Merry Christmas 2009!

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas! Mine sure did fly by. I was organized and got all my presents early and spent last Wednesday night wrapping ALL of them while listening to Christmas music. Sam enjoyed that a lot and kept me company!

this was right before he climbed into the box

then curled up right next to me...on the wrapping paper and tissue!

Jason and I went to Sioux City, Iowa for Christmas this year. We will be trading off Thanksgiving and Christmas each year...last year was Thanksgiving in Iowa and Christmas here. This year we flipped it. This was the first Christmas away from home. I didn't do as well as I'd have liked; I am such a homebody. Plus, we were in the country and ended up getting snowed in which really put me out of my comfort zone. Through it all though, our Christmas as an "engaged couple" was very special. Everyone from Jason's mom side of the family was able to make it in for Christmas. His cousin, John was in from Atlanta and his cousin, Brad was there from Florida. Brad's girlfriend was also able to fly in from Atlanta. His cousin, Andrea, was home from school but is usually in Arkansas. Obviously, Jason and I both from Chicago. His brother, Phil, and his fiance, Laura, were in from Des Moines. They were only supposed to be stopping in for a few hours and head back out to South Dakota but the snow storm kept them with us all through Christmas and even longer than Jason and me! Both of Judy's sisters, Dawn and Bonnnie were able to be there along withJason's uncle, Bernard and cousin, Daniel. Bless Daniel's heart for all that he did for us that weekend...driving us back and forth on the Arctic Cat, ploughing all the snow so we could get though!

snowed in at Daniel and Bernard's house so Daniel brought us over to Grandma and Grandpa Jones on the Arctic Cat. It was quite an adventure for suburbanite me.

The highlight of the weekend was that we were all at Jason's grandparents farm house. It was very special to be with them, all of us cozied up in the kitchen to celebrate together. After we opened presents, Jason's Grandpa read a letter from "Jesus" about the true meaning of Christmas.






From being snowed in, to the shoveling incident, to the Arctic Cat, to Uncle Bernard and his kidney stone, to a flooded basement, to no running water, toliets or dishwashers and the County Parson, it's one I know I will never forget.

Merry Very White Christmas 2009!