Christmas Craziness!!!

I have kind of been a slacker on the postings lately and really have no excuse for it. I finally finished with physiology and am happy to say I got a B whoo hoo, I always try for an A, but come on I gave birth 2 weeks into the semester, so I'm not beating myself up to much. I waited til after finals to begin Christmas shopping so the pressure was on the last few weeks, but we got there and had a fantastic Christmas. My Dads side of the family all chipped in for a Sub for Santa again. We were able to help a very deserving family. They decided to do this instead of a gift exchange between all of the cousins about 6 years ago. I was in charge of it this year and enjoyed a wonderful shopping day with my mom and grandma. Grandma help by pushing Vance around in the shopping cart watching my mom and I go nuts in the toy section. She kept peeking in the car seat to make sure Vance was still alive. I think she had a hard time believing a baby could be that good, but seriously its scary how good he is, I feel really blessed.
The Saturday before Christmas we had a small get together with our friends and exchanged White Elephant gifts. I hope to make this a tradition because it was so much fun. My instructions were to have very random no cost items that are found around the house. I was in tears the whole time Caroline was opening the gift from me which was a wonderful made with love pair of maxi pad slippers. I got the idea from an email Sammy sent me. They were beautiful! Other gifts included toilet paper, old work out videos, hats straight out of 1980 and gummy hand cuffs with the origional girls gone wild video!
Christmas eve was at Jim's aunt Jeanie's this year. Wonderful food, good company, and craziness. I love this tradition, it is the start of the whirlwind that is the next 24 hours... busy, but so much fun!
Christmas eve and our house was great. Grandma Pat spent the night with Halee and I think got about an hour of un-interrupted sleep! Sorry about the air mattress grandma. After Pat got Hal to sleep it was time to play Santa. It was so much fun to have 2 kids to set up for this year. Even though Vance is to young to know what is going on it was nice to see both boy and girl toys set out. Halee got a new bike, helmet, tons of clothes, books, and some movies, her favorite gift ended up being a $3.00 am fm radio that looks like and i pod. I think I know what to get her for her birthday next year. She is really in tune with the whole Santa thing this year and has been asking allot of questions about the Big guy! She snuck a letter in her stocking at some point and Mom was in such a hurry to fill it that she did not see it in there! When Hal opened her stocking she said " I guess Santa did'nt get my letter." oh crap, what letter? think mom think. "Well no honey he does'nt need to take it, he just knows." I really hope I can keep it going for a while. I will be so sad when its not this way anymore.
Vance had a good first Christmas. We tried to stay more practical for his age this year. He got a jumper ( like a stationary walker), tons of clothes, and toys. Halee opened most of his gifts for him.
After we opened gifts we welcomed Jims brother and sister and their families over for a gift exchange and breakfast. Jims and his mom cooked while I tried to organize as best I could. Pat really out did herself this year. She said it may be her last year here. She has plans to move to the new house in Clawson eventually. Next on the agenda was my Aunts house for the Jensen family get together. We love to see every one, but boy it gets hard to keep up on most of them. Its amazing what can result from 2 people getting married and having 6 kids! It makes for a really big group and the Jensen motto is he who has the loudest voice wins!
Next was my Mom and Dad's which was slightly less chaotic than the last party, but not much! I always look forward to both. My mom goes all out every year. She never ceases to amaze me at how thoughtful she is about her gifts and we so appreciate every bit of what she does for us. She manages to get the perfect gift for all 12 grand kids.
Next stop was Bakers, where we were of course spoiled rotten. Grandma Sharron went crazy with clothes for Hal, and kept the Christmas Bear Tradition alive with a 2008 bear, that makes for the 11Th one. I have bought one every year since Jim and I started dating.
We ended the day with dinner at Russ and Laurie's were we again had some great food and laughs. It was a fantastic way to unwind from a wonderfully chaotic day! So until next year it was crazy, but always worth it!