday afternoon. Nathan was down for his after church nap so of course everyone was bored until he woke up. After Nathan woke up Lori, Ashley and I were going to go get pedicures but before we left Jimmy and I let Lori open one of her Christmas presents early. I will say that she was much quicker than my mom on grasping the significance of the "big brother" shirt, but there was less going on so maybe she had an advantage. We'll go with that. Everyone was excited of course and congratulated us except Momo who proclaimed she was in shock. We had actually originally intended to wait and have her open it along with everything on Christmas Eve, but honestly I wasn't sure if I could fake it that long. I definitely look like I've put on weight and I was afraid the nausea would give me away. It was a relief to get it all out in the open. Of course it took less than 10 minutes for the announcement to make it onto Lori's Facebook page, so all of Sinton was soon in on our secret.  We took a picture of Nathan in his shirt late that day so we could share with the rest of our world.

The weather was still warm and sunny (near 80 degrees), so Nathan spent a decent  amount of the afternoon outside playing with Aunt Ashley, sidewalk chalk and bubbles.

We planned a semi ambitious menu for Christmas Eve dinner and actually ended up making everything but the apple pie. We started on Sunday making two of Ashley's special requests: ratatouille and ultimate pizza. Both of them take a while to make and we set about making both at once. I probably won't ever do that again. But 2.5 hours later we had dinner ready (the pizza) and snack for Monday and onward. Probably the best ratatouille we've made yet. Monday we made HEB spiral sliced ham, scalloped potatoes, sweet potato casserole, green beans with Rotel, macaroni and cheese, fresh fruit salad and scratch made rolls. We also had the ratatouille with toasted baguette rounds and goat cheese, Tabasco chex mix and the brownies to snack on.  Lucky was unimpressed....so were the cats.

So Monday was a busy day overall. I made blueberry pancakes for breakfast (from William Sonoma) and they were wonderful. Even Nathan liked them! That morning we also had an appointment to have family pictures taken at JC Penny's and they all turned out great except for the ones of the whole family where Nathan wasn't really smiling. He wasn't too sure about the lady who kept putting stuff in his face and big black box she kept holding up. But once we got someone he knew to help him smile we got some great pictures. Considering how tired he was he did amazing at the portrait studio. He fell asleep on our way to Chuy's for lunch and stayed asleep in my lap at the table for close to 30 minutes. He woke up completely disoriented just as the food was coming to the table but after a while let me put him in his chair to eat a little (thankfully since I was starving).

Nathan dressed up to go take pictures.

We got home and sat still for about 30 minutes then got to work making dinner. I actually got a small blister from peeling so many potatoes and sweet potatoes.  After we put the ham in the oven to warm we decided to open presents. Lori decided that she did better this year (after I implemented a 3 present per person max) although I'm not so sure I completely agree. The tree looked crazy like last year, but maybe it was marginally better. And I suppose you can actually see Nathan amidst his presents this year, which included ones from Aunt Finity and Aunt Lindy and Uncle Pete.  But now I'm afraid for next year when there are two little ones. They had to bring two cars this year because they couldn't fit everything in just one with luggage and people. They may have to rent a U-Haul.

The tree before the family arrived.  

After - angle 1

After - angle 2

Nathan loved Snuggle Puppy from Aunt Finity!

Nathan got a bunch of clothes, books and other goodies.

Why yes...that is a drum.  It also came with two shaker eggs, jingle bells, and a tambourine .  And all along I thought Lolo loved us.

Around this time I started to feel like I was being hit by the cold that Jimmy and Nathan already had. Plus I was exhausted from cooking and all the activity going on, even though I had a lot of help from Jimmy and Lori. In fact, I asked Lori to give Nathan a bath AND put him to bed, the latter being a task I don't give up lightly, especially with busy season right around the corner. 

By Monday morning I felt miserable. Nathan woke up at 6:00am but Jimmy  managed to rock with him until 7:00am. We woke up the house then went downstairs to see what Santa brought for Nathan. He loved his tricycle and was excited about his table and chairs too! In fact he had to sit in each chair before settling into just one. Santa didn't take into account the slippery tile floor, so we moved the table onto the carpet by the couch until we can get some grippies (the technical name). Jimmy also put together (with help) the Radio Flyer wagon that Lolo got for Nathan. Lori made bacon and egg breakfast tacos and I stayed downstairs long enough to eat then shortly thereafter went upstairs to lay down. Not my ideal way to spend Christmas morning.

Nathan supervising the final touches to his wagon.

The last time he sat on the actual seat.  He prefers the well in the middle.

Popo and Nathan playing in the front room.  That video camera was glued to Popo's hand for two days.

Nathan coloring at his new table with colors and a drawing pad from Lolo.

Bundled up and ready for a ride in the wagon.

Lori and her posse loaded up to head home mid-afternoon of Christmas day. Even though I felt yucky we had a wonderful weekend and Christmas and I'm looking forward already to next year when #2 will be around 5 months old!!

Merry Christmas to all!