Anderson's First Christmas

I finally have a free minute to update the blog about our WONDERFUL trip to California for Christmas. We all had an awesome time seeing family and friends and enjoying AJ's first Christmas.

We arrived in California on Saturday Dec 20th. The plane trip wasn't too bad. We decided not to give AJ any drugs for the trip. I never liked drugging him, and since I had Jason there to help, I figured we could get through 2 hours. AJ was really good- for a 6 month old- and just needed to be played with and talked to. It was exhausting, but we expected that.

Saturday when we arrived, we went to my moms house and unpacked and just hung out. We had a lot of preparing to do as we had about 5 Christmas's to celebrate!

Sunday my Dad & Cory came to town to spend some time with us and we went to Matt & Kristin's for dinner and presents. It was such a nice time. It was so relaxing and low key. Everyone enjoyed spending time with Anderson and he entertained us all by rolling around and playing.

Pop & AJ


Monday we had my Dad's family over for a Christmas celebration. It has been many years since we've all been able to get together for Christmas and it was so nice to see everyone. Many people hadn't met Anderson before so that was fun. We had a pinata for the kids and a gift exchange as well as great conversation. I haven't seen my Aunt Sharon in over 5 years so it was great to see her and talk with her. She and AJ had fun together :)

With Anderson's Great Aunt Sharon



On Tuesday we said goodbye to Grammy & Pop which is always hard to do. It's especially hard when we don't have plans to get together again anytime soon. I hope to make a trip out there again soon or would love to have them visit too. It's tough living in another state, especially with a baby.

Grammy Cory & Pop


That day we drove about 3 hours north to Bakersfield to visit Jason's dad & family. Jason has a nephew, Kaden who is 5 and a new niece Kylie who's just a few months older than Anderson. AJ did great on the car ride up there, but I think he was having tummy problems as he was in pain much of the day. I felt so bad for him and I felt bad for Jason's family as they don't get to see him much and he was so cranky.

We ended up having a nice visit and AJ did play with Kylie. She's just about to crawl so it was adorable to watch her scoot around; pretty soon it'll be AJ's turn!

With Cousin Kylie



Papa Tom


Jason, Uncle Tommy, Cousin Kaden


Wednesday was a really great day. I was able to leave Anderson with Jason for a few hours so my mom and I could do some shopping. I know I shop a lot, but it's rare that I can do it without Anderson. It was fun to just cruise around the mall. I got some new make up (which I'm realizing I really need now that I have a baby) and a few sweaters. Then that night Matt & Kristin hosted a WONDERFUL Christmas eve dinner at their house. We had some amazing food there and had a great time visiting with Kristin's family. They are just such fun and friendly people and it's always nice to be with them. The surprise of the night was when Matt opened his Christmas gift- a new big screen TV! (Jason was so jealous!)

The Family


Christmas day! More presents, more food! Matt & Kristin came over around 10:30 for brunch. My mom always goes ALL OUT on Christmas. We had omelets and waffles, fruit, sausage and mimosas. What a way to start out the day! Then came time to open all our gifts. We opened presents for what seemed like 2 hours and it was a lot of fun! Anderson didn't know what was going, but he had a great time trying to eat the ribbon (and anything else that was near him). Of course he got so many gifts; toys, clothes and so much more! People were incredibly generous.

Present Time!


In Front of the Tree


Getting a little tired of this Grandma


And he's done...


On Friday we celebrated Christmas with Jason's sisters and Paul (AKA Grandpa Lew) We went to Michele's house and had a great time. Again, we ate, hung out and opened presents. We also played some fun games!

Grandpa Lew


Mandy, Michele, Jason, AJ and Grandpa Lew


Saturday we had to leave. It was such a great week that it was hard to leave, but at the same time I think we all were ready to be back home. I'm sure my mom was ready to have us out of her house because every time she turned around there were baby toys or messes everywhere! I guess that's part of being a grandma tho!

It was so wonderful to see everyone and we appreciate all the time we got to spend, the gifts and the wonderful food people prepared for us. We sure had a MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!