Christmas 2009

Well, we packed up the car on Christmas Eve and drove to MIL's house in Knoxville. But first we had Christmas at home on Christmas Eve morning since we were afraid we wouldn't be able to get all the gifts there and all the new gifts from IL's home.

Let me just say there is NOTHING cuter than seeing a baby go through her gifts on her first Christmas! (D's gifts in front, of course!)

i LOVE that last picture!

After this, we loaded the car with way too much stuff, including one of the 3 great danes (the other 2 stayed home with a petsitter, but we felt it would be easier on this one to take with us, and she did TERRIFIC, i must say!), and headed to MIL's house. D slept the entire drive (which is INCREDIBLE) but of course we had a late night. We got there and found that my MIL's husband's granddaughter was wearing an outfit almost just like D's, so that was cute. Unfortunately i don't have any pictures i can share.

D woke up on Christmas with a cold, poor munchkin, but she did quite well regardless. Unfortunately despite me finding a store local to them that sells Haba toys and Plan toys, they pretty much got her plastic electronic stuff. Well, a couple aren't plastic but the others are electronic. Not a wooden toy in the bunch. She did get lots of clothes, though, and books, so that's good. We're grateful regardless, i just feel like i screwed up the one opportunity i had to make my preferences known. We told them she wanted "clothes, books, and wooden toys" and they asked about a really bad Fisher-Price toy, so i told them instead (via DH) about that store. Apparently that store sells lots of plastic stuff, too. Sigh.

We also got to see my sister, who gave her 3 cute outfits, and i got some HILARIOUS pictures of my almost-18-year-old nephew acting like a fool. He and his sister and 2 brothers had a blast with us and with D, and i know my sister enjoyed playing with D and feeding her a bottle.

D's most hilarious gift came from my MIL's best friend, whom we call "good Susan" (bad Susan is an aunt of DH's, and she is BAD). i don't know how to describe her exactly. She's very sweet but appearance-wise is kind of into appearances. She's had some "work" and she wears lots of nice jewelry, etc. She's married some men with money over the years, too. She gave D a top and pants that are silver. Like silver, with metallic flakes in them. Definitely not something i would *ever* pick out, but as Susan pointed out, "it's not pink." But the cherry on top was the silvery gray baby FUR COAT to go on top! If only she had some silver slippers lol.

My haul was pretty intense, i must say. i should have gotten nothing because the double loven was my anniversary and Christmas gift. But, Alan spoiled me as usual and got me several smaller things (2 books, a DVD, etc) AND a new baby carrier, this time the Pikkolo. i already love it! IL's got me a new babywearing coat, Suse's deluxe kinder coat, which i can wear solo or with D in front, in back, or on either hip! It's so warm and awesome!

We're back home and settled in and both Alan and i have the week off. i have to get some reports done at work for a coworker (which equals much-needed comp time as i only have i think 1 day off and lots of appointments for D coming up), but nothing else for my job, but lots to do at home. We've kept the living room and kitchen fairly well, but as a result we've neglected the rest of the house and need to remedy that. i also look forward to cooking and eating some family meals :).

P.S. The fur coat was fake, of course.