I’m so excited to tell everyone about how our Christmas went. First of all, it is weird for me to say this, but this was one of the best Christmases I’ve had in several years. Possibly the best since I was a child. So, you ask why is that weird to say?? Well for several reasons. One of the biggest reasons is that there was a very noticeable missing person from my family. My uncle Ted had a sudden stroke last April and passed away in August. So, it was quite strange not having him for Christmas. It’s probably the first Christmas I’ve ever had where he wasn’t there. Secondly, my aunt whom I’m very close to decided to stay home because she didn’t want to face the emptiness of Christmas without her brother, Ted.
That’s what happened on my side of the family. On Lucas’ side of the family everyone was sick. As some of you know, last week Cade, Lucas and I were all very ill with a stomach virus. It was awful. Well apparently it’s very contagious because almost everyone we know has had it. Both Lucas’ mom and dad came down with it Christmas Day and stayed home alone all day. Lucas brother Matt also came down with it. As well as his brother Brad’s daughter, Marti. In addition to all of those, his Grandpa Ketchum had it too. So, we didn’t get to see any of Lucas’ immediate family on Christmas.
Ok, so those are the reason that Christmas should’ve stunk. But, it didn’t. It didn’t at all.
Christmas pretty much started for us on Saturday the 22nd. Lucas’ mom cooked a big dinner and had all of her kids and her kids’ grandparents on both sides over for lunch/dinner. We opened presents and all of that with them then. That turned out to be really good because about ½ the people in his immediate family were sick on Christmas Day.
Sunday was my aunt’s 70th birthday. It wasn’t a big event by any means. I knew she wouldn’t want a big fuss. So, I made her dinner, bought her a small birthday cake and invited her and my uncle over. It was nice. It was quiet and I think she enjoyed it.
Monday was Christmas for Lucas and me. Well kind of anyway. Lucas and I did not buy presents for each other this year. Instead we bought a new TV for our living room. Well after playing Guitar Hero at my company Christmas party we knew we really wanted that game. So, my mom told me that if I went and bought it she’d pay me back for it as our Christmas present. So, we went and bought it on Sunday. In the mean time we were waiting for Xbox to return our Xbox360 that they had repaired. Well, it arrived on Christmas Eve at 4 o’clock. Needless to say, we played Guitar Hero all night. It is such a fun game. If you haven’t heard of it, it’s a game for XBox or PlayStation where you have a controller that is like a guitar and you play rock songs on the controller. It’s a ton of fun.
After we were done rocking out on Guitar Hero, I made some cookies for Santa and read Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer to Cade. My good friend from work, Doris, bought it for Cade and I for Christmas. It is such a good book. It’s the original Rudolph story. I really like it because it isn’t exactly the way it is in the Rudolph song. It’s seems like more of a classic. Anyway, after the story I told Cade that Santa was on his way and tucked him into bed.
We woke up on Christmas morning around 7:30. I immediately got Cade over by the tree and began helping him open his presents. Santa brought him a Baby V-Tech and a lawn mower toy. Lucas and I bought him a ton of new clothes. Cade couldn’t care less about any of it! He is not materialistic at all! At least not yet…
Christmas Day we had most of my family over to the house for lunch. It was a nice time. Everyone was in a good mood. The food was good. (Thanks to Lucas.) Lucas and I had never really made a turkey before. I was a little nervous about it, but it turned out great. You couldn’t even tell that we were rookies. We also made dressing, sweet potatoes, homemade mashed potatoes, gravy, homemade mac & cheese, deviled eggs, homemade pumpkin and pecan pies and some other goodies too.
Once we were done eating, we put on Guitar Hero. Pretty much everyone gave it a shot at least once. Everyone seemed to be having a good time and stayed longer than they usually do. We all visited a lot and even told a few stories about my uncle Ted. For the most part everyone seemed to enjoy sharing stories about him and was able to talk about him and enjoy the memories and not be sad. That was a good thing, because that’s what he would’ve wanted.
When all of the adults were ready to go home, my cousin Zack decided to stay a while and play Guitar Hero with Lucas. They played for about an hour while Cade napped then we had to go.
We stopped for a quick visit with my aunt and uncle. We took them their Christmas presents and some plates of Christmas dinner. It was good to see them on Christmas, but I sure wish they would’ve come to dinner. It’s never the same when they aren’t there.
After that, we dropped Zack by my mom’s and headed off to Lucas’ aunt Jenny’s for Christmas with the Ketchum’s. They had a small but lively group this year. Like I said before, Lucas Grandpa was sick as well as his mom and dad and niece Marti. So that’s quite a few that didn’t come because they were sick. However, we still had a house full. Lucas’ Nonna Ketchum was there, his Uncle Steve and Aunt Diana and there two boys Dillon and Dallas. His Aunt Jenny and Uncle Greg were there with their daughter Jill. His cousin Shecoeta and her husband Bodie were there with their five little ones, Chandler, Braiden, Madison, Grady and Carter. Uncle Greg’s brother was there also.
Aunt Jenny cooked a fabulous dinner. There was more than enough food as always. We had a great time visiting with everyone. Cade really loves all of his cousins. His cousin Dallas is a college student at UCO. I’m telling you that young man will be a good dad one day. It seemed like every time I turned around he was holding Cade or playing with Cade. Cade really seems to like Dallas too. Cade’s Cousin Jill who is in 7th grade also really likes Cade. She sort of has a natural mothering instinct. Even when she was smaller she seemed to mother the younger kids. I think it just comes natural to her. (I was nothing like that! But, I think I’ve caught on just fine…)
Anyway, we stayed at Aunt Jenny and Uncle Greg’s until about 8 or 8:30, then we headed home to play some more Guitar Hero. (I’m telling you, it’s addicting!!)
There is a slide show below. Also, I’ve put a video of Cade doing his binky trick. Cade’s Nonna Ketchum gets a real kick out of this, so we videoed it for her. We used to always turn Cade’s binky upside down to watch him turn it back around. He’s been doing that since he was very small. Well on Thanksgiving night, he figured out how to do it without using his hands. It’s so cute watching him flip it in his mouth.
I hope everyone’s Christmas was great. If I didn’t tell you before, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
