On Christmas Day, after all the celebrating and feasting, I packed in record time, loaded up the girls and began the long drive south to my grandma's house. Reluctantly we left Daddy behind since he had to work. I began the drive behind schedule, plus I knew I would need to stop and feed the girls whenever the baby woke up. But to my delight she slept nearly the whole way so I just kept driving and managed to arrive right on time, meeting up with my parents and brother's family that had also driven down to spend time with grandma.
The trip was chaos but we managed to have a lot of fun. We rented and shared a three bedroom condo so we would have more room to play than a hotel would have offered, which worked out great. Butterfly and Ladybug were thrilled to have so much play time with their cousins and frequently disappeared upstairs to go play "house". We had some trouble coordinating bedtimes since the cousins were so eager to play and my children are such light sleepers but we managed. It was especially nice than we were able to bring groceries and prepare meals at the condo rather than eating out every meal.
We got to spend time with grandma (my girls call her "grandma great") and got to exchange gifts with her. She had given each of our families a nativity for Christmas and each of our kids an angel ornament (in honor of grandpa who passed away a year ago). She also generously had little toys for them which we kept at her house to play with during our trip there. My parents, siblings and my family came up with some great ideas and had a lot of fun trying to spoil her a bit this year. We got a large basket and filled it with inexpensive but useful items like gloves, lotion, gift cards and treats. But the gift that I really felt was special was that we had a star named in my grandpa's honor and then each family picked out a star ornament for her tree to accompany it. (The idea wasn't original, I borrowed it from Daddy's family.) It was emotional and meaningful and wonderful.
One night grandma went driving with me and the girls and took us around town to find the best Christmas decorations and the girls absolutely loved looking at all the lights. We had fun going out for ice cream in then evenings and each night I cuddled in between my two big girls to sleep. Overall the trip was pretty crazy, I missed daddy and got overwhelmed easily by so many kids running around. It was fun to spend time with them but especially when I got sick (I'm starting to suspect a food allergy but haven't identified it yet), the noise and rambunctious (sometimes destructive) behaviors of nine small children and a new puppy were too much for me. So we loved the trip but were eager to come home and be with daddy again. Precious AngelBaby slept the whole way again and the girls were content to relax and watch movies.
That evening I left the big girls with Daddy and went to a girls' night with the women from Daddy's extended family and had such a blast. I love seeing these special, amazing women (some of who I don't get see very often) and it was wonderful, getting to relax without my adorable, but high energy children. I did take AngelBaby with me and she showed off smiling and beaming to everyone. We had a delicious dinner and snacks to go with it and one of the aunties put together an incredibly generous and fun gift exchange. She donated all the gifts which were things she had collected over time but never used (things like beautiful jewelry or high quality cosmetics). There was lots of teasing and laughing as we unwrapped gifts, stealing and trading as we went. Plus I got to drive with grandma and enjoyed talking with her on our drive.
Since then, the week has been busy with unpacking, catching up on laundry and some long over due cleaning and playing our new wii games with the girls (Carnival and Toy Story Mania, the girls love them both). I've been going to physical therapy for my foot (still have some numbness and limited movement from the bruised nerve) and it's slowly getting better. I still have to make a conscious effort to not limp when I walk but with more time, I'm confident it won't be a problem anymore. Daddy and I got to go on a fantastic double date with one of his former mission companions and his new wife. I love going to dinner with them because we burn off half the calories from dinner just by laughing before the night is over. We had a great time talking with them and showing off AngelBaby (while the big girls stayed home to play with their favorite babysitter). We finally managed to finish our family Christmas card just in time for New Years (we may just give up and accept that it will always be a New Year's card instead of a Christmas card--the weeks preceding Christmas are simply too busy). AngelBaby continues to sleep through the night (8-10 hours) so last night she officially graduated from her bassinet and we moved her into her own room. She looks so tiny in her crib! But I'm glad that she will have her own space (and that we can reclaim our bedroom just for us again).
It's New Year's Eve and we have no big plans for tonight. (Which is kind of odd because our last several years have been fun but crazy, sometimes even double booking ourselves.) We're looking forward to a low key celebration with the girls. At some point soon we need to do the boring but necessary stuff like revise our spending budget, meet with our financial adviser and our estate lawyer to do updates, plan some family goals and make resolutions for 2012. But for tonight, we will relax, play and ring in the new year a few hours early so that at midnight this house might all be sound asleep.
No comments:
Post a Comment