Jack's First Christmas

october thru december is my favorite time of year. i love everything about it. i love the smells, colors, sounds, food, decor, music, gatherings and the weather. i look forward to it every year. i count down. i get excited and even start some planning over the summer. i get out on black friday with the masses, and christmas shop. ask anyone who knows me, i'm a little crazy for the holiday season!!! so when i found out on march 20, 2008 that i was pregnant, i did the math and knew that i would be due in november. i couldn't have been more excited! i was thrilled about having a sweet baby in the middle of my favorite time of year. nothing goes better with all the joy of the season than a newborn baby at thanksgiving! we had so much to be thankful for and excited about!

we were expecting Jack the day after thanksgiving. turns out, he came 6 days before halloween. (i'll post his birth story later). we got to experience halloween, thanksgiving, and best of all Christmas with our little boy. jack was born a preemie so we couldn't go and do as much as we wanted or planned but it was still perfect. i have never enjoyed the holiday season so much. everything was sweeter and more magical because of Jack!  we spent all of our time with both sides of the family. 

we have yearly christmas traditions.  we spend the whole week visiting our parents and siblings. christmas eve day, if we don't see my parents then we go to ben's parents. ben's mom cooks a huge christmas eve feast. which is unbelievably good. seriously, we get excited about it months ahead of time! then after dinner, we all pile in the car and deliver cookies to close friends of the williams' family. then we spend the night at their house. christmas morning we get up, eat breakfast and go through our stockings. then we play a game, the winner gets $100!!! this year the game was about christmas songs. we had to come up with the lyrics to a familiar christmas carol. tripp and i pulled it off, clinching the prize money!! thank you, silver bells!!  next we open presents. Jack got some toys, stuffed animals, a blanket and some clothes. my favorite gift was a chi ( an amazing hair straightener!!) it was so much fun to have Jack sitting with us as we shared another Christmas morning with them. i think we all enjoyed loving on him more than any money or presents we received! he looked so cute in his christmas pajamas and santa hat! after all the fun we packed up and headed home for a little rest.

after some much needed downtime, we packed up the car with presents, the diaper bag and our little elf and headed off to my parents. this year with them was especially fun because my family was hosting an australian family, who came to America on a 6 week tour of the country. they chose to stay with my parents the week of Christmas, which made everything a little hectic, but a lot of fun. it was so neat to hear their accents and learn about their culture. they are such a sweet christian family. we loved getting to know them. we opened presents and then had dinner. my dad always deep fries a turkey. i am not exaggerating when i say it's the best turkey EVER. he is a master at frying turkey. he fries one for us every year at thanksgiving and we get so excited! dinner that my mom made was so good. this christmas was also very special because both lindsay and katie were engaged! so much fun! we can't wait for next year when they are married and we will have 2 new family members. everyone loved oohing and aahhing over jack. and he was the source of competition between mom, lindsay and katie. that little boy is very loved! Jack did so good handling all the traveling and passing around he endured!

it was so very special to have Jack with us this year. i loved that he was so little. we were able to hold him and love on him all day. he is such a snuggle bug, and everyone enjoyed cuddling with him. i'm so excited about the coming year with Jack, especially the holiday season!! i can't wait to watch him walk, talk and get excited about presents (or probably the wrapping paper and boxes!)

only 9 months until it starts all over! let the countdown begin.....