This year Christmas seemed to come with a lot of wrinkles.....
1) 24 Days of Christmas:
The first Saturday in December we were signed up for the 24 days of Christmas service project in our church. Some friends of our with 4 young children and a 5th on the way ended up delivery their baby early due to complications. Even now, in January, he still in the hospital and we all pray for him to get strong and healthy soon. To help bring some Christmas joy to their young family a special service was brought to them every night Dec 1-24. We had the first Saturday of December. We love the Polar Express in our house. The book and the movie are favorites this time of year. So we brought them a gift basket with the book, movie, Christmas cookies, hot chocolate, marshmallows, some hopefully spill proof hot liquid cups for their little ones, and some Christmas jingle bells on red ribbon necklaces like in the movie. One of the best parts of Christmas is doing nice things for others and it made us happy to drop off this treat for them. It was a great way to start the Christmas Season.
2) The Live Nativity:
After delivery the Christmas Treat we attend the live nativity at our Church. It is a big display put on for the community to celebrate the Birth of Jesus Christ. I talked about it in my last post so I'll keep it brief here. But if you are in CT in early December put it on your list. It is an amazing 2 night celebration with a live nativity outside, music, snacks, nativity from all over the world displayed inside, and other Savior artwork, as well as family activities. We loved it!
3) Aaron's Work Christmas Party:
Aaron's work did a 2 day party at Foxwoods. Sounded awesome on paper. Spouses were invited, and some people brought older children. A free room for 2 nights was included. On Thursday night you could bowl all night for free (although we didn't know that ahead of time). There were a bunch of team building activities and a meeting during the day on Friday but Friday night there was a formal party with live entertainment, dinner and dancing. I was excited to go..... a night with adults, dressed in nice clothes, dancing..... awesome! We lined up Grandma to babysit for 2 nights and thought it was all a go (Amelia's first sleepover :/). But then Aaron started talking about skipping the party. I figured if we weren't going to the party I wouldn't go at all, because friday he had work stuff during the day. Just seemed silly to drive a total of 12 hours (back and forth to get Aaron to work, Amelia to Grandma's, get home, go back to Aaron's work, then to Foxwoods, and then back to Grandma's over 3 days) if we weren't going to the party. Aaron went to all the work stuff, but we didn't go to the party. He was the best bowler in the company which he was very proud of. Amelia and I stayed home. Next year I think we will go because Aaron had fun at the things he attended.
4) Ward Christmas Party:
The night of the Work Christmas Party we were at Church setting up for the Ward Christmas Party. We had a really nice program, thank you pinterest and all the people who were nice enough to accept acting roles when I came asking. It wasn't without some wrinkles, mostly in the food department, but nothing major and overall the party was a success. Wrinkles give you character anyway :)
5) Christmas Eve:
We started our Christmas celebration by video chatting with Grandpa and Grandma Card in Michigan. Technology is wonderful when your family is spread out all over the globe.
Christmas Eve Night the Victorino's were supposed to be Alabama but that all fell apart due to some larger wrinkles. Worked for us though because as a result we were able to keep up Christmas Eve tradition with them. Everyone pick their favorite appetizer and we make a large buffet.... enough food to feed an army. We had chicken wings, fruit salad, veggies with dip, pizza bread, tostitos, 7 Layer Dip and more. Yummy! We sang happy birthday to Jesus, and Amelia blew out his candle. It was a fun night. Amelia had had a runny nose but otherwise doing well....
6) Christmas Day:
MAJOR WRINKLE: Amelia was to sick to do Christmas. We had plans to go to my parents house and have a turkey dinner. We were looking forward to seeing everyone (Nana, Grampy, Meme, Bumpy, Uncle Barrent, Aunty Erin, Uncle Time, Aunty Marissa, and Aunty Ramona). Amelia had been coughing during the night, and had thrown up once. Awesome. But I was really hoping it was a fluke. aaron said it first thing in the morning, she is sick. But I tried really hard to make it not so. Got everyone dressed, the car packed with presents and desserts, and everyone in the car. We made it to the end of our road but she was coughing to much. Christmas in Montgomery was cancelled for us for the first time ever :( Instead we stayed home. It took all day but Amelia eventually opened all of her presents from the comfort of bed. Aaron and I played out new games all day (Battleline - the best 2 person game ever, and Ticket to Ride) and we had chinese food delivered. Amelia's favorite present of the day was a bee umbrella from Aunty Marie in Colorado, although she liked all her gits alot.
On Sunday Amelia was feeling somewhat better. We were able to go to church, although we kept her out of the nursery just to be safe. After Church we went to Montgomery and had a mini Christmas with Nana, Grampy, Meme, and Uncle Barrent. We ate up their leftovers :) and swapped gifts.
7) New Year's Eve: Amelia still wasn't 100% but seemed pretty good. we journeyed up the Swanzey NH to celebrate Christmas/New Years with Grandma and Grandpa O. Amelia got sick in the car on the way there (wrinkle attempt), but she gets car sick often enough. We pulled over, cleaned up, and continued on our way. We enjoyed playing cards with Grandma and Grandpa, swapping gifts, and eating snacks. The Card's didn't make it to midnight... but came close. Amelia's favorite present was a candy cane full of hershey kisses which she quickly gobbled down. She also liked her light up baton that she walked around hitting the ground with to make the lights work.
When we got home on 1/2/2016 Christmas was finally over for another year. Welcome 2016!
No comments:
Post a Comment