Christmas: The short version

Since it’s you know, the 29th of December and almost a new year, I thought I should recap some of what happened over Christmas.  Somehow I never took my camera out of the bag….I don’t know why.  But Christmas 2010 shall live on with no photographic evidence. 

FRIDAY:

We left in the morning to head to my parents house.  We went up the state highway instead of the interstate for a little change of pace.  The old people were out for their Friday drives.  It was painful.  We ate lunch at Taco Bell because nothing says Merry Christmas quite like some hard tacos and chalupas.  Oliver was begging for the ice in Andy’s cup, and they shared it.  It was sweet.  We finally arrived at mom and dad’s and had fun hanging out that afternoon.  We had dinner with my mom’s family at my grandma’s and it was nice to see everyone.  We came back to mom and dad’s and unwrapped presents.  Much fun was had by all…especially Oliver who was able to clean up the mess as my dad and Andy shot marshmallow guns at each other.  Oliver did not sleep well because of all the sugar.

SATURDAY:

Or the laziest Christmas ever.  I had a nasty headache, earache, and sore throat all day.  Mostly I slept.  I think the others did too.  We just watched some tv and took it easy…and Mom fed us until I couldn’t eat any more.  I’m concerned about stepping on the scales tomorrow after all the eating.

SUNDAY:

Sunday morning we headed to Indianapolis to Andy’s parents’ house.  We had lunch from Penn Station and unwrapped presents from Andy’s family.  It was then that I realized that our sweet unborn baby had gotten presents from everyone this year.  My parents got the baby some books, a Purdue onesie, Purdue bib, and Purdue socks.  Andy’s parents gave the baby a little lion and lamb toy that winds up and plays “Jesus Loves Me,” Mike and Beth got a little monkey that screams and cries until you feed it (Ollie keeps trying to attack that one), and Andy’s Aunt Kim got a sweet little “lovey” toy that has a rabbit head and a soft blanket body.  We all unwrapped our presents and the dogs played with their robot dogs while Andy and Mike played with the remote control sumo wrestlers.  That afternoon Andy’s Uncle Joe and Aunt Laura and cousins Austin and Alyssa arrived from San Diego.  They stayed at Andy’s parents house too…and we had so much fun hanging out with them.  We spent the whole afternoon talking and hanging out.  More of the Cook family came over that night (much to Ollie’s dismay—turns out he’s kind of an introvert).  We ended up staying up until 2 just talking and hanging out.  I love it when Andy’s dad is with his brothers….they have such funny stories, and they tease each other like they’ve never left the house…even though they are all lucky to see each other once a year.

MONDAY:

Monday was more of the same.  We kept trying to figure out when Jim and Laura would arrive.  Their flight had been cancelled on Sunday because they had no crew.  So they were flying out Monday afternoon….and they were still an hour late.   Andy and I kept going back and forth because it was getting late and we needed to head towards home, but we really wanted to see Jim and Laura.  We haven’t seen them since Jim’s accident two Octobers ago, and we really wanted to!  Right as we were about to give up and go (like I had my coat on), the car pulled in the driveway.  So we stayed for another hour, and it was so nice.  I’m so thankful we got to spend some time with them.  The uncles and Andy got Jim’s wheelchair in the house, and the first thing he said was “Weeeee” and put his hands up like he was on a rollercoaster.  He was telling stories and complimenting the room (he hadn’t seen Andy’s parents house since they finished the remodel two years ago) and he told Andy and I both that he was excited about the baby.  It was a blast….almost the entire family was there which hadn’t happened in a long time.  It was nice to see them all together, laughing and talking, and sharing stories.  Most of  them are still in Indy….I think at least one section of the family leaves today…and Joe and Jim’s families will be in town until New Years Day. 

And that’s our Christmas weekend that took four days :)