Christmas Wrap-Up

As I sat down on the computer tonight, I intended to get some work done for the practice. Somehow, I ended up blogging (it started when I looked at the Patterson Orthodontics blog, trying to think of something to post on there). And now I don't want to work. Go figure. I think I'm a little burned out anyway. Thank goodness it's Sunday tomorrow.

My sister's blog inspired me to write a journal-post about Christmas.

In the wee hours of the morning of Dec 23 (aka 3am), Joe and Stephanie (Rob's brother and his wife) arrived at our house from CA. The next morning, I made a bunch of waffles for his birthday...the Patterson traditional birthday waffles topped with strawberries and whip cream. The whole crew came over (Rob's sister, Sarah, and her family of 3 stayed at the Smith's house--Rob's other sister and her family of 6 who live in Prescott...they introduced us to this area) and we had fun eating and hanging out. That afternoon, we went mini-golfing (the b-day boy's idea and insistence...he said that he never got to do cool outdoor stuff for his December birthday). After we warmed up inside, we all took a turn on the climbing wall. And then we went to dinner at a Thai place. The food was really good. When we got back to the Smith's house, where the kiddos were, they had a birthday cake ready for their uncle Joey. We had fun celebrating his birthday with him. Rob even gave him a present--hand-me-down socks. Ahh...the memories.


On Christmas Eve, most of us went to a local trail to run/jog/walk/push strollers for some exercise. Some of us slow-pokes raced in a speed-walking race. I was busting up laughing...and I couldn't speed walk at all! The pregnant lady easily beat me!

We had planned on doing a Christmas Eve program, with a reading of Luke 2 and carol singing, but somehow the day passed by without it. We did do a White-Elephant gift exchange with the kids (the adults did theirs the night before). They enjoyed their presents...and the attention.

That night, we set out the presents. (Side note: Despite my last post, right before Christmas I did feel like I didn't give Christmas gifts enough of a thought...even though I said that it was okay that we were having a small Christmas, I felt like I should have done more to have some thoughtful gifts...and...well...just more gifts. I expressed my thoughts to Rob CE morning, who bought some thoughtful gifts that day for the kids from Dad from the Sport's Store--a sleeping bag for Colden, a fishing pole for Dylan, and a pink water bottle for Evelynn. He even bought me a camera! What a guy!)


And then when Joe and Steph arrived at our house, Santa came, too! He came with 3 big presents for the kids and 3 big bouncy balls. So Christmas ended up so much bigger than I ever dreamed. Thanks, Santa and Rob, for making our dreams come true!



We're sure glad to have spent Christmas with family. It was so much fun being with Sarah, Brian, Timmy, Joe and Stephanie. I always love being around Sarah's playful attitude...she makes everything fun and funny. Brian is so easy going. Timmy is always cheerful (I wonder where he gets that from...) and he has so much determination. Joe also brought an infectious spirit of fun. And I had fun talking with Stephanie about their upcoming birth and relaxing with her one night while the guys stayed up and played a computer game. We sure needed you guys this year to help us to remember how to have fun and to stop stressing about everything.