Christmastime, Part 3

This is the final Christmas installment. (For those of you who asked to see wedding pictures, there is a slide show a couple posts down in the Christmas time, Part 2 post.) After the wedding things went significantly downhill. I thought I would capture the Christmas spirit once all of the craziness of traveling and the wedding was behind us. However, I just couldn't find my usual excitement for Christmas. I almost found it when I was at the mall before we left for our trip. (Even after the guy stole the spot I was waiting to park in.) But, the decorations and music were outnumbered by the materialism, busyness and pushing that was all around me. Once we got to Maryland, I was hopping to venture to all of my old traditional holiday stomping grounds and spend lots of time with many different friends. That did not happen.


We were, pretty much, stuck in the house because one person or the other was sick. I'm not talking a little cold. These were the illnesses going on in the house in no particular order: some type of GI virus, Strep, Conjunctivitis, 103.5 fever(S), Pneumonia. Add all of that to the typical problems of sleeping in an unfamiliar environment, having a house full of people coming and going, and the joys of two molars emerging and you have miserable people and one VERY tired and grumpy mom. I was mostly grumpy because I had all sorts of plans that had to be squashed. Luke shared a room with me and was up nearly every hour for most of the days and was more clingy than I have ever seen him. There was a screaming fest every time I was not holding him. Including when I was sitting next to him and touching him...not enough Mommy for the boy.

Of course, we received lovely gifts and got to be with our family. There were three distinct times that I did get a glimpse of the spirit of which I was longing, though. The first one was quite a surprise to me.

The day after the wedding we headed to College Park Ward (our old church congregation). I did anticipate that I would have a great time because I grew to love the people in that ward tremendously. Some I have known since I was five and started attending and others I met and got to know through my service at the church over the last few years. I wasn't let down. It was wonderful to see them all. I got a million hugs and chatted. Just sitting and worshiping with these wonderful people was uplifting. The surprise was that the choir did a musical presentation that chronicled the story of the Savior's birth. Presentations, such as this, are something that have come to be a tradition for me at Christmastime. We always spend Christmas Eve with my in-laws at their church. Each year they do this type of service. I love singing all of the songs from Hark The Herold Angels Sing to Oh, Holy Night and always find it hard not to cry throughout. It has come to be my favorite part of my Christmas celebration. A part of all the craziness that is solely and completely focused on the Savior. So, not only did I get to enjoy it on Christmas Eve, but also a few days earlier at church. What at treat!

By the end of the two weeks, people seemed to be getting better which gave me the opportunity to go out and have a bit of fun. Jimmy left a week prior to the boys and I but we were able to go out on a date while my parents watched the boys. The second we walked out the door it was like we had just been released from prison! (Of course, we love you boys but you were kind of cranky!) I was able to have three nights out with my friends, which was fabulous because I haven't done that since I was last in Maryland 6 months ago. Catching up at lunch with Denise and Moira was so nice. I got to go out with my old friends Julie, Tammy, Alison, Karen and my sister Kim for a great dinner. And even went to dinner AND a movie with Emily and Kelly.



(The reason only half of Emily's face is showing is because I made her move the camera at the last second because I didn't think I was in the picture!)

My parents and sister, Kim, were so sweet to babysit so I could go and do all of this child free!

New Year's Eve was fun as well. Jackson and I went to a movie with his buddies Izzy and Alexandra. (And my buddy, Emily.) This is a picture of Izzy and Jackson during one of the many play dates that they had during the trip. He was also able to have fun with his friends Junior and Sam. This was great for him as he has had less play dates in the six months that we have moved to Michigan than he had in the two weeks that we were in MD.



After the movie, Jackson and I went home and used my parents chocolate fountain to have some yummy fruit with Kim and baby Anna. We had a pretend countdown just before 11 pm and toasted with some sparkling cider. If you look at the last picture, you can see that Jackson was on his last legs, thus the early countdown. This was actually the first time in many years that I have been awake when the new year began, believe it or not. (I am posting these pictures even though my silly sister failed to tell me that I had chocolate all over my chin!)






We headed home the next day to a sick daddy. It was a draining trip but we did get to have some fun and be with our family which is what the holidays are all about anyway.