Christmas Eve 2011

I was so, so happy to have such a relaxing holiday this year.  I got a lot of days off from work, we didn't have to do any traveling, and I think we planned well to allow enough time with family and also to relax.

Christmas Eve I was in a mad dash to finish wrapping gifts.  I had done very well on finishing shopping, but I'd been piling boxes in my garage, so I had quite a pile to wrap.  Jeremy and Sawyer went to play with Josh and Jamie so I could finish up and run some errands and get ready for Christmas Eve.

Unfortunately Sawyer had a really bad cough and a slight fever that afternoon, so we decided not to send him to childcare at church and then we decided it didn't make sense for us to go if we'd be chasing a toddler around the whole time.  I was very sad to miss the service with our family, but we got Starbucks and drove through River Oaks looking at lights instead.  Once church was over, we went over to Lolly and Pops' house for dinner and presents with Josh, Jamie, Aunt Pat and Uncle Dan.

Sawyer stayed up with us through our "As Seen on TV" gift exchange (I got a cake pop baking pan and Jeremy got an Anti-Monkey Butt gift set!) and then we put him to bed in his pack-n-play.  After Pat and Dan headed home, we opened family gifts.  We are so spoiled by our family - highlights included a very nice set of new knives (so long, Cutco!), a Keurig (woooooooooooo!), and pretty, fun jewelry for me!  Jeremy's favorite gift, I think, was a UT basketball goal from his brother you'd hang on your wall.  When Jeremy opened it he said, hey, I used to have one like this in my room!  To which Josh replied, it is the one from your room!  Probably 8 or so years ago, when Jeremy's parents moved from their home in the 'burbs and were cleaning it out, Josh snagged that basketball goal and has been hanging on to it ever since.  It was the sweetest gift for Jeremy to get, to be able to play with Sawyer.  And Jeremy is the worst receiver of gifts - he never knows what to say, and never seems very excited - and I have never seen him so excited about a gift.  It was so sweet to witness!

Mr. Darcy had to open his gift first - he really loves digging toys out of gift bags!

Yay, a Keurig carousel!

Wait a minute, no Keurig?? (Just kidding!  He liked his gift better than Keurig anyway!)

We headed home around 11, and I got busy setting up for Santa then Jeremy and I decided to go ahead and exchange our gifts.  The past few years we've just done small stocking stuffers, but I guess this year I just felt like buying real gifts so I did (and then Jeremy had to follow suit!).  I think we both did a really nice job - I got Jeremy some new work shirts, all 5 seasons of Friday Night Lights, and some Bacon Marmalade.  Jeremy got me a scarf/gloves/hat set, a sweater from Anthropologie, TOMS, a new hair straightener (mine has been broken since March!), and a really great wallet/iPhone case from Michael Kors.

We headed to bed pretty late, but had such a fun night together!