We had a great weekend celebrating the beginning of Christmas with our Lewistown family. Stacie and Noah were our gracious hosts on Saturday for the day. The kids all had a great time playing together, and occupied themselves very well. Brooke, Anna and Lauren seemed to be three peas in a pod all day, even putting on a show for us at one point with full costumes. The only dispute seemed to be who was in charge. I'm sure you're shocked to hear that three little girls, all with Richard blood coursing through their sweet little selves, would have a disagreement about who the boss was. We all ate way too much, did some adorable crafts (including home made snow globes and Santa handprint ornaments out of salt dough), sang together, and missed my Pap so much that it was palpable. This was his day-- one of his absolute favorites-- and we all had a Pap sized hole in our hearts. One thing was for sure, sad or not, there was nowhere we would have been besides together. And although Richard family Christmases from here on out without Pap there in the physical sense are bound to be different, they'll still always be a major part of my Christmas. I can just feel the flood of childhood memories come back when our family is together at Christmas-- everything reminds me of why I love the holidays so much. And this year was certainly no different.
We stayed at Mom and Dad's on Saturday evening so that we could go to church with them and then spend the day with them to have our family Christmas together. Ever since the kids have been born, we've made it a priority not to be travelling on Christmas Day. So, although it has changed the tradition a bit, we wanted to have the time to create family traditions of our own, and make memories that would mean a lot to the kids as they grew older. So, we settled in for a special day with Nana and Pap, Aunt Libby and Uncle Zig and the girls, and Pappy Ray.
Nana and Pap outdid themselves with gifts for the kids. I thought Joshua would jump out of his skin when he opened his PSU home jersey (Christian Hackenberg, in case you were wondering). He literally jumped up and down and squealed. It was adorable. And for all of the girls (minus only poor Hayden), Nana picked out their very first American Girl Bitty Babies with some very cute accessories. I'm not the least bit shocked to have heard Lauren say on no less than a hundred occasions today that her baby is her new best friend, and her favorite present ever. She loves changing her clothes, and wearing her in the sweet little Bitty Baby carrier. Mara loves her baby too, although doesn't seem to grasp the special-ness of this particular baby. But since all the girls do together is play babies, I think she'll quickly become a favorite for our littlest as well.
We ate a delicious lasagna dinner and played the night away with Brooke and Hayden before it was time to call it a night for all of us. We headed home today and have embarked on the "get unpacked" mission most of the afternoon. Add to that the need to clean out the playroom to make room for Santa's anticipated drop off here tomorrow evening and it's been quite a busy day here. I am pleased to report that all of the kids are tucked safely in their beds, while I have unloaded the first of two loads of gifts that need to be brought home from the office. I find it ridiculous that I loaded them into the van at the office, then took them to our basement, only to need to bring them back up again tomorrow night. Santa's work is exhausting. I don't know how those elves do it.
To say the kids are excited about tomorrow being Christmas Eve would be waaaay understating it. I'll work for a while in the morning, and then head home early in the afternoon to start cooking for Sunday and prepare for an enjoyable night with the kids. I think we are opting not to go to church. Although I hate that we have to make that choice, I have been working really hard to make choices this Christmas season that will eliminate stress. And I don't know what defines stress more exactly for me right now other than occupying Mara in a quiet, darkened (beautiful, might I add) church service during the hours that are usually the most difficult for her each day. Add to that that there is no nursery (and the last time we tried this with Lauren at this age, there was also no light and no heat on in the nursery) and I just think we're going to be far better off to stay here, tuck into our pj's and just be together.
Lots of fun to be had here in the next few days. We can't wait!
