Holidays (Part 1)

... and now for the dreaded holiday post. Dreaded because now it has been nearly a week and so I know I'm going to miss something. To those of you out in blog land, this may not be a huge deal, but in one way or another this is more than a blog, this is a journal of my life and one day 15 years down the road, I hope technology will still love me and that I'll be able to look back and rediscover what it was like on my son's first Christmas. By then he'll want nothing but gift cards, (hopefully not) skinny jeans and the next big Mac product. I know at that moment I'll want to think back to when Christmas was simple and enjoyable.... so on ward.

With me not working the normal 9-5 (or 7-4:30, whatever it was), things tend to creep up on me. The anticipation of a short work week is no longer part of my life, so one week it wasn't Christmas and POOF, the next it was.

We did very little preparing for the holidays this year. We bought a tree a few weeks ago, decorated with what holiday items we have boxed up in our basement and then bought just a couple of small items for Jude. The presents had been wrapped and under the tree for at least a week and so when everyone else was running around searching for last minute odds and ends, I fully expected to be sitting on the couch enjoying the day.

But as always, Ryan snuck up on me.

Up until Christmas Eve, he was 100% on board for our gift-less Christmas where we only made a donation (and bended the rules so that we could give a gift to Jude). Well, out of no where he tells me that he doesn't feel right not buying for his niece and nephew and insisted we head to toys r us for a last minute gift. I was not happy. First of all - I had already crossed it off my list of 101 and second of all TOYS R US??? ON CHRISTMAS EVE?? Not wanting to play dictator, I went along with it.

First though, we met my dad and stepmom at "The Post House" on Main Street. It's a little diner with one of those old fashion bars that go all the way across. There are no tables, only stools where you sit up at the bar and get waited on. My dad used to go there every year for breakfast with his grandmother... he took my younger brothers there every year on xmas eve (we were always with my mom) and wanted to start taking Jude too. It was a much later breakfast than we're used to, but whatever...

Next... we were pleasantly surprised to see that it wasn't that bad at TRU and actually made it in and out of the store rather quickly. Since neither of us had anything else pressing to do for the rest of the day, we decided to enjoy each others company. We had a small lunch together, hit the liquor store to get some stuff on hand, made a quick trip to the grocery store to pick up some odds and ends that we really didn't need, etc.

Later that day we got a call from some of Ryan's work friends inviting him to Buffalo Wild Wings. He almost declined, but I insisted he go - and take Jude and I with him. It was nice! There were some of the people I used to work with and some of Ryan's closer work buddies. We all just hung around for awhile until we had to leave to get ready for church.

Ryan and I almost skipped church all together... I mean not to be harsh, but we don't go any other time of the year... why fake it for the holidays? Mostly though, we weren't sure how Jude would be, it'd be close to his bed time and I sure as hell wouldn't be putting him in the nursery. But I knew it would mean a lot to my mom, so we went for it. We decided to stay just for the music and then scoot out before the sermon began. This worked out very well for us. By leaving then we were able to hit my grandmothers house for a little bit before meeting up with the church crowd at my mom-mom and pop-pop's (swhoooo - yes, it was a busy night!).

Ryan's church hair... i must say he looks mighty handsome...

Jude and G-mom Wilson

As far as the holidays are concerned, there's something about Christmas Eve at my mom-mom and pop-pop's that makes the whole thing worth while. It's what I think of when I think about Christmas and it's the one thing I look forward to most of all. Even though we weren't exchanging gifts with anyone, it was still a good time. We sat around, relaxed, watched what others got, ate, and of course, Jude got a few small gifts (I was THRILLED that people actually listened!).

Curt is obviously thrilled for his presents...

one of MANY 'first christmas' ornaments...

The newest addition...

I just noticed our horizontal sweater stripe theme...

Afterwards we headed home. Jude was beyond tired. He went down quickly and we opened a couple of small gifts from my mom and Curt. We sipped wine, chatted and then headed off to bed.



Stay tuned for Christmas Day...