Christmas Trip

Last time I was a little Debbie Downer, so this time I'm going to share some good thoughts.

We left Denver Tuesday night the 23rd. They flight was an hour delayed and we thought they lost our luggage, but after 45minutes of waiting for it we were off. Dave and Dad met us @ the Omaha airport and drove us home. Thank Goodness, because the weather turned horrendous and I would have never attempted to drive in it. We made it home safe and sound around 2:30 am on the 24th. What a trip! Thanks Dad for coming out past your bed time to get us.

Christmas Eve morning I spent wrapping all the presents we got for everyone while Jesse slept in. I eventually grew tired of this task and recruited my mother the master wrapper for help. That evening was spent @ my cousin Jeff's celebrating the Wilson Family Christmas. We did our normal pass the present game. My prize was a lovely teeny tiny radio and Jesse won a lovely wooden tic tac toe game. I ended up trading my aunt's grandson, so I actually went home with a clothing space saver bag (this came in handy when packing for the trip home).

Christmas morning we celebrated @ my parents house with Dave, Chels, Mom, Dad, Chels's mom, me, and Jesse. We had breakfast and we opened our stockings from Santa and our presents to each other. We all got lots of good stuff. Jesse got a book about Rock & Roll, an x-box controller, and the new Batman movie Dark Knight. I got the cook book I had been wanting, a giant wall clock for our apartment (which I had also been wanting), and Oliver (the musical ) on Dvd. Jesse and I were particularly excited about the gold dollar coins that Santa left us in our stockings. We're planning to add them to our change container @ home. Once the container is full we're going to cash it in and spend the money on A) something nice for the apartment or B) something fun for us like a weekend get away etc... I can not wait! If we get enough money saved up we should probably use it on payments towards a new car.

On the 26th we spent most of the day with the McBrooms @ Grandpa Ron's house. We had a lovely brunch buffet and we all took turns opening presents taking turns from youngest to oldest. I got some lovely relaxing bath stuff and Jesse got a nice watch and a gift card to Target. Perfect since Target is our neighbor. We played some Apples to Apples (a great game if you've never played it I highly recommend it). We went home and napped the afternoon away until it was time for Game Night @ the Shermans. It was boys (Jeff, Jesse, & Cody) verse girls (me, Gina, & Melissa). I warned them I wasn't very good, but we still had a strong team and we beat those boys to a pulp. Ha ha ha... It was really fun!

On the 27th we got up early and managed to make it to Dave's house for Breakfast despite the freezing rain. We watched some Flight of the Conchords (one of Dave's Christmas presents from us, A really good tv series from HBO) and had some delicious breakfast. Yum! We luckily made it home with out any accidents and napped some before heading into the Shermans again. Gina and the kids took us to DesMoines where Jesse attempted to spend some money that was burning a hole in his pocket, but ended up getting overwhelmed by the crowds and the chaos of all the sales so we went home empty handed. That night we had dinner with the Chelsey's family before Dave headed off to work his night shift.

Sunday the 28th I visited the grandparents by myself and let Jesse sleep in. That afternoon we went bowling with my friend Christina and her family. Jesse did beat me for the 2nd time ever, but to be fair he cheated the 1st game, beat me the 2nd, and we didn't get to finish the 3rd game. He was pretty excited about beating me since I always and I do mean always beat him. We used to go bowling @ least once a week and he was always feeling a little emasculated afterwards.

Monday I woke up feeling horrible. I definitely caught a nasty cold or something. UG! We packed up our stuff and went over to Grandma & Grandpa Wilson's for lunch. We ate some of the biggest tenderloins that I have ever seen (you've got to love Iowa food). Back home for some meds and naps until we needed to head out for Omaha. We made it to Omaha in record time and ended up being an hour early... or so we thought. Turns out there was a scheduling change (apparently not the same thing as a delay, though it seemed that way to me). When we checked in they said our flight was on time set to leave @ 8:15pm, but when we scheduled it we were supposed to leave @ 7:29pm. Weird! Anyhow we were now 2 hours early and while we waited they announced that they had overbooked our flight and they were willing to give big compensation for anyone who was willing to stay behind and catch a flight in the morning. Tempting, but we both had work. We made it in no problem and luckily Jesse's friend and awesome band mate Adam came to the rescue and picked us up. We made it home by 10pm. Whew! what a trip. Even though it was filled with lots of running around I think we really enjoyed the relaxation of being in the country & not having to work. Plus it was really great to see all you wonderful Iowans again.

Photos from top to bottom:

1. Jesse and I @ Grandpa Ron's the Day after Christmas

2. Clockwise around the table we have Ginny (eating desserts), Austrailia's Chris (you can see part of his head), Amanda, Mom, & Jesse all playing Blockus while my dad watches.

3. Amanda holding up her Kangaroo baseball player showing it off to her boyfriend Chris (infornt), her sister Jessie (peaking over the box), her brother (sitting on the couch behind her), our cousin Samantha (setting on the couch), and my dad (the one who made her the gift).

4. Me and Jesse hanging out by the Christmas tree christmas moring in my parents basement.

5. Wilson family christmas. Olivia (my cousin Scott's daughter) reading Olive the other Reindeer to all of us as we pass our presents.