Christmas 2007

The boys are heading to nap land and I wanted to get more info on this site...

Well Christmas was a blessing. First off... I did good! I shopped for big Ry earlier in October and November and hid his stuff, so when we were doing the budget split for shopping in December, I didn't have to designate funds towards big things for Ry. So I was able to get my California family gifts out before Christmas this time!! I was excited about that.

On Ry's side of the family we pull names. Our list was:
Ryan Sr. - Breeann
Nicole - Keegan Sr.
Ry Jr. - Keegan Jr.
Josiah - Judah
Quinny - Connor

We had fun shopping and letting the boys pick out things for their cousins. Josiah and Quin needed some help, but they made the final executive decisions.

On Christmas Eve we traveled down to Ry's family home in Glenoma. It is a rural area with lots of trees, mountains and space. They have a family dinner with Ryan's paternal immediate family that include his grandparents, aunt and uncle's family. Everyone is invited, but its usually this same group every year. We normally have it at Uncle Tim's house, but they are remodeling. So Jodee and Terry (Ry's parents) hosted this year. We eat lots of food, play games and share time together. As the kids grow older it is obvious that the family is busting at the seams in Jodee's house. Next Christmas 2 new babies will be there to add to the excitement. I believe we'll be back to Ryan's uncle Tim's house though and they have 2 living rooms.

At the end of the night, I tried to do our little tradition of new PJs and reading the account of the Birth of Christ. The boys are still a little young and we had to make them sit still for the entire story... but it was fun still. All the lights were down and the twinkling lights from the tree and all of Jodee's decorations made for a great backdrop. I look forward to the time the boys will be able to read the story themselves to us.

The next day we got up early... or at least I did. It was 9:00 AM so it wasn't that early. I was excited to wake the boys up with "Carol of the bells" playing loudly through the house, which is their favorite Christmas song. They however were exhausted from the night before and I had to go shake them to get them to come out. They sat on the couch, eyes glazed over and finally asked "can we open our presents yet?"

I don't think they actually woke up till their 2nd or 3rd gift, but it was still fun for me to watch them do it.

Everyone received great gifts and felt love all around. We ate brunch and vegged the rest of the day. We headed home the next day because Ry had to be at work Thursday and Friday. I had the week between Christmas and New Years off, so me and the boys continued our vacation at our house. I honestly didn't check e-mail for over 4 days. I was so happy!!

Our newsletter was printed but I didn't get them mailed out. At this point they'll be New Year's letters... Which is fine with me. I'll post it on here if I can and they mail them out this week.

till later... Nic