a wonderful christmas

We had such a great Christmas this year, full of laughs, food, fun, and exchanging gifts. I have always loved Christmas, and as my mom says, I am her Christmas girl. I just love it! I love buying for everyone and finding the perfect gifts. Some people are harder than others, but I guess that is part of the challenge :) It was fun and exciting knowing this would be our last Christmas as the two of us and knowing next Christmas we will be trying to keep up with our little one! For the last several years we have spent Christmas Eve night at my parents house so we can all wake up together Christmas morning. We still get up early :) Of course, its much later than all the years my brother would run in at 5 am waking us girls out of our bunk beds...I think we started unwrapping around 8:30 or 9 this year. With 8 people and TONS of presents it takes hours to get through presents, so my mom always fixes a great breakfast to end the morning with! Growing up my parents always put all of our presents in "towers"- my most favorite tradtion. One year I came home from college and my mom had already started putting the presents under the tree...I couldnt stand it, so she carried them all back upstairs so we could have towers Christmas morning. This year even Miss Hannah had a tower of course! My dad didnt quite understand why someone who wasnt even here yet needed a tower, but she does need the most stuff! Her tower was appropriately, pink :) We had alot of laughs Christmas morning and exchanged alot of great gifts. Jeremy got his GPS Tom Tom he had wanted (although we dont go too many new places!), new golf shoes and some new golf grips for his clubs. And, lots of clothes! I know men dont really like getting clothes for Christmas- but he really needed some! I got way too many cute Hannah things, and pyrex glassware with lids...wow...you know you are old when!!
By the end of the night we settled in for some games with Elf playing in the background. Now, my dad being the gambling man that he is (never misses a big meet at Churchill Downs or always ready for a competitive Fantasy Football season) had a little game in store for us all. He brought down a big jar of change and we all had to guess how much we thought was in the jar (the winner gets the money!). I am NOT good at that stuff, at all. I was hoping Jeremy could come through for us. We had to be within 10%...the lowest guess was $30 and the highest was mine at $160. As dad weeded through the wrong guesses it came down to Alex at $90 and Jeremy at $135. There was $139 in the jar! We won!! I know, Im probably way to excited about that but one of my Christmas presents to myself today was new tires (not excited about that!). So, $139 definitely helps! Next, dad had all the kids sit down for a game of Racko (if you have never played, run out and get it- I have loved this game since I was a kid). After we all sat down, he put a $50 Visa gift card on the table for the winner! Lindsay was the winner- Lucky girl!

Lindsay & Alex preparing Christmas Eve Appetizers

Jeremy kicking off Christmas Eve festivities with a cocktail!

Ruby at our house on Christmas Eve..she cant wait to go see her cousin Maggie!
The Christmas towers...I tried to squeeze them all in, I think I left a few out!

Hannah's Tower!
Ruby posing with antlers on...not too happy about it!

My moms "wacky" tree as she calls it, isnt it adorable!
Overall we had an awesome Christmas. Nothing makes me happier than being with my entire family. I have this next week off and will be filling it with alot of projects! I have a ton of organizing to do and just odds and ends things we have to do before she arrives. I think we have most everything we need for her, we just need her! We have an appointment to check on Hannah on Wednesday and Im sure Ill have more of an update then!
Ive been getting a little more tired as we wind down this last month and she is still so high up that eating and breathing are getting a little hard! Two kind of important things :) I told Jeremy today, "I dont even remember what my waist used to look like." How easy we forget!
I hope everyone had an awesome Christmas and is preparing for a great 2010! We don't have big New Years plans, obviously, but I am really trying to savor each moment these last few weeks as the two of us. We will probably just enjoy a nice dinner out and a movie. One of my favorite things to do with my hubby. It's a weird feeling knowing you wont ever be the two of you again. Its a GREAT feeling!