Wow, Christmas this year was a complete whirlwind. All year long I kept talking about how fun it was going to be to be on maternity leave during the holiday's, well if it wasn't for the fact I started before I had Cooper, nothing would have gotten done. I'm not complaining though, it was almost a little less hectic not having to shop in all the madness.
Christmas started this year for us on Sunday the 23rd. We went to church in the morning, took Cooper to the nursery (which by the way he has done great so far), and then had Christmas at my mom's house. It was the first time in a few years that everyone could make it at the same time. It was a little crazy. When you have an 8, 7, and 4 year old opening gifts, things get a little loud. The best part of the day was when my best friend from high school Melissa stopped by with her little girl Molly who is about 7 months old. Melissa lives in Missouri so it was the first time I've gotten to see her since her baby shower early this year and the first time I've seen Molly in person. She is such a doll.
Steve had to work until 4:00 on Christmas Eve, so when he got home it was a rush to make it to church for candlelight service at 5:00. There were no nursery workers so we kept Cooper with us and he did a great job, and he was even awake for most of the service. After church it was off to Steve's brother's house for Christmas with Steve's aunt and cousins. We always eat dinner, followed by the reading of the Christmas story by Steve's cousin that lives in Texas. Then it was off to opening gifts. Cooper got some clothes and books and the best gift was from Steve's cousin Tina, she made us a scrapbook/photo album of some pictures that were taken at the hospital and from the first two weeks. It is adorable, I just don't have the creativity to do something like that.
Each year Steve and his cousin Ricky have a tradition that they either wrap or make finding each other gifts as hard as possible. There have been scavenger hunts, popping balloons to find clues, or my personal favorite- a huge jar full of M & M's with certain ones having a different letter other than M that spelled out a clue (I likes this one b/c we got to keep all the M & M's). Anyway, it was a little toned down this year, partly due to Cooper and wanting to get him home and in his bed by a certain time and b/c Steve had to work on Christmas day. It was still fun and I'm sure as Cooper gets a little older we can resume the fun and torture.
Steve had to work on Christmas morning. We usually get up early and exchange gifts between the two of us, so we had to put that off until later. Luckily he got off around 11:00 that morning. We first went to his parents for lunch and gifts. I'm not for sure it was because Cooper had gifts too, but it seemed like we opened gifts forever this year. Steve's parents are so practical, they got Cooper some baby wipes, some changing pads, and gifts cards to Target and Wal-Mart. I'm not complaining at all, it saves us a lot of money!
Once we got home, Steve & I finally got to exchange gifts between ourselves. It was a little toned down from what we normally do, but I did get the Peyton Manning jersey I have been wanting for the past few years.
Well it's off to watch some football, the Bears are on right now and this is what happens when we leave Daddy in charge.
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