in our house, christmas doesn't officially start until after jb's birthday. it's on the 21st, so even though it's not always entirely possible, i do what i can to minimize christmas-ness and maximize birthday-ness, at least on the day of. this year, our awesome friend wendy drove to our house to watch over emme while i took justin on a hot date to dinner and a movie at the alamo drafthouse. i know that sounds not super exciting, but we used to love going to movies together, and it's something that really doesn't happen much anymore. so, we saw the second sherlock holmes movie (i love robert downey junior) and enjoyed our evening and jb turning 31.
by friday the 23rd, we were in to full-scale christmas. we packed the gifts, loaded the car, put the dogs in the back, buckled emme into her carseat, and hit the road to kansas to spend christmas in wichita. we left before 6 am, and that was definitely the right choice. i am all for getting up super early for any leg of a trip. ek did amazingly well on the ride, as did the pups. we stopped at cracker barrel for a fun family breakfast, but other than that we drove straight through and emme either read or slept or chattered to herself the entire time. we are so lucky. we made it to marilyn's house by mid-afternoon and settled in. it is COLD in kansas. when we're there, we stay in the basement, which is finished and really nice. there's lots of room for emme to crawl and walk around, plus space for the dogs, our stuff, the pack n play, etc. it's amazing how much stuff we schlep around with a bebe in tow. there is also a fireplace in the basement, which is a blessing and a curse. it makes it so warm and cozy and nice down there, but it also sucks all the limited moisture from the air, making everyone's throats and sinuses super dry. since emme already had a cold/cough when we got there, the dry-ness did not help her situation. unfortunately, she didn't do a great job sleeping the majority of the time we were there, but she tried hard to maintain her good disposition despite her tiredness.
anyway, friday night, aaron, rose, maddox, and julianne (justin's brother, sister in-law, and their children, ekes cousins) came by for a little while before heading to rose's family reunion. maddox is almost 4 and is unbelievably sweet with emme. it's so cute to watch her watch him and see him trying to teach her things and help her walk or do whatever she's trying to do. after they left, we put emme down and had a lovely dinner with just the three of us - justin, marilyn, and me - to celebrate justin's birthday. saturday was the dual-family celebration of christmas. the colorado brownes came over and marilyn cooked a feast for all of us. we opened gifts and had a mellow afternoon and evening together. it was nice to just get to catch up and hang out without too much of an agenda. julianne is about 9 weeks younger than emme, but she is definitely giving her a run for her money, size-wise. she is almost as tall and weighs as much as or more than our petite little bunny.
sunday, christmas day, was also very mellow. we stayed in pajamas a long time and played with emme with all her new fun things. we took a mid-day hike with the pups in one of the parks near jb's house. we fit in several hikes over the course of the long weekend, which was awesome for us, but especially appreciated by our sweet dogs. later sunday afternoon, we went by justin's uncle brad's house to visit him and nana jo, emme's paternal great grandmother. nana jo suffers from parkinson's and dementia, but she was very responsive to emme, which was super cool to see. monday was our last day in town. we headed to the park with the kids and let them run around and check out the mini-zoo. we saw several birds of prey, a cougar, and canada geese. monday night we all went out to dinner together and had a great time letting someone else cook, wait on us, and do the dishes afterwards! it was a really low-key, relaxing christmas. we drove home tuesday, which always feels like it takes infinitely longer than the drive there, but that leg of the trip was uneventful - emme was awake a lot more than on the way out, but she still did great.
a random side-note about birds of prey. growing up, my parents and brother and i would always try to spot hawks or other predatory birds perched atop poles, trees, signs, etc. when we were driving through the country. unbeknownst to me until this trip, justin also played this game, and he is an insane ninja at spying BOPs. i thought for sure i would be able to see them before him, since he was driving and i was riding and could focus all my attention on the task, but no. he is the champion - he easily calls out 4 or 5 to my 1 BOP.
so that was emme's second christmas - quite a change from last year. last year she was only just starting to smile around christmas - this year she was just starting to walk!
