Before Christmas we had some "beautiful" weather. It started with some windy days that knocked down some of our Christmas lights. We never got them back up because then we got some snow, some ice, and then more snow. Jackson got to enjoy some sledding though.
Next up was my birthday which Lissy made it in town for. We celebrated with pepperoni pizza from Pizza Hut (one of the few things that actually sounds good to me) and red velvet cake. Heidi was in town, so she came over to my parents and enjoyed some cake and we exchanged our gifts. The next night Amanda and her crew and Sara and her crew got into town. We then spent most of the afternoon of Christmas Eve out at Andrew's parents. We had a great lunch and then opened gifts. The kids were very excited and had a great time. It was a nice relaxing time hanging out with Andrew's family. As evening came, we headed into town to go to our first Christmas service.
After church we had a few hours to relax at our house. The kids played with their new toys, we ate a little dinner, decorated a few cookies for Santa, put out the reindeer food in the yard, and put Santa's magic key on the front door. Then we got all dressed up to head out for midnight mass in Edina. The music was beautiful again and it was great having everyone there this year. The service did last a little longer and Jackson said he was "totally tired" and couldn't get comfortable to sleep, so he and Andrew went out to the car a little early. Ellie, on the other hand, was all wired. She hadn't even had a nap and she was everywhere, talking and singing. Jingle Bells was her favorite. We got home around 1:45 and put the kids to bed and began setting out the presents.
I woke up Christmas morning before everyone else and realized I had forgot to do the stockings. So I did that real quick and soon after Jackson was up. He was ready to go, but had to wait on Ellie. She was not wanting to get up. Jackson loved every part of Christmas morning. He loved his gifts and was very thankful. Ellie on the other hand, saw Jackson's scooter and wanted one too. Hers was actually wrapped and after I helped her open it, she wouldn't open anything else while Andrew put it together. I ended up opening most of her presents which she liked playing with later on, but the scooter was the main concern at first. After we opened presents we headed over to my parents to open some more. It was craziness, but all the grandkids had a good time. Everyone was enjoying their presents, except maybe Andrew. He had a special surprise waiting for him at the end, but up until then most of his presents were pretty small. My parents and I went together to get him a rifle. It was what he really wanted and I never thought I would buy him a gun, but I really wanted to surprise him. He had a few suspicions earlier in the month, so I wanted to make him wait. I actually was not able to get the gun he wanted until February, so I got him a bb gun and put a card on it about the gun that was on order. He was very excited. We spent the rest of the day at home. Ellie and Andrew rested, while Jackson played with his toys and I worked on a special present for my parents. I had made them a video with pictures of Christmases past and some of our favorite songs. The last song was "Thank God for Kids" and I used pictures of the grandkids, which means most of them had to come from this year. So I got it finished just in time to head to my parents for Christmas dinner and our family gift exchange. After the gift exchange, I gave my parents the video. It turned out pretty well and we all enjoyed watching it and seeing how things have changed over the years.
The Saturday after Christmas, we headed to Columbia for my cousin Abby's wedding. Then on Monday, my dad's side of the family came into town, so Jackson and Ellie got to play with their cousins which they thoroughly enjoyed. Up next was New Year's Eve which we celebrated by going to Pear Tree with my family (thankfully all the food tasted good to me) and then out to Matthew and Kristin's for their get-together. We were at home and in bed by midnight. Now it is time to play catch up. If only I felt better. Like everyone says, feeling sick means the baby is okay. So I'll take it and hopefully I'll start feeling better in several weeks.
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