Christmas Eve (12/24/10)

We had a busy day planned on Christmas Eve so we all got ready and got the truck packed early. I gave Lily her bath and put her down for her nap at noon, as usual. She always sleeps from 12-2pm for us. Always! Except today, of course, when we needed her to get up at exactly 2pm so that we could hit the road to be at church in Davison at 3pm. (Mass doesn’t start until 4pm but you have to be there super early if you want a seat.) She was still sound asleep at 2:15pm and I didn’t want to wake her and risk having a crabby toddler for the rest of the day so I called my parents and told them to save us seats for as long as they could. Finally, at 2:30pm, we dragged her sleeping butt out of the crib, put her in the carseat, and drove up to Davison. She didn’t wake up until right before we pulled up to the church at 3:30pm. She must have been quite tired! She wasn’t in her Christmas dress yet since I didn’t want her sleeping in it so I had to take her straight into the church bathroom to change her diaper, change her outfit, and tame her crazy bed-head. Thankfully my mom coincidentally walked into the bathroom while I was trying to undress Lily so she helped me out as Lily was confused and, therefore, less than cooperative. My parents were able to stave off the seat-stalkers and hold seats for us so that we could all sit together during mass.

Afterward, we headed over to my grandma’s house for our traditional family Christmas celebration. We always have a great time with my grandma, my parents, Lee, Robin, Ashlee, Jeremy, and Todd. Lily was really excited about opening presents and about all of her gifts last year so I thought that she would be ecstatic this year. Again, my prediction was off. She was interested in the wrapped boxes but not so interested in unwrapping them and seeing what was inside. She wanted me to open all of her gifts for her. She was indifferent about the clothes she got and the coloring book that I thought would be a sure winner. Finally, she opened a toy from her nana which was a huge hit but then she was so engrossed in playing with it that she had no use for any further gifts. We just couldn’t win! Oh well. The rest of us loved all of our gifts and had a lot of fun and here’s the proof.

Not the best picture of Lily but it shows off her super cute dress:

Four generations- Lily, me, my mom, and my grandma:

We were actually trying to re-create this picture taken on Christmas Eve in 1977. We were standing in the exact same spot in my grandma's house but in the wrong order. Here is me, my mom, my great-grandma, and my grandma. I was 1.5 months younger than Lily is now:

Rachel, me, Paul, and Lily:

Lily using her plate as a hat:

Rachel wearing the Christmas tree hat and pondering a present:

Ashlee and Jeremy:

Rachel loved her new monkey hat:

Lily looking skeptically at Paul. "I know the dress is my present but can I play with this wad of tissue paper instead?":

Lee, Robin, Todd, and my dad:

Goofy Todd had fun wrapping his head and fingers in ribbons until the painful effects of diminished circulation set in: