Christmas 2010...It's Here!

Getting the kids down for naps on Christmas Eve was (understandably) a bit challenging. Not only was it Christmas Eve, they were at Grandma's house, they were in the same room, and Joey was in a bed that he could easily get in and out of. But, naps did prevail and they went to sleep. However, due to it taking longer than expected to settle down, it wasn't too long before we needed to wake them up to get ready. Ah well...better than nothing, right?

We had a yummy chicken dinner with the family and then got all dressed up in our Christmas best. We made it out the door in time to get to church for the pre-Mass Christmas music AND to get enough seating for the whole gang! To add to the wonder of the night, by the time we were on our way, it had started snowing. There was enough music and kid-involvement during Mass to keep Marie pretty occupied during the longer-than-usual service. But, by about halfway through, Joey got pretty restless and we had to start encouraging him to sit still and be quite because there were going to be presents at Grandma's house when we got there. It worked, but he did associate opening presents with Grandma's house for the next 4-5 days.


By the time we were on our way home, there was a significant covering of snow on the ground and roads. We slowly but surely made it home. The kids were very excited to get to open their presents. They got to play a little bit, just enough to wet their appetite. We decided in the interest of time, they would be the only ones to open and the adults would have our exchange after Marie and Joey were settled into bed.





The next morning, Marie went straight for her stocking to see what St. Nick had left. She dug right in and was more than willing to check everyone else's stocking as they emerged from their warm beds.


We settled in for a day at home with the immediate family since the Meinhart gathering wasn't until Sunday and since the snow and weather caused us to postpone our drive to St. Louis to see Great-Grandpa Boedeker.