You, Me, and Lilly: Christmas 2009

I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas! Ours was jam packed with lots of visits with family, tons of yummy food, and a whole lot of celebrating! Since ours was so busy, and I don't want to forget any of it, here it is our Christmas in review (beware - long post to follow)!

On Monday before Christmas Lilly and I hosted a Cookie Decorating Party with 3 other mommies and their kids. The kids decorated cookies and played while we were able to chat and enjoy each others company. We were even able to share our germs. On Tuesday evening 3 out of 4 mommies, and 2 out of 7 kids came down with a horrible stomach virus. Lilly and I were included. It was AWFUL. I had been feeling kind of crummy but just thought it was because of all the holiday sweets I had been eating. But, when I was awaken by Lilly getting sick around 10:30 I was pretty sure I had the same thing. Sure enough about an hour later it hit me. Being sick is never fun, but being sick and taking care of a sick toddler and trying to keep your husband away praying he does not catch it is even less fun. Lilly was up for about 3 hours getting sick every 15-20 minutes. She finally fell asleep around 3:00 a.m and thankfully slept until 8 a.m the next morning. Me on the other hand was not so lucky. I was up until about 5 a.m. getting sick and completely exhausted from getting no sleep. Wednesday morning Lilly woke up perky and ready to go. You would not have even known she was sick (other than the 6 hour nap she took - get to that in a minute). We enjoyed a lazy day at home laying on the couch watching A LOT of Elmo. Thank goodness Lilly slept a LONG time during the day and I was able to sleep as well. Dave came home early to help which was also nice. By Thursday morning we all felt great and the Dr. assured us we were not contagious so we resumed our busy Christmas Eve schedule.

Christmas Eve we went to church and then visited with Dave's family. Grandma Sherry and Grandpa Cliff let Lilly open most of her presents then, which was a great idea because she was completely overwhelmed on Christmas morning. We left there and headed to my mom and step dads annual Christmas Eve party. We got home just in time to leave cookies out for Santa and carrots for the reindeer, put Lilly to bed with visions of sugar plums dancing through her head! All she could talk about before bed was Santa! I think it's fair to say that she was really excited about Santa's visit that evening. My brother stayed the night with us Christmas Eve because I left my camera at mom's house and he was nice enough come out late and bring it to us, and he ended up staying the night! We all stayed up late putting "Santa's toys" together!

We woke up early Christmas morning ready to get Lilly out of her bed and run down stairs to see what Santa had left. It didn't really happen that way though. When we went to get Lilly up she had had a terrible explosive poop all the way up to her neck. it.was.awful. Needless to say she needed a bath before there was any running downstairs. When we finally made it down the steps her face was priceless! She was so excited/overwhelmed/confused all at the same time. We opened gifts, enjoyed each other, remembered the real reason for Christmas and had a great morning together as a family! Then, my dad came over for breakfast. This is a tradition we started a couple years ago when we moved into our house and it has turned out to be really nice now that we have Lilly. My dad, step mom, and Grandmother come over for breakfast and we all spend the morning together. We are able to stay at home so Lilly can play with her toys and relax before having to run around the rest of the day. This year it was just my dad because it was Diana's year to work at the hospital and my Aunt, Uncle and cousins were in town visiting with my Grandmother. Dad, Dave, and Brad put together Lilly's playhouse after breakfast while Lilly rested and I cleaned up. Around lunch Dave's parents and sisters came over to visit before we all headed to Grandma and Grandaddy's for late lunch/dinner! From there we went to my Mom and Step dad's house for dinner and to spend the night. We let Lilly open her gifts and then she was pooped so she went to bed! We all put on our jammies and sat on the floor and took turns opening presents! We ended the evening with "The Hangover" all laughing together!

We had a wonderful Christmas! It's great to have all the family together celebrating! Dave and I both agreed though that it is such a let down when it's over. I can't believe Christmas has come and gone and now we are almost into the new year! OH - and remember I said that the Dr. assured us that we were not contagious...not so. Dave's little sister, my dad, my mom, my step dad, and Dave's aunt and uncle ALL caught out nasty stomach virus. We are so sorry and hope you are all well soon!

I have not yet uploaded the excessive amount of pictures I took. Sorry for the picture-less post.