Christmas!

It was with a heavy heart that I celebrated Christmas with my family this year. Although our celebrations were wonderful, I couldn't help but think about the families mourning in Connecticut. My heart just breaks for those parents and I cannot imagine the pain they must feel. I was moved when I saw Aunt Laura's Christmas tree decorated with ornaments in honor of the babies. What a nice way to remember those kids...

On Christmas Eve we packed up Caroline and took her to St. Marks in Newport for the family service. There was lots of singing and the teens in the church even led the readings. We saw a number of friends and their children and we were happy that Caroline mostly cooperated (she wanted to shake everyone's hands during the peace and especially wanted to touch the beard of the man sitting next to us!). Afterward, we went to Hugh and Lee Ann's for their annual open house. Caroline and I have been housebound for so long now that it was great to get out and visit with other adults (we knew we were asking to get sick but we were will willing to risk it!).

Christmas morning came early - at 2AM! - when Caroline's DDAVP pill wore off too early. After a quick diaper/outfit change, a sippy of water, and another dose of medicine she was back to sleep until almost 7:30.

Christmas morning we made a quick breakfast snack of fruit and yummy drinks (sparkling cranberry and apple cider) and settled in to open gifts with Caroline. It was so fun this year to watch her rip open the paper; of course, that's ALL she wanted to do! We mostly stuck to our "rule of 4" this year and got her a neat book called "Christmas Snow," a Little People barn w/ animals, a shopping cart with grocery store items, and a new outfit. I added an extra free gift thanks to Pampers Points: a baby doll that Caroline adores. Tyler was in charge of her stocking and got her a fun CD and an owl. Caroline also had a bunch of gifts under the tree from her Florida family... by the end of our morning I realized that I will need storage bins for her "old" toys so that I can rotate them!

After gifts we realized that time was running out so Tyler quickly made our waffles for breakfast while I got Caroline and myself ready for the journey to Richmond for Christmas part 2. Amazingly we left on time and with the exception of a slight delay due to car sickness, we arrived at Susie's house around 1. There we were met by Susie and Dennis, and the three brothers-in-law: Matt, Chaz and Gabe. (And surprise guest: Kelly from Jacksonville!)

We spent the afternoon visiting and eating and opening gifts and eating some more before Martha and Mary and their families joined us for dessert and more visiting. Caroline did fantastic and absolutely loved playing with so many new people. I didn't realize that she hadn't met Eliza or Alex yet. We all rubbed on Danny for some good luck as he had earlier won a hefty sum on a scratch off lotto ticket given to him by a cousin!

Soon it was time for us to get on our way for the drive home. Tyler loaded up the sleigh car which was busting full of gifts. This time I drove home to avoid carsickness again and we made it back in good time. I put Caroline in her PJs before we left so she went right from the car to bed without a peep. Tyler and I fell into a deep sleep pretty quickly!

Today our friend Tom gave us the best gift ever: his time. Tyler and I loaded up our dining room table and he took it to Tom and Donna's house to refinish. Tonight Tyler came home and said that they still hadn't finished and that Tom was going to put 5 coats of urethane on the table over the next few days. Because of the cold they moved the table into Tom and Donna's LIVING ROOM (sorry Donna!) so that Tom could do it without having to heat the workshop and to avoid dust. I can't even imagine what it would have cost if we had paid someone to do this for us. Not only will we end up with a beautiful table, but Tyler also got to spend the day learning from a really talented craftsman.

While Ty was gone Caroline and I removed tags, broke down boxes, washed the new dishes from sister Katie, and did a few loads of laundry to wash all the new clothes, etc. that we received. It was a lot of work but by the end of the day we almost have a home for everything!

Tomorrow we are expected to get a ton of snow and are looking forward to playing in it. Caroline now fits in the French snowsuit we got from Julie; it'll be funny to see how deep the snow is next to her!

Oh - one more thing. On Christmas Eve day Tyler was bringing down wood into the basement when he noticed our long, lost hen hiding in the wood pile. She'd be gone 2-3 weeks and we thought she as dead although we never found any evidence of a struggle. It turns out that she got herself stuck in the woodpile and literally couldn't get out! We don't know how she survived but we were thrilled to find her since she was one of our new ones and had just started laying.

I took over 200 pics the last few days so I'll try to narrow the down:

Our hen

Christmas eve helper

Caroline and Mama ready for church

Christmas morning - Fred loved his new camo bed

Ty's new hat

New shirt, owl and baby doll

Slippers and Writer's Market!

I can't tell you how much Caroline loves this thing!

Fun cuddles before breakfast

On our way to Grammie T's house

Let the fun begin!

Lots of love for Gabe and Chaz

Ty's fave gift: a box of egg cartons form Matty

Surprise visit from Aunt Kelly!!! (I didn't get a better pic, sorry!)

Grammie and Caroline

We all LOVE the tutu Caroline got from Chaz!

Uncle Matty is so much fun!

Playing with Aunts Martha and Mary was a blast

Fred also wanted love from cousin Alex

This morning's sunrise - by Tyler!

Bye-bye for now!