The two weeks before Christmas I was pretty sure I was going to lose my mind. Ryan would get Connor from day care so I could stay late at work, I would come home and eat dinner and put Connor to bed, and then work 2-3 hours from home. I was afraid the rest of my Christmas shopping was going to have to be done at Wegman's or I was going to be forced to pay twice the amount of the gift for rushed shipping. Somehow, we managed to get everything done at work but by that Friday, I was ready for a few days off to relax. I definitely had a few days off, but I don't know how relaxing they were!
That Friday night, Ryan had his staff Christmas party at Haywoods. His dad's staff was also included, so there were a lot of people packed into the small private room. They have the most amazing cheeseburger with onion rings and champagne mustard - I get it every time I go there and I always eat the entire thing and leave feeling stuffed. Connor was a big hit - it was his first time actually sitting IN a high chair in a restaurant as opposed to being confined to his carrier ON a high chair, and I think he enjoyed the view.
We spent most of the day on Saturday grocery shopping and cleaning since we were hosting Christmas at our house. On Saturday night, we had dinner at DiSalvos with Ryan's friends from dental school, Pat and John, and their families. They are from Selinsgrove but live in Philly and New Jersey and were in Williamsport for a family Christmas party and asked if we wanted to get together afterwards. We had the best time - hopefully we'll be able to get together again before another 5 years pass! Our reservations with our friends were early but we knew that Ryan's mom, sister Allison, and brother-in-law Acey had dinner reservations later, so we stuck around and waited for them (we saw plenty of people we knew there to help us kill the time). We ended up staying with them through their dinner...sorry I don't have any pictures but I believe my hands were always full with a wine glass so I was a little preoccupied. Connor held up amazingly well until around 10pm, at which point he let us know we had overstayed our welcome. We headed home and after he went to bed Ryan got to work on the prime rib. Yes, Christmas was still 3 full days away, but he wanted to get it prepped. He called it "aging," I called it "making everything in the fridge smell like meat."
On Sunday we had a lazy morning. In the afternoon Ryan smoked some of the Alaskan salmon and took some up to his dad's while I wrapped presents. I've never been a fan of wrapping presents, but I have to say that this year was particularly painful - children's toys have the worst, most oddly shaped packaging! On Sunday night Ryan's mom had her Christmas open house. Connor looked very dapper in the outfit Pat & Ashley brought for him.
Debbie had lots of delicious food and Connor got passed around to all the party guests. This was the third night in a row that he was up way past his normal bedtime, and he held up remarkably well, probably better than me. I think at that point I was exhausted and getting tired of partying, and Christmas was still two days away!
On Monday morning (Christmas Eve) we went up to Ryan's dad's house for brunch to celebrate Christmas with him since he was leaving (or so he though!) early Christmas morning for Colorado to spend Christmas & New Years with Collin & Emily. We had quite a spread of food - beef tenderloin, oysters, shrimp, brie, rum cake, and cookies - but more importantly, we had almost 10 bottles of champagne for 8 adults! After we ate, we opened presents, and then Connor went for a ride on some of the many exotic (stuffed) animals at Grandpa's house.
On Christmas morning we actually had to wake Connor up at 8am! This is probably the last year we will be able to "sleep in" on Christmas. We didn't even get to open Connor's gifts because we had to be over at Debbie's by 9 for breakfast. She made an egg and sausage casserole, an amazing fruit salad, and, best of all, monkey bread! I was stuffed. We opened gifts before heading back home to wait for my parents and Aunt Kate to show up.
Shortly after we got back to our house my aunt arrived, and my parents weren't far behind. My aunt's first comment when she saw the presents for Connor under the tree was "that's it?"
I wasn't worried - I knew she and Nana and Pop Pop would be bringing plenty of presents to pick up our slack! Ryan HATES how we open presents in our house - one at a time. This year seemed to take twice as long! Connor is a lucky little boy! He cleaned house and now has plenty of toys to play with. Weve been introducing them slowly - he, of course, likes the noisest ones the best! He also LOVES his chair - he was hamming it up for all the cameras.
While we were waiting for dinner, the adults played a fun white elephant game. The theme was cooking/entertaining. Ryan ended up with a breadmaking kit and I ended up with a Honey Badger themed gift - honey vodka and an etched glass, in a package that said "Merry Christmas, Stupid." It is an inside joke in our family and actually I was probably the perfect person to end up with that gift. Our dinner was incredible - Ryan cooked the prime rib on our Big Green Egg and it was delicious. We had lots of food and wine and I was exhausted by the time everyone went home. Overall, we had a great first Christmas as a family of three!
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