Christmas wrap-up

Okay everyone...take a deep breath...Christmas is over! Whew! We sure had a whirlwind of celebrations the last several days.

Day before Christmas eve: dinner at my cousin's house (about 1.5 hrs west of our house)
Went well, but was crowded and had people from other sides of her family that we didn't know.

Christmas eve: Grandma's (about 1.5 hrs west of our house again)
We went to church service with them at their church. I was very nervous about this, as I wasn't sure how my boys would do. But I'd say for a 5 yr old and a 1 yr old they did amazingly well! Adam was so funny, every time we'd sing a hymn he'd start dancing. lol Then we went back to Grandma's house, had our traditional appetizer-type-foods "meal" and drinks, and opened presents. My 2 nephews (ages 5 and almost 3) were there too, and when all 4 boys get together they get so hyper and loud. So it was chaotic and loud, and I was somewhat frustrated, but overall went well. We didn't get back home until almost 1:30am and then "Santa" still had to come. So it was a late night.

Christmas morning: Santa and our presents at our house with the boys. This went well. We had a nice morning, and the boys had fun playing with all their new stuff. And, there were actually presents for me this year too (including stocking!). That was so nice, as there have been Christmases in the past when Joe didn't get me anything, and he has never filled my stocking until this year. He got pretty much what I told him I wanted and had suggested last week when he said he wasn't sure what to get me. And he seemed pleased with the pole saw/pruner (and other things) that I got him. He's been wanting one for the last few years. But we didn't have very long as we had to pack up and rush off to the next celebration...

Christmas afternoon: Celebrate with Joe's family (about 2 hrs east of our house)
This went fine. Not everyone was there, they had celebrated on Christmas eve while we were at my grandma's (long story) and so not everyone could come again. But we had a nice time visiting, and the boys got more gifts that they enjoyed. Joe's mom, dad, and siblings enjoyed seeing the boys and playing with them. Then off again...

Christmas night: Spend night at my Dad's house (about 1/2 hr west of Joe's family's house)
We stayed the night at Dad's house because we were going to be celebrating there the next morning and we certainly didn't want to drive 2 hours home, and then 1.5 hrs back the next day! That night wasn't so great. They had my Grandma (dad's mom) staying there too, as well as one of my step-mom's daughters, so sleeping arrangements were tight. We put a pack-n-play in their massage room for Adam, Joe and I slept on a futon in the finished basement, and Brendan slept in the same area as us on a fold out chair thing. Adam was not happy and screamed for about 10 minutes before finally laying down and falling asleep. Joe & Brendan did fine, but I couldn't sleep. I laid there awake and heard my step-mom's daughter come in around midnight, and Joe was snoring away, and then around 3am my grandma was up coughing and coughing (she has had a chronic cough my whole life). I finally went to sleep around 4am and Adam was up at 6:30am. So, I was pretty tired.

Day After Christmas: (still at Dad's)
My sister and her family arrived around 11:30am and we all opened gifts and had food. I developed a terrible headache that stuck around for the whole day. We still had fun though. Around 5pm we left and headed home.

Thank goodness I had the foresight to take Tuesday off from work! OMG I don't know what I would have done if I had to go to work the next morning after all of that!

So, yesterday (Tues) the boys went to daycare, Joe went to work, and I had some much-needed down time. Well, time at home anyway. I undecorated our tree, put it outside for Joe to dispose of, went through all of Adam's toys to get rid of a bunch of them to make room for the new ones, cleared some stuff out of Brendan's room to make room for his new stuff, did 6 loads of laundry, and finally moved some of my summer clothes downstairs that were taking up room in my closet.

Today I'm back at work and have several things that need tended to. So, I better wrap up this for now and get back to work.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!