Christmas 2009

I can't even believe Christmas has already come and gone. Lillian had a wonderful Christmas and was very spoiled by all of her many family members. Our Christmas extravaganza began the weekend before with our annual Christmas get together with Pat's Aunt Deb and Uncle Mike and their children. We had a fantastic time and Lillian enjoyed entertaining everyone there with her silly dancing and singing. She sure likes the spotlight. Daddy had the entire week of Christmas off and Mommy had to go work through the 23rd. Needless to say, some serious jealousy issues were present that week. By Wednesday night I was completely exhausted and becoming somewhat nervous about the upcoming forecast. A massive snowstorm starting Christmas Eve and going through Christmas night. Not cool.

On Christmas Eve day we headed out to see Pat's dad and give him his Christmas present. Lillian enjoyed saying "Merry Christmas" all day. After the visit, we went to mass with some of Pat's family and then all headed back to his parents house for dinner and presents. A quick glance under that tree and we came to realized that about 90% of the gifts were for Lillian. Present opening was extremely exciting for her this year. She got lots of fun toys and even a play pots and pans set for her play kitchen. On the way home, the snow was really coming down (we almost got hit!) and I made the call that we would not be able to make it to the Starke Christmas the next day. I was so so sad.

I have always had Christmas with my grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins since birth on Christmas day. Thankfully technology helped in that we were able to Skype the reading of the Christmas story (our family tradition) and I could share in the festivities virtually. Besides missing my family I was really missing out on that traditional brunch! Frozen pizza just did not cut it. We kept it low key on Christmas day. We stayed in our PJs and played with Lillian's toys all day. She was having so much fun with everything she got that she refused to nap and was up until 10:00!

On Saturday, we felt the roads were safe enough to trek down to Cedarburg to see my Dad's side and then later on to Oconomowoc to see my mom's side. The trip took us 7 hours (way longer than it usually does) and we saw several ugly car crashes that must have taken place the day before. This made me feel very confident we made the right choice to not risk the drive in that weather. When we got to my dad's house, almost the entire Kuecherer side was there and we enjoyed the evening playing games and eating some delicious food. On Sunday morning we woke up to find about 2 inches of water in my dad's finished basement. It flooded somehow and it was a disaster!!! Luckily Pat was able to help my dad remove furniture and electronics to minimize the damage. It was such a bummer because we were going to be able to spend some quality time with them but the basement fiasco cut in to that time.

Sunday afternoon we swung by to see Grandma and Grandpa Starke since we didn't get to see them on Christmas. We had a great time there too! I loved showing Lillian all of the stockings over the fireplace (there's 33 up there now!) and letting her explore the house I grew up in. She hasn't been there too many times. Sunday evening we did Christmas with my mom and Elliot and his two sons. Again, she got spoiled rotten. Baby stroller and crib (for her dolly), Elmo jammies and slippers, books, and on and on. I think she literally opening 20 gifts just from them. Then she informed me that there were even more gifts from aunts and uncles and cousins and we also had a car full of gifts from aunts and uncles on my dad's side to open as well.

The rest of the weekend I got to catch up with my friends and Lillian got to have a few playdates with some of her little friends. I was very grateful that despite missing Christmas were able to see so many people. It is always so much fun to come "home".

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and have many blessings in the New Year.