Christmas

This year we decided to travel north for Christmas. We had a Christmas "Adam" party at my parents house on the 23rd where we exchanged presents, ate delicious clam chowder, and visited until the kids collapsed.

On the morning of Christmas Eve, we opened most of our presents. The kids played with their loot while Darryl and I finished packing, then we got it the car to head to Nate and Barbara's house. We had a great time staying with them. Their kids were generous enough to rearrange their sleeping accommodations to make room for us.

After we got settled, we headed to J's house and ate ourselves sick (at least I did). Again, we stayed just slightly longer than child meltdown point, then went back to Nate and Barb's. Will thanked us by getting up every hour or so throughout the night.

Luckily, Santa still managed to sneak in the house somehow. We brought three presents for each kid to open in addition to their filled stockings. Next year, each kid is only getting three presents. That was the way to do it. They really enjoyed each gift. As my Aunt Michele told me, "if it was good enough for Jesus, it's good enough for them." Unfortunately by the time she shared those words of wisdom with me, I had already exceeded the three present limit. This year, though, I'm sticking to it. :)

Eliana had a great time playing with all the girls at Barb's house. She already wants to go back to their house. We went sledding while we were up there (even though the temperatures were in the single digits--darn that inversion!), saw some family (though we missed many people due to bad timing on our part), and even managed to squeak in a short visit with my grandma on the way home.

We had a great time. We so blessed to have such a wonderful, loving family.