Happy Holidays

Our first Christmas with Connor was a crazy one. It all began with us moving into our rental house the week of Christmas. In just a matter of days we weathered all kinds of mishaps with our temporary living quarters. It only set us back a few days--we were up an running with holiday cheer by December 23, when we finally had time to purchase our Christmas tree.

All the tree lots were closed so we had to settle on what was left at Lowe's. I'm not sure who looked more pitiful, us or the tree, because they only charged us $1 for a tree that during its glory days would have gone for at least $40. Believe it or not, it didn't look that bad once we decorated it.

Jimmy took Connor to visit with his Dad's family on Christmas Eve while I baked and cleaned until about 2 a.m. I was preparing to have my family over for a variety of Christmas treats. The next morning started early. I awoke at 5:30 a.m. to finish baking and dress for Christmas mass. After mass, we headed to pick up Jimmy's Grandmother and then had lunch with his family at his Mom's house. Lunch started at 1 p.m. and I expected to be out of there by 4, but we did not leave until 5:15. I rushed back home to set the table with cakes, candy and pies.

Everyone showed up at 6, and we enjoyed hanging out and watching the kids open their presents. Nearly everyone left by 9, but my brother, his wife and kids stayed until a little after 10. We were so tired we slept until 10 a.m. the next morning. Once we awoke, we started making plans to pick up Jimmy's cousin who is 8, my niece who is 9 and my other niece who is 8. They were all looking forward to their first slumber party with Connor.

We had all three girls back at our house by 6 p.m. that night. We ate cheese pizza and watched several movies. The girls finally fell asleep around 2 a.m., but quickly sprung out of bed when Jimmy came home with Krispy Kreme doughnuts.

Needless to say we are all tired and looking forward to spending New Year's eve with just the three of us.