We have had a wonderful holiday so far and it will continue tomorrow with a New Year's Eve Party at our house. I won't bore you with all of the details, but here are a few highlights since our last post.
December 18 - We celebrated an early Christmas with Dave's family since this was a Houston Christmas year. We had a wonderful dinner (yeah Panera Bread!) and fun spending time together. Our nephews, Jack and Kyle, were very sweet and spent some of their own money to get Emma special Christmas presents. They got her a baby doll and doll stroller (they even went out on Black Friday to find the stroller) and it was her favorite toy of the night. After opening the stroller and doll, Emma wasn't all that interested in her other gifts and she played with the doll and stroller right up until it was time to leave for the airport.
December 19 - Dave's Mom and Dad gave us a lift to Midway and we headed to Houston to spend a week with my parents and Grammy Davis. With all of the heavy snow storms back east and snow in Chicago, we were a little late leaving, but had a smooth flight. Emma even slept on the plane.
December 20 - 23 - A busy few days! Dave and I had to finish our Christmas shopping while Emma got quality time with Gigi and Grammy, presents had to be wrapped, cookies had to be baked, and family was visited. On Sunday, we got to see my Great Aunt Millie and Uncle Kenneth when they came out for dinner. We missed the big family party this year because of when our flight got in, so it was great to get caught up everyone's news. Monday was another big dinner at the house. Rhonda and her family were there and so were my Uncle Bill, Brittany, Ryan, and his finance Anna. The kids had a blast playing together! Tuesday found Dave, Emma, and I headed up to Cypress to see Dave's family. Another yummy dinner and fun games with Pete, Judi, Lisa, Matthew, Kevin, Missy, and some of Missy's family.
December 24 - Christmas Eve! We headed into Friendswood to my cousin Melissa's house for the Buchanan family party. My Grandmother has 14 Great Grandchildren. 12 of them were there and a large number of those kids are under the age of 5 or 6. They all played really well. Emma did have an adventure with a bunk bed - she climbed up after one of the older girls and couldn't get herself back down. We found out when we heard Emma crying..... All and all she did okay, but separation anxiety was in full force - poor kid!
December 25 - Christmas Day!!!!
We had to wake Emma up and it took a little while for her to realize Santa brought things for her, but she figured it out really fast once she saw her new suitcase. As we opened gifts from under the tree, Emma would fall in love with one toy and it would take some coaxing to get her to open the next one. She did learn a new word though.... Open (opie in Emma). All of the bows Emma had gotten in trouble for playing with all week could finally be ripped off with abandon and she loved it. She even turned herself (and me) into one big bow. The favorite gift of the morning had to be the purple puppy sleeping bag from Gigi and Poppy. Emma laid down right away and kept saying "off" as she pulled on the puppy.
After a breakfast of homemade cinnamon rolls (thanks Grammy!) we headed over to Rhonda's where Emma wanted to play with Drew's toys! Drew was a very sweet big cousin and gladly shared his Handy Manny workbench. After more gifts were opened, the kids all played well together as the checked out their new toys. Hannah got Pictionary Man and let me tell you - that game is HARD!!!
December 26 - 27 - I think there is a reason people say traveling at Christmas is hard! Everyone was so generous with Emma, Dave, and I that we had to ship several boxes home. The biggest items were Emma's, so she will have a mini Christmas all over again next week when our poor UPS man delivers everything. One the 27th, we put ourselves back on the airplane and headed home. The weather in the Chicago area cooperated and moved on before we did, so our flight was on time and roads clear. Emma slept most of the way home which made for a restful flight for Dave and I.
December 28 - 30 - We've been busy beavers since we got home. One Monday, I had to make the dreaded after vacation trip to the grocery store. A good note was that we got to see Dave's Uncle Ken, Aunt Jackie, cousin Carrie, and her family on Monday over at Julie's. We had yet another wonderful meal and great visits! By Monday night, I had us all unpacked (3 suitcases, 2 boxes, and a duffel bag) but not put away. Yesterday and today, we have worked on finding homes for Christmas gifts and things that just seem to never get put away. We have also worked on getting the house cleaned and ready for tomorrow night.
I guess I lied about not boring you with details.... Good night!
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