Heartbreak to Happiness: Christmas Festivities

Okay, I know this is starting to feel delayed, but at least it is not New Years yet. Also, this is the second time I have written this post. I finished with it the first time and blogger lost more than half of it...so, here I go again. :)

This year we had a lot of changes in our Christmas celebration. Usually we spend Christmas Eve with Mom, my sisters and their families and Christmas with the Sanderson extended family. Neither of those happened this year (at least, not on Christmas Eve or Christmas). Also, our original plan was to go down to Dayton on the day after Christmas for the Lewis family Christmas. However, this did not happen because of Jeromy's work schedule. So, here is what really happened.

We ended up celebrating the Lewis Family Christmas on Sunday, December 13th. Garnetta and Jamie came to Toledo and stayed until Tuesday. It was nice to see them and we had a wonderful time celebrating Christmas. Unfortunately, I did not get any pictures of this celebration.

The Sanderson Family Christmas was held on Sunday, December 20th. As usual, we had a wonderful time with all the family. There was a $10 gift exchange for the kids (we drew names on Thanksgiving) and a white elephant exchange for the adults. It was a lot of fun! However, once again, I did not get any pictures of this event.

We spent Christmas Eve with my Mom. After Abigail's (and Jeromy's) nap we went out to lunch (no where special, just McDonald's) and then to the Children's Wonderland at the Erie Street Market. It is usually held at the Lucas County Rec Center, but due to "wonderful" decisions made by the Lucas County Commissioners we almost didn't have it this year. Luckily, a group of people got together and put up a smaller version of it. It wasn't nice as previous years and not nearly as large. It would have made it worth it though if Abigail would have been into it. Instead she just pushed her stroller around the whole time. There were a few things she liked and I did get some pictures of her looking at them.

This clown thing was Abigail's favorite thing at Children's Wonderland. She kept coming back to it.

After Children's Wonderland we went home to rest and I began preparing the little dinner we would have after church. This year our church service was at 5:00. Usually it is at 10:00 p.m. which is too close to my bedtime and I am usually very sleeping. It was a very nice service. Afterwards, we returned to our house where we ate dinner (sloppy joes and other such stuff) and played Phase 10 (even Mom played!)

Christmas morning was very exciting! Abigail really got into it!

Here is our tree before the opening of presents began (notice how there are no ornaments below a certain point):

Abigail amazed by the tree:

Abigail even helped open her presents. She opened every single one (with a little help from Mommy and Daddy, of course)

All present opening stopped for a moment when she saw the Lego table hiding behind some other presents. She loved this thing! It is my Craigslist find (I got it and two tubs of legos for $15!).

She thinks she should be able to climb into her doll's stroller.

Later that evening, Mom, Julie, and Lee joined us for Christmas dinner. This was the first Christmas dinner that I made totally by myself (well, almost by myself). Afterwards, Julie and Abigail had a screaming/yelling match (one of Abigail's favorite things to do).

Then, Julie and Lee played with Abs and her new lego table.

After Abigail went to bed, Jeromy, Julie, Lee and I played some games. We accidently woke her up with a rousing game of Jenga (who knew?).

On the day after Christmas we finally got together with my mom, my sisters, and their families at Kelly's house. We had a brunch which was very tasty and, as usual, we had WAY too much food. Here are some pictures of the fun that day.

Abigail is wondering when she gets to open all the wonderful presents...or why there is a bow on her head. :)

I don't know what they are doing, but I think it is a cute picture. Abigail loves her big cousin Elena! (and Alex and Landon)

Abigail decided she would enjoy the buffet in Lucky's dog dish. We did not know she was in there until she showed up with her mouth and hand full of dog food. Yum!