Christmas in Michigan

This year, we once again spent Christmas in Michigan visiting Ted's family.  We don't get to see them very often, so it was nice to be able to have a week to spend with them.  We had planned to leave the morning of the 24th, but heard there was a lot of ice expected, so we left on the 23rd instead.  What used to take us 6 hours...now takes 10 hours.  We stopped once for lunch, twice just to feed A and change diapers, and once to shop for some last minute Christmas gifts.  Gone are the days of traveling light and quickly! 

The moment we arrived, everyone was excited to see our Little Pumpkin for the first time and see how much our Sweet Pea has grown.  A was getting hungry, but put on a little show of smiles and cooing for everyone nonetheless.  He has become quite the smiley little guy lately!

On Thursday, Eric & Laura and Dan & Sarah arrived, so we enjoyed a delicious family meal.  (The only ones missing were Michael and his fiance, Danielle.)  As you can see, we no longer all fit at one table, so we had to pull up a card table.  We also ran out of chairs, so Dan and Sarah shared the piano bench.

Our nephew, Erencan, has become quite the chatterbox.  He loves to count to 10, though it is usually missing a few numbers.  As he was playing with his play-doh, he began reciting over and over, "One...two...four...nine...ten!"  Too funny!

For the past few years, we have done a gift exchange among the five oldest, their spouses, and Ted's parents.  We had to do part of the gift giving Thursday, because Eric and Laura wouldn't be there Christmas day.  Somehow I missed taking pictures of the rest of the gifts. 

Ted and I also enjoy giving gifts to the younger kids.  I made some colored pencil caddies for Vicky and Mackenzie and gave them a little notebook to write in.  Joey and Robby got crayon caddies along with Planet Earth coloring books.  Ted picked out blow darts for Justin and Tyler. 

We attempted to get some pictures of the three cousins together.  Erencan just wanted to play with his cars, Valerie didn't want to sit still, and Almanzo was kind of squished in between two very squirmy toddlers.

Before coming downstairs Christmas morning, Ted and I decided to have our own little family Christmas.  We exchanged stockings and gifts for Valerie.  (Valerie got a nasty cold, so she was looking pretty miserable when she first woke up. Poor baby!)  Ted bought me the Flip HD Ultra video camera I've been wanting and I bought him some new biking shoes for his road bike.  We gave Valerie the eebee baby DVD's I won from a blog giveaway as well as a cute fairy skirt I bought from mamabearbabywear's Etsy shop.  I also filled her stocking with a fairy wand, a crayon caddy, and some Piggy Paint nail polish I won in a Twitter giveaway.  Almanzo's stocking was filled with some cute teething rings and a rattle handmade by locoMOmomma's Etsy shop, some soap bits from WeeEssentials Etsy shop, and the cutest pair of monster longies from Monkey Snuggles Etsy shop.  Ted and I got some socks and candy in our stockings. 

Ted's grandparents came to visit on Christmas day and were thrilled to have the chance to meet their newest great grandson.  He was happy to meet them too...until he remembered he was hungry.

On Sunday, after church, David and Cherylyn joined us on a trip to Jackson, MI to visit Joe and Karen Moonsammy's, missionaries that David and Ted knew growing up.  They are currently serving as missionaries on staff at New Tribes Bible Institute.  Joe gave us a tour of their campus and told us all about their mission field.  It was amazing to hear first hand and see with our own eyes the work God has chosen for them.  And, of course, it was wonderful for me to finally meet them after praying for them and hearing all about them from Ted. 

On Tuesday, we went to watch part of Justin's basketball game.  Valerie doesn't really like to sit still, so I mostly watched her run back and forth in the hallway.

It was a wonderful time spent with family, but it's always a good feeling to come back to our quiet home and our own beds.  ;)