Christmas

Emmy had a good first Christmas this year! We all had a good time, it was just busy! My sister, my parents, and grandmother all arrived on the 23rd, just in time to baby-sit while Charles and I had a rehearsal for Christmas Eve. It's always a great service, but a three hour rehearsal two days before Christmas is tiring.

Christmas Eve morning we all had our usual Christmas Morning breakfast together. Yes, a day early since we were having an earlier lunch on Christmas Day. Meredith and Mom and I worked in the kitchen prepping for Christmas Day as well as getting dinner ready for Christmas Eve.

Our friends Nate and Amy and their baby Ryan joined us for Christmas Eve dinner. We had lasagna! Not traditional, I know, but I was able to make it before my family arrived and spend less time in the kitchen. We had a good time together! Emmy went to bed at her usual hour, then we woke her up to take her with us to church at 9:00. She was NOT happy with me for waking her up. Then when we got to church, she was like "hey I had a nap, let's play!" We had to warm up and rehearse, and then I checked back on her around 10:30 when the concert started. (Our church has a service of 9 Lessons and Carols that is at 11:00 p.m. with a half hour concert that is part of our Concert with a Cause series that starts at 10:30 which is mostly solos, ensemble, and chamber music). She was NOT happy and was having a hard time falling asleep, so I spent time trying to get her to sleep. By ten til 11, I had to go, so I laid her down in the crib. Fortunately, the nursery worker said she fell asleep quickly then.

The service is always so beautiful, if I do say so myself as a part of the choir. After church, Emmy woke up again, ready to play! We took her home and Mom put her back to bed while we went to Jim and Jamie's for soup and champagne. I was reminded that this is a tradition not meant for those of us while small children because I was SO TIRED! Waking up Christmas morning at 8 am was rough!

We woke up to a happy baby, and happy news that our friend Chase was an uncle. His sister, Nicole, gave birth to their baby girl, Amelia, at 7:37 on Christmas morning. She was three weeks early, so she was a surprise Christmas gift! Here is a photo Mom took of Chase and "Lia" a couple of days after Christmas.

Emmy sat up by herself for the first time Christmas morning, which was a nice surprise! She helped tear paper off her presents and proceeded to shove whatever paper, tissue, or ribbon she could in her mouth. It was a lot of fun! Here she is with Grandma after we were all done unwrapping gifts and showered for the day.

We had a big dinner midday with Mary Ann, Joel, and Mary Ann's parents, Larry "Bear" and Marilyn. I was a bit ambitious this year and made a crown roast of pork with apple pecan stuffing and mashed rutabagas and it turned out well, I think! Joel had smoked a turkey and they also brought mashed potatoes and two types of green beans so we had a TON of food! It was delicious and we all ate too much.

By the time we were cleaning up the dishes, I was exhausted. I had to stop for a while. My parents and grandmother left around 4 and shortly after I was asleep on the floor. Ha! Emmy and I then went back and took a nap on the bed for a while. Meredith stayed Friday night with us so we had some sister time. She left Saturday morning as we prepared to hit the road for Rome to see Charles' folks.

It was a quick trip to Rome but we had a good time. We had not traveled in a while so we didn't know how Emmy would do, but she did pretty well. She didn't nap well in the car, so we put her down for a late nap at the hotel. She woke up just before 6 and we went to get dinner, but we should have probably just let her sleep because she was not the happiest of campers at dinner. After dinner we took her back for her bath and let her play and open presents from her grandparents, and of course eat more tissue paper. She slept pretty well in her pack-n-play and since she went down later, she slept until 6. I love this photo I took of her sitting in our bed before we put her in her dress for church. So cute!

After church and lunch, we headed back home. Charles had to work Monday and we had to unpack and repack for our next adventure! We hope that all our "readers" had a wonderful Christmas holiday season.

LOTS more photos are in the December Picasa Album. Enjoy!