Originally, we had planned to spend Christmas at home, and travel the first part of January. Well, Kevin got notification he would have the week off between Christmas and New Years, so we decided to take off on our trip early. I spent Monday and Tuesday finishing up Christmas shopping that I hadn’t planned on doing till after Christmas (since we weren’t seeing anyone till later, I figured no rush.) I also finished my list of cleaning and packing, getting the oil changed, and everything else you need to do before you leave town.

I was getting my oil changed, and there was an older lady in there waiting with everyone. (There were 4 of us all together.) She tried to chit-chat with all of us and a young girl next to her, humored her with conversation.  The young girl got up to pay for her oil change, and then the old lady got up to check on her car. The next thing we all know, she was in her car driving away. The workers were so confused. The young girl was like, “Can you steal an oil change? Is that possible?” Yup, cause she did. I thought the whole thing was hilarious.

We got up Wednesday, got the car packed, and headed off on our drive. Overall, it took us about 13 hours including our stops. Jameson played with his itouch the entire trip. We rented a movie for him, and he would change from his movie to his puzzles, to his other matching games. It was awesome. While he napped, we charged it for him so it was ready to go when he woke up. It wasn’t too bad of a drive, although sitting for so long at 28 weeks was no fun.

Christmas eve was spent recuperating from our drive.  We got things ready for Christmas day, a last minute run to Kohl’s,  and relaxed. It was a little different this year. We set out Jameson’s presents from Santa, but his were the only ones out for Christmas morning.

We were in no hurry to get up Christmas morning. Jameson woke up about 7:30 am, and I took him to see what Santa brought. He doesn’t quite get the whole concept, but he was excited. He didn’t even care about his bike, though. He went straight for his blocks.

 

While Jameson played with his blocks, the rest of us started breakfast. I made the German Pancakes while Kevin worked on the sausage, and Don started to prepare the ribs for later. (It’s not Christmas without german pancakes, Dad.) After breakfast, I think a few people were getting anxious to open presents. So we headed to the living room.

Jameson received a Lightning McQueen suitcase, which he was so excited for. I couldn’t get him to open anything else past that.

Once we finally got him to move on and open another present, he would then play with that forever. Let’s just say it took us a while to open our gifts. It was fun, though. Jameson is finally starting to open presents. Not that I’m complaining, I’ve never had to worry about the gifts under the tree.

   

 

Jenny had a visitor in her room in the middle of the night. She thought she was being kid-napped till her eyes adjusted. Then I’m sure she was quite excited.

Don surprised all the girls with manicure kits. Maybe I can get Kevin to give me some pedicures too, once I can’t reach my toes.

   

Christina and I made mom a book of her grandkids. I was stressing, because I had it shipped to my house. It was supposed to arrive by Christmas which was fine, until we changed our plans. It ended up arriving the day we drove out. We stopped by the post office on our way out of town, and it was there! I opened it to look at it, though, and a few of the pages weren’t printed. Great. So now I need to send it back to get it fixed. Oh well, we tried.

I was at a baby expo and saw the best diaper bags. I called my mom and told her about them, and she bought them for my sister and me for Christmas. It’s a diaper bag that also serves as a carrier. As you can see, Jameson was not too excited to be the model for this gift.

It also doesn’t fit quite right right now as I have to put the strap below my belly. I’m excited for it, though.

Jameson showed everyone his games on his itouch.

 

Paul and Weston liked Jameson’s present more than he did.

More family showed up around noon, and the presents continued.

           

The missionaries came over for dinner, also. They got to call their families. This Elder is from Tonga, and they were having some issues getting through, so Paul kept him company.

 

We had a good dinner, and spent the rest of the day enjoying company and Christmas presents. Jameson loved all the attention. He kept getting candy from Uncle Paul all day. Paul would say, “Jameson, who’s your favorite uncle?” As long as the answer was, “Uncle Paul!” candy would be received. Tricky tricky.

Since not all the family was there on Christmas, there were still plenty of presents under the tree. Jameson brought one into me and asked, “I open presents?” He then grabbed hold and ripped a corner. I was able to save the present, but I got to hear that question all day long. At least he asked first, right?

Saturday night, more family stopped by, and Jameson got to play with some cousins. He and Aiden ran around screaming as high as they could. I’ve never heard him that high pitched before. At least they had a good time.

   

Sunday at church, Don had to speak as he is on the high council. While he was talking Jameson kept pointing and yelling at times, “Papa Don!” He was so excited. I don’t think the family in front of us heard very much of his talk. After Sacrament meeting, Jameson darted for the stand. He ran up there as fast as he could to see Papa Don. At least the lady in front of us thought it was cute.

And that was our Christmas weekend.