Good Christmas...Bad Cold

Hello readers...I'm not sure I have a whole lot of readers, but oh well...I do this more as a journal anyways.

Our first Christmas married was GREAT! We went to my sister's house on the Mexico border (I won't mention the town name for safety reasons).

We had an amazing time! Here's the timeline:

-I had Christmas Eve off. Jereld did not, but he got to leave work early. We left our house at 1:40ish. SO EXCITED!

-The puppies did really well on the road trip. We stopped about 2 times to let them go to the bathroom, but they were so well behaved I almost forgot they were in their little carrier in the back seat.

-We arrived at my sister's house. It was COLD (compared to our home anyways!). The kids were excited to see us.

-We ate dinner (yummy ham, potatoes, Asian salad, cookies).

-We had the traditional Christmas story (the kids acted out the nativity...I guess I did too...I was the angel--very fitting don't you think).

-We drank egg nog milkshakes (mix 7-Up, egg nog, and vanilla ice cream...YUMMY...and thanks to Breyer's lactose free ice cream and Lactaid egg nog, I can enjoy it again!)

-We each opened one Christmas Eve gift. (Jereld and I were surprised that my sister's family had gotten us small gifts).
*Jereld got funny glasses and a funny clown nose (pictures to
come...hopefully).
*I got a puzzle.
*Our puppies even got gifts--little doggie rain coats.

-The kids went to bed.

-Santa came. And, he was really noisy with a hammer! Geez! Jereld and Jason...I mean Santa!

-We went to bed. Jereld and I slept on the double bed portion of a bunk bed set. Mike, my brother, slept on the single bed above us and told us Christmas stories from his mission.

-Zzzzzzzzzz....Zzzzzzzzz

-I woke up at about 4:30am (I didn't have a clock, so this is more of a guess). I tossed and turned until 5:00am.

-I climbed over Jereld and took the puppies out on a short potty walk. Jason and my parents were awake, too.

-When I came back inside, my niece had woken up. Others were waking up, too.

-Finally, everyone was awake (it didn't take long).

-The kids ripped into their toys from Santa and their stockings.

-I looked in my stocking. Santa brought me broadheads for my arrows, so I can kill some animals. He usually brings me an orange in the toe of my stocking. I told Jereld this. I told Jereld how funny it is when Santa gives you an orange and you have a whole box of oranges in the kitchen. So this year, Santa brought me a chocolate orange. Very yummy. Oh, and lots of candy.

-Jereld gave me a car stereo (YES! I can use my iPod now!), and a hummingbird feeder (I've been wanting one since we have hummingbirds at our house).

-I bought Jereld a camoflauge watch/digital compass. A bird dog training video. A shirt from Aeropostale. Oh, and in his stocking, Santa gave him a Maglite key chain, finger bowling, Uno, a tie...and lots of candy.

-Cam and Jason bought us cookbooks.

-Mike gave us a gift card to iTunes.

-Mom and Dad wrote us a check, gave us some church DVDs and a book...and continually help us throughout the year. Thanks guys!

-After opening gifts, we ate breakfast. MONKEY BREAD! Family tradition. Basically the yummiest treat ever. AKA Carmel Rolls. Biscuits and gravy (jam for me) and hashbrowns.

-We set up gifts (the men set up a swing set) and played with gifts for a long time.

-Jason and Jereld, and Mike and Dad, played with the bows.

-Jereld could have shot a deer, but didn't have his bow with him on that 4wheeler ride.

-4wheeler rides for everyone .

-Time to go home :(