Ok, so I started this post way back on December 27th, but wasn't able to finish it for some reason and then just never got back to it. So I'm finally finishing it. Then I will start a new post with some of the highlights of what has happened in January :-)
We had a wonderful Christmas! We had 4 separate gatherings plus our own gift exchange w/ just Tony, Seelie, and I. It was busy, but loads of fun! Seelie did great and seems to really enjoy the excitement of large crowds. He even napped for an hour during our big gathering w/ nearly 30 people in the room.
Thursday night, Christmas Eve, was our "immediate" family gathering at my sister, Leila's, house. We had my parents, my sisters, Leila's best friend - Austin, my mom's sister, her son, and her grandson. It was a nice gathering. We had lasagna for dinner which has become a tradition. Then we exchanged gifts, then most of us played some Rock Band on Leila's Wii. She got DJ Hero for Christmas and checked it out, but most of us weren't brave enough to try it. It looks pretty complicated. Rock band is a lot of fun though. At the end I was holding Seelie and singing. He started making noises too like he was singing along. It was So cute! We left her house about 9pm and Seelie went to sleep about 10pm that night. I thought that he might go to sleep at her house, but he wasn't having any of that.
Christmas morning Tony, Seelie and I exchanged our gifts to each other and did Santa. We ended up ordering from Amazon at the last minute because we couldn't decide if we were getting a big item or not and how much to spend on smaller things. We ended up deciding that after the first of the year we are getting a King size bedroom set but that we could also get each other some good Christmas gifts. I got a Wii fit and Shaun White Snowboarding for our Wii. I also got Super Baby Food (for making Seelie's baby food), Absolutely Fabulous seasons 1-3, and a puzzle mat that rolls the puzzle and stores it for later. Tony got a game "Arkham Horror" that he Really wanted plus several expansions for it. He also got a Mandolin slicer, Alton Brown Good Eats episodes, and a Grateful Dead shirt. Seelie got a LeapFrog learning table and one of those classic stacking toys w/ the circles on the post that get smaller as they go up. We enjoyed our family time Christmas morning. Seelie laid on the floor and watched mommy and daddy open gifts and just was happy to check everything out.
Then around 1pm we hosted my extended family gathering. This includes my grandparents, aunt & uncle, cousin and her girls (one was sick so her husband stayed home w/ her), grandma's nephew and his ex wife (don't ask), their daughter and her boyfriend and their daughter (confused yet?), my parents, sisters, one boyfriend, one best friend, Tony's mom, Tony's best friend and his 2 girls, my mom's aunt, her son, and her grandson. I think that's everybody. That's 27 people not including Seelie! It just keeps getting bigger every year, but it is a lot of fun. We had a huge lunch of mostly traditional Christmasy foods. Then we did the big gift exchange which is always complete madness. We do a name swap for the adults and then most people buy for each of the children. Seelie got some nice toys. He got a stuffed dog that has all sorts of things he does when you squeeze various parts of his body. Seelie also got a crinkly book that he can chew on, a first year ornament from My grandma, and some several other toys.
OK... that is pretty much where I stopped before. So the rest of this post isn't going to be quite as detailed, but I still want to give some info on our other gatherings.
Saturday was our gathering with Tony's family. That consisted of Tony's mom, brother, his wife, Tony's uncle (who his brother and SIL live with now), Tony's best friend and his two girls, a couple who are close family friends, and one of Tony's old roommates. They came over about lunch time and we had heavy finger foods. We had chicken fingers, Shoe Pie (BF's specialty - not really a finger food though), bagels w/ cream cheese, veggie tray, meatballs, espresso brownies, and a chocolate cake. We ended up buying a lot of the food for this gathering, but that makes our life so much easier since we have so much going on. The brownies and cake were bought from an old friend who now bakes for a living. They were REALLY good! Anyway, we had a really good time. This year went a lot better than last year also. All gifts were well received ;-) (this was the one w/ the big gift snafu last year) Seelie had a good time too. He really seems to enjoy the festivities.
Sunday we had our final gathering. We took Tony's brother and sister in law with us out to see Tony's dad and stepmom. It was a very small gathering, but very nice. We had a nice lunch and Seelie got to wear the outfit that they had given him. Tony's dad gave him an ice cream maker and he has been making good use of it since then :-)
It was a very busy and whirlwind Christmas, but very enjoyable. I love Christmas and getting to spend it with all of our wonderful family and friends! I can't imagine it any other way. I can't wait until next year when Seelie will be a little bit more aware of what is actually going on!
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