Christmas

We just returned from our visit home for Christmas. We had a wonderful week that was, as holidays seem to go, a little too short. We had a bit of everything: loud and busy surrounded by lots of people and quiet and introspective with a few loved ones. It was a lot of fun.

I feel like we used our vacation time more efficiently this visit. Obviously it's hard to divvy up so short a time amongst so many family members, but we did our best. And the time we did spend was spent well. We tried not to be frazzled and rushed. We tried to enjoy whatever we were doing while we were doing it. I think it worked. At least I felt more relaxed.

All of Brad's siblings were in town and his parents had some fun things planned for us. We made gingerbread houses, stained-glass ornaments, and held a not-to-be-forgotten Christmas Eve program that included 4 Mary's and 3 Baby Jesus' (I was the pregnant Mary, then handed the role off to the three new mom's with their three new babies). Good memories.

Brad's master plan for our gingerbread house - a hobbit hole

My family was all in town too, but not for long. My sister and her family moved to Alaska two days after Christmas. Still, we had some fun together holding Nazareth Night, going to a cabin for a couple of days, seeing Les Miserables, and finally sending Hayley, Justin, and baby Jocelyn off at the airport. Good memories there too.

Each of our families had family pictures taken while everyone was in town. That is always awesome when you're pregnant, but you gotta do what you gotta do, right? No, it was actually fun to see everyone looking snazzy (even if Leah did ruin the Hansen's pictures by throwing a tantrum and laying on the floor).

All in all, we had a wonderful Christmas break. I don't know when we'll all be together again with us having a baby soon then moving across the country. Our goodbye's were a little more bittersweet this time around. Darn family. It would be easier if we didn't like them so much! At least we have some good memories to hold us over for a while.

Merry Christmas!