A Very Kennedy Christmas

Ok, so we're scrooges. You got it.

But the holidays were uneventfully wonderful.

It started on Christmas Eve. Every year we are invited to breakfast with my dad at The Post House (a local old-fashioned restaurant). It's always busy there and we always have to wait for seats, but it's what they like to call 'tradition' - so we go.

Afterwards we got an oil change and did a little more preparing for our trip and Christmas day before a lunch with our dear friends the Woodlands.

That night, we unfortunately had a little bit of running around to do. Ryan and I for the past few years have been invited to his friend's house for their family gathering. Usually this collides with my family's get together, but we tried to squeeze them both in. We actually ended up having a great time and honestly didn't want to leave. But, we had other things to do. We got to my family's gathering just in time for them to begin eating dinner (they go to church first and so usually have a very late dinner). Everyone (except us) exchanged gifts and of course Jude got a bundle of stuff. Specifically he cashed in on PJ's and books - perfect gifts for our family.

This got us home late and Jude to bed past his bed time. As a result, he slept in a little the next morning (something I'm sure we won't be able to do for too many more years). We had some tentative plans for the day, but decided to take our time with the morning festivities.

We immediately brought Jude downstairs to 'open' gifts. I personally hadn't wrapped anything and just had his few gifts scattered under the tree. Of course, mommom and poppop's gift (a jeep power wheel) totally over shadowed my bucket of balls and tonka truck. He hopped into the Jeep and was a little weary of it. After abandoning it, he found the bucket of balls and his little face light up! He started yelling "ball!" and throwing them around. After the glory of such an amazing gift wore of he took the time to open a few small odds and ends from my parents and then was free to roam the house.

Ryan's dad was nice enough to come to us that morning and dropped off his gifts. He has been getting a Hess truck for Jude since we told him I was pregnant. Jude LOVES them and swooned when he saw that this years truck had an airplane!

Finally we needed to hit a couple of houses before we could call the holiday book closed. We went to my grandmother's (where my dad met us) and Ryan's grandmother's (where his mother met us). We really were hoping these people would come to OUR house, but two stops on Christmas isn't THAT bad.

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In addition to some of the gifts listed above, Jude made out pretty well with some "big" gifts. He received a few savings bonds, a membership to a Children's Museum in NC (which in turn had reciprocal benefits with a couple in our area), a membership to the Philadelphia Zoo and a about 1/2 a music class (I guess we can say the other half is from mommy and daddy). Not too shabby a Christmas if you ask me.

Upon keeping up on the forecast for the east coast, we decided that it was probably best for us to cut Christmas short and leave for the first leg of our trip early. So, we rushed back from our visits, packed up vehicles and were on our way to Disney!

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...

First attempt at the Christmas House

When I was younger, EVERY year, we went to see the "Christmas House". For anyone not from the area (or from the area, but unaware of what I'm talking about), the Christmas house is a private home owner who puts up over a million Christmas lights every year. The house is off 71 somewhere.

Even as far back as when I was a littler girl, I remember hundreds of people lined up and down the road walking through this guys front yard. He had twinkle lights, archways, big plastic figurines and has moved on to those big blow up things and animated creatures. Also, I remember there being a Santa in the garage and soooo much more.

In the past few years I've only been once - which is sad. I tell Ryan every year I want to go and we usually forget. But this year I swore we'd take Jude. With all the lights, I knew he'd love it. So, last night, we get all ready to go around 6:30 and get Jude in his car seat. I knew it seemed like a bad idea since his bed time is usually around 7, but we gave it a try anyway. He pretty much screamed the whole way there. He's starting to like the car less and less, especially when he's already a little irritable. I knew once we got out of the car he'd be fine, so when we rounded the corner to where the house is, I was ready to scoop him out of his seat... but the lights weren't on...

We get closer and realize they only have the lights on during certain hours... and on Tuesday those hours don't start until 8. Knowing that Jude would not last that long in the car seat (and I wasn't about to take him our of it while sitting on the side of the road), we decided to head home.

We did however make a note of the hours for the next few days. Apparently Saturday night they turn them on at 5:30, so we'll be heading back then. At least it'll be earlier and hopefully Jude will be in a better mood on the way there.