Christmas and travels

Well, Christmas has now come and gone....and all I did was blink.  We had a wonderful holiday celebrating with our families.  Matt, Graham and I spent the night Christmas Eve at my parent's house.  We did this for two reasons.  One: I think it's fun to wake up on Christmas with family and I've always enjoyed Christmas Eve night with my family watching movies and wrapping presents.  And two:  if we spent the night, then Matt wouldn't have to wake up *quite* as early to get out to my parent's house.  See, Matt HATES waking up.  And my brothers can only wait so long for us!  So, we went to our church's evening service and then ate soup and popcorn and watched "White Christmas" with my fam.  My brothers were so funny...as soon as dinner was finished, they said "well, off to bed...want to get this night over with and on to tomorrow".  It was 8:30.  So they went to bed and we watched the movie...good times.  We had fun Christmas morning sharing presents and laughs and all enjoyed little Graham.  I don't pretend that he enjoyed his "first christmas"...if anything, he got tired of me propping him places and taking his picture, haha!  But I'm sure deep down he loved it.  We then went over to Matt's parent's house and spent Christmas afternoon and evening with them and some other dear friends of theirs.  Graham got some awesome high-top Converses to match his uncle Jon (in a year or so) and an adorable onesie with a turtle on it from uncle B (for him to wear when they go to the Turtle Park near his apartment).  Graham loves his bath time, but no one usually gets to see it because we're at home...but we brought bath time with us...and he performed quite nice for Nana, Granddaddy, uncle B and uncle Jon.  Overall, we had a wonderful Christmas with our family.  We are blessed that everyone lives so close!

We then packed up all of our stuff (which is QUITE a lot now that Graham is with us) and drove 11 hours to south Alabama to see my mom's side of the family.  Graham did GREAT in the car (considering he's only almost 3 months old).  He did so much sleeping though that when we got there and laid him on the floor next to my cousin's little girl (beautiful little Mackenzie is 3 weeks older than him), he went crazy!  He cooed and shrieked constantly and his arms and legs resembled a hummingbird.  He did this for like 30 minutes straight....then as soon as I picked him up, he was out.  Poor little guy.

The four days included many family gatherings, some old friends, a day at the farm, and many pictures.  We were bummed not to be able to get to the other side of Alabama to visit my dad's side of the family...we miss them but Graham could only handle so much car seat time.  Hopefully we can get down there soon though!  I'll be posting the pics soon...I'm too overwhelmed to do it at this moment.

On the way home, we stopped to spend New Year's Eve with one of my best college friends, her husband, and her baby bump.  We were also able to see one of my other college friends, her husband and her baby bump while we were down there.  It's so much fun to think that all three of them will be in the same grade in school (and obviously they'll all be best buddies even though we don't live close, haha!)  I miss my college friends terribly and treasure the short visits we are able to work in!

Now, we are home.  And to reward Graham for being such a good sport with our travels...he got a shot yesterday.  Gosh, the good times just keep coming.

As we begin 2009, we are so thankful for the time with family and friends that ended 2008, but have so much to look forward to this year.  Little Graham is such a blessing each day and we know he will continue to grow and bless our lives daily.  With growing, we know our lives will be stretched and there will be pain and trials.  We are thankful for Christ our Foundation and our Rock.  We pray that through the times ahead, knowing that not every day will be easy, we will lean on Him and not on ourselves.  That He will reign Sovereign in our lives this year.  Yay for a new year!