Christmas Pics

Well, I didn't get the Christmas pics posted this year and honestly, it's all starting to become a blur.  I debated not posting any, but it's Julia's first Christmas and I will like looking back at them next year and the years after.  So here goes!

We are so lucky to be loved by so many, which leads to an overwhelming number of gatherings around the holidays for our little family.  Quincy grew up going to see every member of his family and is used to holidays on the road.  I grew up going to one place or being home with family coming to us, so I'm used to being in one place and spending a lot of time with those people.  I think it's important for both of us to get some of what we want and for our children not to be run ragged, but honestly, it's still tough to figure out what to do.  We have five groups of people that all want us to visit, plus our own family, which obviously needs to be the first priority.  We've decided that we will spend Christmas Eve at our house and the kids will wake on Christmas morning up at our house every year, unless we are on vacation somewhere out of state.  Other than that, it shifts every year.  We try to keep it even and see everyone some time during the holidays.  In 2012, this was our schedule:

Dec 22nd (Saturday)
Travel to Greensboro to see Quincy's mom.  Presents and Christmas meal there.  We went to the Natural Science Center before we went to her house, which Clara loved.  It was a little bit cold, but there were still animals to pet.  I didn't take any pictures, but here's one of Julia driving before we went into the Natural Science Center.  I nursed her before we went in and set her in the driver's seat while I got all gathered up.  She thought it was SO FUN.

Dec 23rd

Church & Sunday School
Lunch and presents with Quincy's dad
Casual dinner with my parents & Aunt Betty, visiting from Idaho.

I didn't take any pictures.  I have got to get better about this!

December 24th

Quincy's mom came early
Lunch at Quincy's Aunt Leah's with his mom's side of the family
Church with the Hammonds
Dinner with my parents.  Presents there.
Home for the Night Before Christmas and bed.  Here's the presents and the tree, just waiting for people to rip into them.

Clara's loot from Santa.

Group present.

Stockings!

The Tree.

Julia's loot from Santa.

December 25th

Presents from Santa.
Over night breakfast casserole, a definite winner and wonderful tradition.  My parents came over briefly to see what the girls got from Santa.
Off to Lexington, NC for lunch and presents with Quincy's Dad's side of the family.
Back home briefly.
Quick stop by the Thurmans' house.  I grew up having Christmas dinner with the Thurmans most years.  There are three Thurman girls and I remember each of them being born.  The oldest is out of college and youngest will go next year.  Anyway, here's Christmas morning and some pictures from Lexington.

By the end of Christmas, Julia had had enough.  It was just too much for her to handle.  We could not console her and she ended up waking up every hour or two for the next couple of nights in protest.  I know it's not all that nice to take pictures of babies crying, but she was just SO ANGRY that I felt like I needed to document it:

And here we are back to normal the day after Christmas.  I had to work Thursday, but was off Friday and ended up getting to take New Year's Eve off too.  Christmas is nuts around the office, so I actually ended up with quite a bit of time off this year.