The Holidays

That's the most unimaginative post title since I was pregnant and completely copped out on a regular basis by using the "[insert number here] weeks" titles. But at least I'm posting and only a week after the last of the above mentioned holidays were over!

And just to keep the title honest, I'm going to get crazy and go all the way back to Thanksgiving. We traveled to Evansville and spent Thanksgiving with some of Jeff's family. It was a quick trip, because if I remember right, Evan was grouchy and Aida was thick in the midst of her 'not sleeping' issues. As a result of being on the road, I didn't do any major Thanksgiving cooking. I usually host at least one dinner, but my oven got the year off. I did manage to steal leftovers though, because Thanksgiving would not be complete without a week's worth of various meals a la turkey!





And then there was Christmas. I really felt like Christmas came out of nowhere this year. I wasn't nearly as prepared as I wanted to be, not in the gift department really, but more in the overall readiness. We did our advent calendar as usual and we continued to emphasize, like every year, all that Christmas really means. But I think our lack of planning took some of the umph out of our efforts. Our household doesn't really have a stance on Santa Claus, but this year Evan seemed to be more familiar with the concept, probably because of school. We're not anti-Santa exactly, more than anything we just kind of forget to make it a deal. He's never even had his picture taken with Santa, which might be a subconscious choice on my part - I never liked doing that as a kid!

We always spend Christmas morning at home and I still secretly love getting up super early to run downstairs. Evan was up by 5:30, but we stalled him until 6:00 - he was so excited! We kept Christmas very modest this year, but he (and Aida) seemed to love all of their gifts. He got the Trio Batcave he's been asking for since before his birthday, so everything else was just icing on the cake. And as is obvious by how she has something in her mouth in every picture, Aida was having teething issues that day. So, she loved all of the teethers in her stocking. She also loved all of the wrapping paper, and Evan, of course, loved that by helping her he was able to open twice the presents!



Jeff's Mom and Brother came up later that day and we spent the rest of the holiday with them. I haven't mentioned this on the blog, but Jeff's Mom has been battling breast cancer since shortly before Aida was born. She was able to finish her Chemotherapy just in time for Christmas, so we had a lot to celebrate! They also got to join us in our yearly (and my favorite) tradition of cookie decorating. It got serious as usual, and Jeff's Mom really brought her A-game. I was very impressed with the cookies she was cranking out.


And lastly we had a great New Years Eve. We had a party as usual and had fun playing games and staying up much too late for parents who have a child that wakes up at 6:00! We're excited about 2011. Aida will celebrate her first birthday. My younger Sister is having her first baby, possibly even on Aida's birthday. We're taking our first family-of-four vacation. Evan will start his last year of preschool. And who knows what else awaits us! We love each other and we love the Lord, and that's a great place to start!