My favorite condiment, "catch-up!"

That's right, I am going to try to fit the rest of our Holidays in one post, so bear with me!

Okay, Christmas day we woke up around 6:30 to feed Kolton and I heard the familiar sounds of a fire crackling in my parents' fireplace and my mom pacing the floor. I went out to make Kolton a bottle and saw my mom sitting on the fireplace hearth and stuffing the stockings that she had made when I was about 6 years old. She had even stuffed my old one! :) I couldn't stay to chat, however, because it is a strict rule in my parents' house that you DO NOT go to the fireplace until my dad has rung the bells and said 'HO HO HO!, MERRY CHRISTMAS!' This does not happen until he is satisfied with the Christmas carols we have sung while waiting. Finally, around 7, the bells rang and we dashed from our room with Keli (my little sister- well, she's almost 18, but always little to me) at our heels. As is tradition, we knelt around the coffee table in the family room first and said prayer near the fire and then dug into our stockings:

When that was finished, we stowed away our Christmas booty from the stockings and headed into the living room where the tree was and there, waiting for Kolton, was a Curious George stuffed monkey! (My parents' always leave the 'Santa' gift unwrapped under the tree) Kolton crawled right to it with a huge grin on his face!

Then it was on to the present unwrapping FRENZY- Grandma and Grandpa sure had fun spoiling their newest grandson (and so did his mom and dad)!

Now, this might seem like a lot of detail I am giving, but it is important for everyone who reads this to know that Christmas at my parents' house has followed this pattern for as long as I can remember! I was so excited to get to spend what may be my little sister's last Christmas at home with her. She is the youngest out of eight, so it was kind of a bittersweet experience that the bells may have rang for the last time in 2008...*sniff*

And, I MUST include this picture of my dad in his new hat...he has seriously been planning his funeral since he was 40 and we always joke about how extravagant it will be and I told him that this picture is the one we will select to blow up and have positioned near the casket:

Our first family Christmas with Kolton- what BLISS!

Now, onto New Year's Eve (I promise it is not quite as lengthy as Christmas!)- Traditionally, we have a puzzle contest between the men and women. Last year, the men got the easier of the two puzzles that had been purchased for the year and won...this year we switched and, unsurprisingly, the WOMEN won! (Well, there was a slight discrepancy with a missing piece, but I just chalk that up as sabotage from the Men's team)

Left to right: Lauri (niece), Cristi (sis), Keli (sis), Lizzy (niece), Moi, Britney (sis), Wendy (above Britney, sis in-law), my Mom, and Billye (sis)- VICTORIOUS!!

Kolton fell asleep around 10 and when the puzzles were done it was nearly midnight so we hurried up and filled all the fancy glasses with sparkling cider (this is for Cori- we laughed earlier about my family all getting hopped up on sparkling cider!) and counted down with New York City...

It was such a great Holiday season for us. Thanks for bearing with me for the super long posts- I just didn't want to leave out a single detail. Christmas has always meant so much to me and being able to share it with our son was just the cherry on top this year. We can't believe how much we have been blessed! Happy New Year to everyone!