When we were living in SC we would spend Christmas together just the three of us. When Jackson awoke we would all go downstairs and see what Santa had left for us under the tree. Then we would open presents in our jammies and eat breakfast and spend the rest of the day playing with our gifts and pretty much relaxing. Since moving to WI we've been heading to MI every Christmas to spend it with our families. It's wonderful getting to spend the holiday with the ones we love but we are always so busy going from place to place trying to see everyone, not to mention how lovely the traffic is around Chicago at that time of year, that when we get back home we are just exhausted from our "vacation".
So this year we decided to stay in WI and not battle the traffic or the craziness. I won't lie, it was a little sad not being able to see all of our family and I know Jackson missed his cousins. But we were lucky enough to have Neil & Patty come over with Grandma Barnett and Josh, Amy and Ricky drove up from FL as well. We sort of had the best of both worlds. We didn't have to drive or run all over to see everyone, yet we were still able to spend Christmas with family. Josh and his family came up a little early and we spent Christmas Eve day tubing at a ski hill near our house. After two hours of tubing we were all ready to go except for Jackson. His little hands were freezing but he still asked for "just one more time".
Christmas morning we woke up in our own beds and when Jackson called out "Dad, come in here" (that's usually how we know he's up). :) We all got up and went to see what Santa had brought. I went first to plug in the tree and thought Jackson was behind me but when I turned around I noticed that he had first gone to the kitchen to see if Santa got the snack of milk and cookies that he had left for him. He was soo excited to see that Santa ate them and then went to see the tree and all gifts. His little eyes lit up but instead of grabbing the first one for himself he went around back to the ones that he and Brandon had wrapped for me. He is such a sweet boy. Santa didn't let him down and I think we had opened everything before 7am. That left the morning for playing and breakfast. Everyone else came over around 9 and we were still in our jammies. We visited and opened more presents and visited some more. Then they left to go back to the hotel and to get ready for dinner later that night at the hotel and we played some more. I was even able to sneak in a little nap! Early that evening we went to the hotel and enjoyed a delicious ham dinner with everyone. It was soo good and I ate way too much but still found room for some peppermint ice cream. When we left to go back home it was snowing. Big, giant, heavy snowflakes, my favorite. The perfect end to a wonderful, relaxing Christmas.
Waiting in line for the "Magic Carpet" to take us up the hill.
Jackson & I
Getting a ride from Daddy.
Our Christmas tree (had to go fake because of naughty Tucker)
Trying one of Great Nana's famous Molasses cookies...yum!
A remote control truck & helicopter sent from Auntie Heather & Unlce Matt.
L-E-G-O-S!!!
