We spent Christmas day at our house in Morgantown this year. My immediate family joined us for a big lunch and more gifts, and my Aunt Sherrie, Uncle John and cousin Chris stopped by for a few hours as well. It was so great having that time alone as a family, yet still being able to share part of the day with a few of our loved ones. Kerriann got completely spoiled by all of us and is still loving all of her new toys!
On Christmas Eve, we drove back from Gassaway just in time for me to make a quick trip to Kroger for Christmas Day food supplies, get ready, and head to Christmas Eve Mass as a family.
Since we were alone, we got a few family portraits courtesy of the self timer before heading out.
After mass (Kerriann was great!), we came home to set out milk and cookies for Santa as well as carrot sticks for his reindeer.
Shortly after, we read "The Christmas Story" and promptly snuggled into our beds for a long winters nap.
The weekend before Kevin came home Kerriann, Christiane and I went home to visit my parents for a night to help my mom put up and decorate her tree, and to cut down the tree for my dad's house.
We met up at the tree farm in Heaters, WV. Cutting down the tree is one of my favorite Christmas traditions. Buying a tree from a parking lot is just not for me. Maybe I was spoiled growing up, but there is nothing like picking out a tree and cutting it down yourself to kick off the holidays!
It was freezing that afternoon, but Kerriann didn't seem to mind. It was also extremely muddy, yet all she wanted to do was run away from us. Christiane and I both ended up covered in mud from trying to wrangle her for the half hour that we were on the mountain.
It was harder than usual to find "the one" because disease had killed a lot of the type of tree that we were looking for. Forgive me for forgetting what that type was ;).
Once we had the tree home, we set to work on decorating!
And Tica promptly claimed the spot under the tree as her favorite spot for the next few weeks.
Here is one from my phone of our completed work...
And one of Santa's little helpers...
And one more of Kerriann with the mini tree at my mom's. She wanted to sit by Sponge Bob hahah... we took so many trying to get her to sit still, and that was the only way to persuade her!
I just cannot bring myself to take down the Christmas tree this year.
For as long as I can remember, I've always loved the warm and fuzzy feelings that comes along with a lit tree. For some reason Christmas lights have always made me feel safe and secure, and this year I look for that feeling more than ever. As I trimmed the tree, I hung each ornament in anticipation of spending the holiday with Kerriann AND Kevin. And now that that time has come and gone, it's hard for me to let go of the positive feelings that I associate with our Christmas tree, our FIRST family Christmas tree.
I know sooner or later it's just going to have to come down. But I'm going to enjoy it for at least a few more days as I reminisce about all of the memories from the past few weeks.
When we found out that Kevin would definitely be coming home for Christmas, we decided to try to surprise Kerriann at school. Originally he was supposed to get in sometime Thursday morning, which would mean perfect timing for me to drop her off for the morning, pick him up, and then get back to Morgantown before her school closed for the evening. Of course, as Thursday went on plans kept changing. We decided to have Christiane stay the night at our house in case I needed to go pick him up in Pittsburgh during the night. In the end, he ended up arriving around 9am on Friday. This worked out all because I was able to drop KA off at school as soon as it opened. I barely made it through parking and security to Kevin's gate before he deplaned, but I got there just in time. Maybe 1-2 minutes after I got there he walked off of the plane. It was such a happy reunion after a long three months!
Since we had some extra time, we stopped at the outlets on the way home to finish up our Christmas shopping. It was so fun to walk around, just the two of us, and browse the stores. I'm glad we had a few hours to ourselves before picking Kerriann up from school.
When we were finished shopping, we ran home to eat lunch and then picked up Christiane and Alana for Kerriann's big surprise. They wanted to help videotape and be there to see her reaction.
When we got to school, Christiane, Alana and I went into Kerriann's classroom and Kevin waited outside. When the camera was all set up, Alana went outside to tell Kevin it was time to come in.
She was so excited to see her daddy! As you'll notice in the video, she has taken to calling us Kevin and Adriane. I'm sure this is just a phase, but we have been getting some curious looks out in public.
Kerriann's class made Kevin a banner and a welcome home card that had all of their hand prints in red and blue paint. Kerriann also gave Kevin a red, white and blue airplane when he walked in as you'll see in the video. She was so funny and kept waving it around and yelling "fly, fly!"
One more picture to share from this amazing day. Kerriann's letter to Santa that was posted on the door of her classroom.
I don't think any of us could have asked for a more perfect first day home for Kevin. It was so great to be reunited as a family again, and it was a great kick off for the rest of the two weeks that we would spend together.
A quick follow up to my Christmas card post because it won't let me add text...
I know I'm a little late, but I'd like to wish all of our family members, near and far, a very Merry (and belated) Christmas and a Happy New Year! Because of time constraints this year, I was only able to send a few of these out to close family members.
Thank you to all of our friends who sent us beautiful cards this year. We enjoyed reading each and every one of them, and seeing how your families have changed over the past year. You're all on our list for next years card! :)
When I heard an announcement on the radio for the 2011 Christmas parade in Morgantown, I immediately marked it on my calendar (set a reminder on my phone). Kerriann is a huge fan of parades and I knew that she would love it!
It was extremely hard to get her to stay in her stroller and/or sit still, but I think the outing was a success regardless!
When the bands started to march past I decided to let her get down because she wanted to dance so bad. She was trying to dance in her stroller and I was afraid she was going to tip it over haha!
She was also a huge fan of the candy they were throwing. Most of it was not age appropriate which was a rough point in the night, but I tried to distract her by telling her that there would be a few M&Ms waiting for her at home if she was a good girl.
Kerriann even loved the firetrucks as they drove by blaring their sirens.
When it was time to go home, she cried and begged to stay longer. If it had been a few degrees warmer, we would have stayed until the end, but after 45 minutes my toes were numb and I knew hers must have been too. We just happened to be in the right place at the right time, because as we were walking to the car we passed Santa and one of his helpers on the street. After accepting a few pieces of chocolate from them, we were on our way home. Hopefully there will be another parade to take Kerriann to sooner rather than later!
