Our Christmas and New Years In Review- AKA The Longest Post in History

Because I am so late in posting about our Holiday adventures, I'm just going to go in chronological order and sprinkle in some pictures. To those of you who don't want to see tons of baby's first Christmas pictures, you may want to find a different blog to read today :)

We started our adventure on Thursday, December 23rd. We were trying to get to my Granny and Papa's house in enough time to wish Newt a Happy 18th Birthday. We made it late that afternoon and got to see one of our very favorite 18 year olds.

Christmas Eve came next. Jonathan's family, Granny and Papa, Shelby and Avery came over to my Mom's house for our annual soup/sandwich/dessert dinner...

Maddy had never met Avery until Christmas Eve.  She had no trouble warming up to him.

Helen Claire got new pajamas for Christmas, and she got to open one gift on Christmas Eve- her very first Christmas gift...

The Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd Jones

If you have never seen this book, you should really check it out. The stories are so sweet, and we loved reading the story of Jesus' birth together on Christmas Eve.  Helen Claire enjoyed it so much, she decided to taste it.

Later on that night, Helen Claire started to sound barky and her fever reached 103.5. Of course it would, since all the pediatrician's offices were closed until Monday. We called the Nurse Line in our hometown, and the sweetest nurse ever told us under no circumstances to bring her to the ER. Apparently, the wack-a-doodles come out on Christmas Eve. I'll come back to this so we stay in order.  We did a lot of looking at this instead of sleeping that night.  

Santa came on Christmas morning, and he had nibbled his cookies and drank his milk.  He even left Helen Claire a little note...

You can tell that her cute PJs did not make it through the sickness. The pink PJs pictured are the third set for the night. Poor baby.

Granny and Papa came to see the loot...and to teach cup drinking skills

Helen Claire realized Santa had a "Learn-to-Read" theme going

Christmas afternoon, we went over to Brandi and Chris' for lunch.

HC had fun hanging out with her cousin, Nick, who dressed up for the event

She played with Bailey (and her baby hung in there too)

We opened gifts with T Vickie and Uncle Chad Christmas night and went to Granny and Papa's for supper...we promise HC really does love T even though it looks like she is trying to choke her.

Jordan was super nice to everyone, including Chad.  Thanks Jordan for always acting like such a good pet.  I am clearly being sarcastic.  Jordan is the most miserable dog alive.  

Helen Claire was so excited over her very own Nativity- and I mean really excited!  Thank you Little People Nativity makers.  We appreciate your non-breakable nativity scene!

On Sunday, we went over to Jonathan's parent's house to spend the day and open gifts.  We spent the night there, and on Monday morning, we made an appointment with Dothan Pediatrics. Helen Claire got diagnosed with croup and got a nice little Prednisone prescription. She was better within the first two doses.

After that, we had Christmas with Newt and Laurie, Granny and Pa, Shelby and Josh (even though Josh was in Houston and couldn't be with us)...
Helen Claire had fun playing kitchen with Newt and she proved to everyone that she pretty much had the present thing down pat.

Tuesday morning, we headed out for North Carolina. Granny, Mother, Vickie,  Helen Claire and I left to go on a 12 hour trip. It went incredibly well, considering we had a 6 month old who had just started medication and who had felt pretty terrible for the past few days. We made it in about 14 hours. (Yes, I checked with the doctor to make sure it was ok to even attempt the trip).

In NC, we visited with all of my Granny's family.  (Helen Claire got to meet lots of her cousins, but I am always a little apprehensive about putting pictures of other people's children on the blog).

From left to right:  Judy, Dorothy, Helen, Charles, and Phyllis

She also got to meet our Aunt Eula, who is my Granny's mother's sister, making her Helen Claire's Great Great Great Aunt.

One of my favorite memories from the whole trip was sharing a room with my sister. We haven't had to do that in a long time, but Vickie, Helen Claire and I all stayed in the same room. HC slept in her pack and play, but after her morning feeding, Vickie and I would put her in the bed with us and snuggle/sleep for another hour or so. It was so fun, and I was happy to have Vickie's help. When I would hear her walking down the hall with Helen Claire, and she would say, "I love you, " it just made me so happy!

We came back on Saturday and tried to recouperate some on Sunday. Then, it was back to the real world on Monday.
Thanks, everyone, for helping us have a great first Christmas as a family of three- hope you had as much fun as we did!