Holiday Recap

Christmas has always been a busy time for me. Having an extra set (and some years two) of parents and even more grandparents means having that many more people to see, gifts to open and such. Not that I'm complaining, it just is. Sal has been really supportive of all this. He isn't good for my need-to-be-everywhere-and-see-everyone nature because he also thinks we can do it all. That said, we decided that this is the year to a) cut back and b) start some traditions of our own. I think it worked out pretty well, but I will say that I have never been as tired at the end of it all as I was this year. I guess that just goes with the new baby territory. I'm hoping next year is better.

Since Sal had to work, I spent Christmas Eve with my mom's family. Mom, Gram, Uncle Jeff, Sandy, Baby J and I all gathered at Gram's for a prime rib dinner. It was really mellow which is something I desperately needed after running around all day to get my Christmas crap finished up. We had dinner around 6 and then sat around talking, staring at Baby J, and watching TV until Sal got off work at 11. Then, we opened gifts. The adults had decided to draw names this year, so it wasn't as big of a production as years past, but it was still a lot (since none of us follow directions well). The most exciting gift I got was a carpet cleaner from Uncle Jeff. And yes, I asked for that. My carpet drives me INSANE. Baby J got some cloth diapers from Gram - more on that little experiment in a later post - and a 49ers onsie that Sal wants to hang on the wall.

Christmas morning (after only 2 or 3 hours of sleep), we woke up to do the Santa thing at home. Baby J got all kinds of fun things in his stocking, I got a Wii game and Sal got a Wii reomte and some clothes. Apparently, someone tipped off Santa that the Wii is our most favorite thing right now. After that, we headed down south to my dad's house. Everyone else had stayed the night there (which has always been the tradition in the past), so they were just kind of waiting on us. We got tons of great gifts there including the video camera I have been lusting after for months (look for video in the near future). Santa had also stopped there and left us stockings - so fun! Our next stop was Sal's parents'. We opened gifts (yay GPS!) and then had a late lunch of yummy seafood and lasagna made by Sal's dad. We headed home early and the three of us were in bed by 8.

Here are a few photos of Baby J's Christmas experience.