Christmas Marathon

Since we spent Christmas in San Antonio with Lola and Papo this year, we had an extended holiday season. On Monday the 22nd, the night before we left, I opened up my presents from my folks. Daddy thought that was strange but Mommy didn't want to have to travel with all my gifts down there and then bring them back home. She's a lot smarter than him (so she says).

On Wednesday the 24th, we went to the Petroff's Christmas Eve party which Mommy had been attending since she was a child. It has always been a tradition that after dinner Uncle Peter plays the piano (he's a physician by trade, but a pianist/composer by heart) and everyone sings Christmas carols. Unfortunately, Happy Birthday (my favorite) is not a holiday song that we could sing a million times. That was a late night for me (about 10:30) but I was really entertained by the music . . . and the pretty girls.For dinner on Christmas day, we went to my cousins' (Caleb and Jacob) house and saw my extended family again. I got some pretty cool gifts from everyone and of course wanted to play with each of them before unwrapping the next ones. It was another late night for me (around 11:00) but my hundreds of cousins (ok, a bit of an exaggeration) and new toys kept me occupied.

At Lola and Papo's, we didn't actually open up our gifts from Santa until the day after Christmas. Reese, JP, and baby Joseph didn't get in from Dallas until the early morning hours on the 25th and everyone was sick so they all slept in or rested in the morning, then we couldn't seem to coordinate all of our naps/meals/etc. with the whole group before we had to leave for Jacob and Caleb's house. Luckily, I was ok with waiting to up open up my gifts (probably because I had gone through so many already). I'm just glad that Santa knew I wasn't home for Christmas and dropped off my gifts at Lola and Papo's. I'm also thankful that he apparently overlooked most of my behaviors over the past year. That night we also celebrated Daddy's birthday a day early. I didn't get to bed until later than usual again (9:30), but not as late as the previous two evenings.We came back home on Saturday with Mommy's SUV literally packed full of our stuff (mostly my toys). My parents said that we'll be needing a bigger car to travel in once my sister arrives. I think that since Mommy's car is paid for, we should just keep it and leave the baby at home if she's going to take up that much room. I'm pretty smart like my mom.

Finally, we ended the season on New Year's Day at Nona and Papa's house since the Hoges weren't together on Christmas. My other cousins and I were super spoiled by the grandparents (as usual) and again left with a packed car. Mommy had brought my pjs because she knew that it would be yet another late night for me (only 9:15 this time).

I had a really busy and "profitable" Christmas this year, but I'm ready to get caught up on my sleep!