Phew!

Wow! We survived the holidays and now that we are home, I feel like I need a vacation to recover from our vacation. Traveling is a little more, shall we say, complex, when you have a little one, that’s for sure. But all in all, we had a wonderful time away with our families and we are all glad to be back home, sleeping in our own rooms and in our own beds.

We started our holiday celebrations around noon on Christmas Eve when the Dude came home early. We enjoyed a relaxing afternoon together as a family. We tried to get some pictures but evidently, we are not a family of photographers. So, they suck. But at least we have proof that we were all there.

While I put the babes to bed, the Dude put together a delicious feast of battered yumminess. No better way to kick of the holidays than by eating a plate full of cholesterol.

After enjoying a relaxing evening together, we headed to bed and hoped that Santa would make an appearance at our place. When we woke up the next morning, Evalyn was pumped to discover that he had. We exchanged gifts with each other and Eva was as patient as could be as she chilled in her bouncy seat and watched all the action.

When we were done, we put her down for her nap and went crazy packing and getting ready for our week away. We took down our tree (um ya, at 9 am on Christmas Day!), organized all the gifts and packed the car. When the babe got up from her nap, I fed her and we were off.

We spent the next few days with the Dude’s family. On the 27th, we had a mock Christmas morning with his parents, siblings and nieces and nephews. That afternoon, we had a delicious meal, played games, exchanged gifts, and went skating with his extended family. I’m serious – there is never a dull moment with this family. Ever.

On the morning of the 28th, we packed ‘er all up again and headed to visit with my family for the remainder of the week. There we played games, relaxed, the Dude did some work for a friend and for my Dad, and we just enjoyed the time with our family. I don’t have very many photos from our time together. My brother is the photog so I leave that up to him.

On Thursday night, my Grandparents came over for dinner. I always always always love getting to see my Grandma interact with Eva. It is so special.

Friday (which was New Year’s Eve for the rest of you) was Christmas eve for my family. We hung out together all day and then after the kids were in bed indulged in a delicious feast of appetizers. We determined that we have been having an “appetizer meal” on Christmas eve since 1993! That’s quite a tradition.

Sadly, none of us, except my SIL made it to midnight to ring in the New Year. The rest of us were all of the opinion that the sooner you go to bed, the sooner Santa will get there. And some of us (not mentioning any names) went to bed early because they were pretty sure their daughter would not be letting them get much sleep that night. Ahem – me.

We woke up on New Year’s Day to discover that Santa had arrived once again! We all gathered in the living room for the festivities. We all open our stockings together at once, clean up the mess from that (because, yeah, Santa WRAPS the stocking gifts) and then pass out the “under the tree gifts”. Once everyone has their pile, we go one by one and watch each other open the gifts. It’s relaxing and enjoyable that way! It was so fun this year because Little H is now at the age where he gets it. He really gets what’s going on. He was excited to leave cookies and milk for Santa and to see the presents in the morning! He was also so patient and cute as he waited for his turn each time.

We headed home with a jam packed car on Sunday after. When we unloaded, it looked as thought Christmas threw up in our dining room.

I’m spending this week slowly getting this organized and put back in place. It feels like I just got my Christmas decos out and now it’s time to put them away.

Goodbye Christmas! We’ll see you again next year.