Christmas #1: this was alot of fun!

This year we've decided to stay home and celebrate Christmas here. With my previous pregnancy history, we thought it would be best to stay close to the hospital and not risk going into preterm labor on the interstate in rural Kentucky!
The hardest part about staying home is missing Christmas day with our families, long-standing traditions with both.

My parents were sweet enough to make a trip up here as my mom had some time off. We enjoyed an early Christmas with them as well as quality time of playing, projects and fun.

They arrived on Sunday afternoon after naptime. Amos was so excited to wake up to GrrMama's rescue! He had plans for his grandparents: basketball and monster trucks with GrrDada and snow play and The Snowman movie with GrrMama. Overall, he kept them busy, which they loved!

For dinner we went to Macaroni Grill. We were seated upon arrival, ordered and were enjoying our bread when Amos said that he felt sick. The sickness happened and we got through it in time for dinner to arrive and for us to recover our appetites. We were puzzled as to why he got sick again but had no theories to explain what had just happened. We knew he was ok when he bolted out of the bathroom, back to our table, wanting to eat pizza! We let him eat the bread and were thankful that he didn't seem to have a virus again.

On Monday, we woke up to a dusting of snow, in which Amos was excited to play and dig. After a monster truck viewing with GrrDada, Amos and GrrMama got suited up and went out to play. They had a great time in the snow!

That night, we had our Christmas together. Amos loved stacking the presents and could not wait to open them. He got many great gifts from us and from his grandparents. He got some great pjs, a monster truck blanket, a 3D monster truck book (that we adults had to test), a Cars movie book (with his name in it!) and DVD, a Lego garbage truck and some new little Tonka trucks. The best was saved for last: he got a hand-me-down Harley Davidson bigwheel from his second cousin Danny and was so excited to race it around the house!

Mom and Dad spoiled us too, and got some great things themselves: Mom got a Notre Dame football book and Dad got a David Letterman show t-shirt. Then we dumped our stockings and continued the Christmas fun. After it was all said it done, we surveyed the living room and paper wreckage that we always seem to create on Christmas. Amos (of course) was so excited to have real trash to play with. He stacked all of the paper up on the futon and his "garbage truck" was back!

There was even a present for Baby Sister! Amos showed it to my belly and then opened it. It was a cute little one piece long john pajama outfit, with ruffles on the behind!

On Tuesday, Mom and I went to my doctor appointment. While we were there, Dad and Amos went to Home Depot and had a fun time together!

That afternoon, we got going on our projects: I mixed up gingerbread cookie dough with my new food processor; Mom vacuumed the downstairs and Dad worked on our windows, making them more energy efficient. Amos helped GrrMama make the cookies and I mixed up more dough!

While I iced the finished gingerbread, Mom, Dad and Nathan watched 'The Christmas Carol' and we enjoyed the low lights and relaxing night.

Wednesday, their last day, came, and we sadly had our last morning together. Mom and Amos watched 'The Snowman' movie, one of their favorite things, and then watched the cement truck dump concrete across the street.

Amos tried on GrrDada's boots and thought he was soo clever!

It was a busy morning, which was good because it helped distract me from being so sad that they were leaving. We said our goodbyes on the porch and left to go to a Christmas brunch with friends.

As my parents pulled away, I was so thankful that they got to come visit and have Christmas with us. I know it will be tough to be away from the rest of our family on Christmas, so I'm interested to see how our first Christmas in Indiana will go!