Wrapping Up Christmas

I know.  It’s about time.

Before I start, I wanted to let you know that I am feeling much better.  It would appear I was hit with a 24-hour bug.  Jeremy is still not completely recovered, but I was told the last time he had this that babies can keep symptoms for up to two weeks.  Fabulous.  At least, I feel better.

On with Christmas…

Between our family Christmas and Hoyt family Christmas, we managed to squeeze in a few fun things.  On the 26th, after church, we did some shopping.  I got a few more winter-wear items at Dick’s Sporting Goods and Dunham Sports so that I can better run in this arctic tundra that we call home, and Jeff and the kids cleaned up at Old Navy, which had really good deals on long-sleeved t-shirts and other winter wear.  We found ski jackets for the kids for $12.99 a piece!  Jeans were also half-price, so Charlotte and I got some of those.  I also found a puffy vest, an item of clothing for which I have longed since we moved here.  Why I have not bought one before now, I couldn’t tell you.  But I have one now, and I didn’t pay much for it.

You got to love a bargain.  Or I do, anyway.

On Monday, I hit the mall by myself to do some additional shopping for me.  There went the rest of my Christmas money, but it was well worth it!

I think I may have mentioned this earlier, but we got a whole bunch of snow on Christmas Eve.  We had originally thought we might go skiing, but, when we looked more closely at that, the combination of paying peak prices and juggling a baby made that idea go away.  AS the weather was supposed to warm up on Wednesday and because we didn’t want to completely miss out on the snow, on Tuesday, we bundled up and headed for a nearby sledding hill!

I didn’t get any pictures of this, but we surely had a good time!  Jeremy wasn’t sure what to make of it all, but he took a good three or four runs on a sled with me or Jeff.  On the first run, Jeff hit all of the moguls, and Jeremy yelped every time.  When Jeremy took his runs with me, he got a face full of snow because I have a bad habit of using my feet to slow down the sled.  He didn’t like the cold wet much, but he never cried. 

When we quit taking him with us, Jeff and I took turns watching him at the bottom of the hill while the other sledded.  As Jeremy was missing his nap to participate, at one point, he sort of pitched over face first into the snow!  Poor baby.  We went home shortly thereafter.

On New Year’s Eve, we loaded the car and headed to Michigan for a quick overnight trip.  We spent some time with my mom and then settled in at Zech and Alyse’s to enjoy some family time.  My brother Thad arrived from New Jersey around 7:00, and then Alyse’s parents joined us, and we spent the evening playing cards and visiting.  Of course, we watched the ball drop in New York and then tumbled into bed.

One of the most fun things about this trip was visiting with my baby niece Elynne, who is four months younger than Jeremy.  My, how she’s grown since we last saw her!

Here is one picture of all four Hoyt grandkids.

On New Year’s Day, we had one last round of gifts.  I think that Charlotte and Elijah had the most fun “helping” the babies open their gifts.  Of course, the babies mostly wanted to eat paper.

 

Here is Alyse with Elynne, who was ready to have her mom holding her by this time!

Here is my brother Thad with the babies.  This was the first time that had met Elynne or Jeremy.

To wrap up the festivities, we took some family pictures, something that doesn’t get to happen very often.

We ate a fabulous Christmas dinner and then hit the road for home.  Whew!

And that wraps up our Christmas break!  Jeff headed back to work on Monday, the kids and I started school back up, and we marched on in to 2011.

Where does the time go?!