Tuesday, December 30, 2008

December 2008

This past month has been so much fun. With my new job, I was fortunate to have Thanksgiving and Black Friday off for the first time in about 10 years. We had a Turkey dinner, which was so yummy. I coaxed Ben to put the Christmas tree up on Friday. Catie and I did a little bit of shopping that afternoon, while Ben was working. Catie and I found some great deals and stayed out of the Apple store - in fear of being trampled.
We counted down the days till Christmas, with the counting blocks that I made at a craft night. Catie loved the lights on the tree. She did very well with leaving the ornaments on. She played with a nativity set that I painted at the craft night as well. I completed knitting the sweater for Catie, on time for a Christmas present. It turned out so nice. I also made lots of flannel "heat/ice" packs for gifts for grandparents and my nursery class to give to their parents.
Christmas eve, we carried on the traditional Polish dinner that my family had every year at my Babci's house. We had haluska, pieroghi's, mashed potatoes, peas, a 7-up ham, and many more yummy foods. We shared our wonderful time with the Beagley family, and the Sarle family, my old roommates Cynthia and Tiffany and Tiff's hubby Alan. Cate loved all the foods and chowed down when her plate was given to her. When the party came to an end, Cate, Ben, Nathan (Ben's brother) and myself opened our one present (new jammies for everyone) on Christmas eve - a tradition that Ben and I started the first year we were married.
I, of course, didn't sleep very well. I was too excited for Christmas day. I was up at about 630am, and helped Santa fill everyone's stockings with goodies. Cate woke up about 830ish. The present unwrapping began. Cate wanted to unwrap everything. She would tear off a piece of paper, hand it to someone, then start clapping. She did this with almost every tear she made. Our families in North Carolina, Florida and New York all turned on their computers, logged onto out web camera site and watched Cate open all her presents. It was so much fun to be talking to everyone, and them watching us. Even though I thought this investment was silly years ago when Ben purchased the camera, I think it is the most wonderful gift to have received. We are able to share our life and family with our families even though we are across the country.
Later Christmas day, we went to visit Ben's grandparents and extended family up in Bountiful, Utah. It is fun to hear how everyone is doing, see the great-grandkids running around and getting bigger. We also visited with Andrea, Ben's sister, who was up from BYU Provo and going to San Fransisco the following day.
Saturday night, 12/27, we had a Pizza - Wii game night with Cynthia, Tiff, Alan, and Nate. Holy smokes did we have fun.

2 comments:

All Mixed-Up Media said...

That's what I call my grandma too! Not always, but sometimes. And we call my grandpa Dziadek.

Emlyn said...

Sounds like so much fun. Thanks for all the invites; we'll have to have a Wii night here soon!