Christmas, Albers Style

We made it back from our trip to IL. The 12 hours in the car went spectacularly well. I guess the trick is to have someone in the backseat amusing Aidan. Like always, it was a whirlwind trip of seeing family and friends. Aidan has definitely entered "stranger anxiety" territory, although he doesn't have a severe case of it. Some may call it "Momma's Boy" syndrome, but when you spend almost every waking moment with your mom, I suppose it feels weird not to have her around. Here's a quick recap of Christmas at Nana and Grandpa's house:
Christmas Eve: Drove to IL and went to the 9pm candle light service at church. No crying from Aidan, in fact he was trying to charm the people in the row behind us. Dee, a family friend who is pregnant and due in January, was sitting behind us. She came up after church and said she is requesting a baby just like Aidan. :)

Christmas Day: Up at 7am and ready to open presents. Aidan ate breakfast first and then opened his stocking while we waited for Daddy, Aunt Kali, and Uncle Kyle to wake up. Santa brought him new pacifiers and a sippy cup. I was afraid Aidan would get so many presents that we wouldn't be able to fit them in the car on the way back, but everyone restrained themselves beautifully and he got just the right amount. New additions include clothes, small toys, books, and a walk 'n ride that Aidan is in love with.

My Grandma and her friend Joe joined us for lunch. Aidan was pretty busy crawling around and playing with Uncle Kyle's new snow blower to sit still and take pictures with his great-grandma, but I think we got a few that are decent.

Friday: The day was spent gearing up for Saturday and getting the house ready for the 60 people that would be coming over. My mom is one of seven kids, so there are lots of relatives on her side of the family. We did take a break and went out for a quick lunch, but then it was back to the house for more preparations. We didn't have any plans for Friday night, so Aidan was in bed by 7:30 and I wasn't too far behind. I think I fell asleep on the couch around 8:15pm. It's hard work being a mom!

Saturday: Up early again and we were off and running. There was food to be made and last minute cleaning to do before people started showing up around noon. Once the house was packed with close to 60 people Aidan didn't want to get too far away from me. He was fine playing on the floor, but wasn't too keen on being passed around. No major meltdowns and he even went down for a nap. The Mosher clan (my mom's side) now has one more person; great-grandchild # 15 was born on Saturday. Sarah went into labor at 4:30am Saturday morning so she obviously wasn't at Christmas. Linnea Skye was born around 9pm Saturday night. Welcome to the family!

Saturday night was more visiting. My friend Nikki and her son Eli came over to play for a little bit. Eli is 7 1/2 months older than Aidan, but it seems like light years in terms of development. Eli is running around and saying words. He was so cute to watch, and he wore Roxie out chasing her around. I can't wait until Aidan is able to do that!

After Aidan went to bed Kyle and I snuck out to meet more friends at the bar downtown. Poor Kyle was the only guy, and there was a loud band playing, so he just kind of had to sit there. I thoroughly enjoyed myself though. I hadn't seen my friends since Aidan's shower back in May, so it was great to catch up with them. (even if the music was loud)

Sunday: No rest for the weary. I was hoping Aidan would sleep in a little bit since I had gone to bed later than usual, but he was up at 7am. I started packing up our stuff while Nana and Grandpa got some more play time with Aidan. We packed up the car and were on the road back to MN by about 11:30am. The roads through Iowa were fine...it could have been treacherous after the ice storm the night before, but they were clear and dry and we made it safely back to MN.

I'll post a slide show of our Christmas pictures once I get a chance to download and go through them. As always, we've got a ton of great shots and I have to figure out which ones are the best.

I hope everyone reading this had a wonderful Christmas and we wish you a Happy New Year!