Christmas with the Vermont Family

My parents came to New Hampshire on Saturday to celebrate Christmas 2008 with us. Being 9 months pregnant made this holiday a little different. There has been a lot less driving this season. And a whole lot less hustle with my bustle.

I made a lasagna and then Grandma D., Grandpa D., Brandi and Angus showed up around noon. Luckily, they didn't hit any of the morning icing that was reported on the weather forecast.

Grandpa and Grandma brought a bunch of gifts for Gabriel, Michael and I. Gabriel got some toys including a top, a Glowworm, a stuffed sheep, a mobile for his crib, and a wooden dump truck. Michael and I were spoiled too, but I am most excited about all of my new pajamas, assuming I will be lounging around in those a bit more over the next few weeks. And Michael has already started wearing his new sweatshirts that he much needed.

Michael and I gave an "anti-gravity" car to Angus for Christmas. It is a remote control car that was suppose to drive on the walls and ceilings. I was a bit skeptical, but it really did work! We have textured ceilings, so it didn't work up there, but Angus was able to drive the car all over our walls. Brandi is becoming a high tech teenager, so she got an iTunes gift card and a USB port. That's the kind of Christmas shopping Michael likes!

Elleigh and Lucas were so excited to see all the company and the presents. Angus was so interesting to them, and yet, over stimulating as well. We haven't had anything that high energy in the house in a while. Probably since Angus' last visit.

After having some lasagna (and fudge, summer sausage, cheese, spinach and artichoke dip, crackers, cookies...), Michael set the Wii up for Angus and Brandi to try their hand at bowling and golf. Michael made sure Angus' controller was firmly secured to his hand before letting him stand in front of his flat screen.

Elleigh and Lucas were so exhausted from the visit. They had to nap all afternoon with Daddy to recuperate.

Thank you for the visit, Mom and Dad!

Christmas will be so different for us next year when Gabriel is here.

Hustle and Bustle

I've had to curtail my blog posts this holiday due to the hustle and bustle upon our household, and I am sure your home as well. We also have a teething puppy that requires extra supervision. And because Daddy and Elleigh are still sleeping, Lucas is insisting upon helping me blog because he's so bored. Typing with puppy on your shoulder snuffling your hair isn't easy. Lucas doesn't know yet that he can walk up the stairs by himself, so he won't go up and wake Elleigh up to play.

We are preparing to drive to Vermont tomorrow to spend Christmas Eve with the Doaner side of the family. I hope that the rain coming in tonight doesn't freeze too badly in the morning and cause an icing situation. Since we have either Brandon Gap or Killington mountain to drive over tomorrow morning, we have to be extra careful when the temperatures are in the 30's and 40's. Some where in the altitude change we will hit different weather along our travels.

Tomorrow will be the first Christmas Eve of my life not with Grandma and at her Christmas Eve gathering.

On Christmas Day, we are gathering with the Abberton/LaPierre side of the family in New Hampshire.

We put up our outdoor lights up this year, but we only used our smaller artificial tree in the living room. We weren't sure what Lucas was going to do with the Christmas tree and decorations. We also know that once Christmas has passed we will be in full force wedding planning. So it will be nice to not have much Christmas stuff to put away.

I have to finish the wrapping and get ready to take Lucas to his puppy class this morning, and call Mom to finalize arrangements for Christmas Eve.

Christmas Photos

I dressed the puppies up tonight in their Christmas photo outfits. Lucas is growing so fast that his barely fit, and won't be wearable by next week. Mid photo shoot, we took a dinner break before trying session two of photos. Elleigh's button velcro closure wouldn't close anymore from her kibble bulge after she ate. Michael was the assistant puppy positioner. It was worth it though! Out of the one or two hundred photos snapped, we have the one photo we needed for our Christmas card. Thought I might share a photo of the kids at about the time they were saying they'd had enough. What troopers!