The Walsh Christmas Marathon 2007

Caleb's Backhoe

Sadie's new sweater (g'ma Jody made it)

A gift for you

okay, so i'm finally getting around to writing a thorough account of our Christmas travels. (warning: i will try to keep this short but i make no promises. some of you may just want to skip this post all together and i'll post a slide show for those who would prefer to see the illustrated version) :-)

we had 4 Christmas's this year. that just happens when you have 3 sets of grandparents that all want to spend time with the grandkids. and we wanted to have our own Christmas now that Caleb and Sadie are more aware of what's going on. check out my previous post to hear about our family Christmas the Sat before Christmas.

New Jersey Christmas

we left on Sunday (the 23rd) to drive out to NJ to spend Christmas with Andy's parents and sister. andy drove the entire trip through rain, pouring rain and fog. it was not a fun drive but we made it in time for dinner with the family.

Monday was Christmas eve and was our first family gathering of the week. the Walshes came over for dinner and some presents. this included andy's uncles (Brian and Mike) and Uncle Time, Aunt Judy and their sons Matt and Nick. the kids didn't quite know what to make of all these men in the house but they were happy knowing that mommy, daddy or grandma was near by. it was a nice evening of visiting and catching up. the kids got story books from Tim and Judy and that was perfect. i think i read Corduroy at least 5 times in just that evening, fortunately it's both a favorite book for me and andy.

we didn't make it to Christmas eve service but we're thankful to have been able to get the kids to sleep with little problems (as they get older i'm sure it will be more difficult to get them to sleep on Christmas eve).

Christmas morning started some time after 8. Caleb decided to sleep in so it was quite amusing to see all the adults downstairs eagerly waiting for the 2yr old to wake up for Christmas. Then it was a blur of packages and wrapping paper and gift bags with tissue paper. The big hit with Caleb was his kid's CD player and the different CDs he got for it. i think Sadie's favorite was her sweater that g'ma knitted and the blanket Betsy made for her.

we enjoyed a relaxing Christmas day and in the evening went out to visit some more family for dessert. it was very low-key so the kids did really well even though they were surrounded by new faces. the next day we had Christmas with the great-grandparents. it was nice to be able to visit them without all the craziness of Christmas day excitement.

the rest of the week continued to be pretty relaxing with some more time with family and just enjoying our gifts. andy and i were able to shoot down to Trenton to visit a friend of andy's from Hopkins. it was a nice chance for us to get away a little without the kids. then on Saturday, andy and papa took Caleb to the NJ children's museum. Caleb made us all laugh when we mentioned the museum and he said "oh dinosaurs." he has a really good memory (we went to the carnegie and saw dinosaurs with Aunt Lindsay earlier in dec). And Sunday we drove home stopping to visit the Groshes in Mt. Joy, PA on the way.

Christmas with the Bushes

on new year's eve we packed up the kids to head out for another Christmas. we decided to spend new year's eve with g'ma Suzie and papa Joe. it was another nice low-key celebration for us. after having dinner, we opened our gifts. Caleb loved his new backhoe (i think it scared Sadie a little). it moves and makes sounds and it didn't take long before the kids figured out which button played music and would press that and dance. Sadie got a pretty little anklet id (i had one similar when i was a baby). she also got a vacuum cleaner that was a big hit. the kids and grown-ups had lots of fun but Andy and i were the only ones who stayed awake for the new year :-)

the next morning we decided to do some visiting while we waited for Aunt Jackie and Chris to come out. we stopped over at gr-g'ma Roger's and visited with her and Aunt Judy and Heather. i don't remember g'ma ever having a Christmas tree that big- it was so nice and pretty (thanks Heather). after g'ma's we went to stop in at grammie m's and grandpapap (that's what Caleb's been calling my dad). it was a nice little visit but we had to get home- snow was coming.

we got back to my mom's and soon Aunt Jackie arrived so we could have one last Christmas. they got Caleb his first sleeping bag (Lightening McQueen). then we packed up and went back home.

Christmas at Camp

our last Christmas was just over the weekend at my dad's camp in Crossfork, PA. we drove out to Derry, Friday morning so we could ride up with my dad. he took pity on us after having spent so much time driving in the past couple of weeks. but this was quite a drive. 4 adults and 2 kids in car seats in the van plus all our bags and gifts and food. and Caleb and i both get carsick. everyone did really well though. Andy sat between the kids and kept them happy and quickly helped Caleb when he started looking a little sick. i sat up front (the only place where i won't get sick on the windy roads).

at camp, Caleb and Sadie shared a bedroom up stairs- Caleb slept on the futon in his sleeping bag and loved it. Sadie had the pack-n-play and tolerated it. they had lots of fun playing with toys and with grammie and grandpapap.

Saturday morning was our "Christmas" morning. the kids got up and opened their stockings and had a big breakfast while waiting for Uncle Sean, Aunt Emily and Claire to come over. when they arrived, once again it was a blur of presents and wrapping paper. Caleb was a good helper, passing out presents. Sadie happily tried to model all the clothes she opened up. it was a really nice morning. later in the afternoon, we had a dinner of venison and pork and sauer kraut (not all together). i'm thinking that not many people have deer meat for Christmas dinner but ours was so good.

the kids enjoyed playing with their toys the rest of the afternoon. and Sunday morning we got up and then packed up all the gifts and stuff to take back home. Uncle Jason and Aunt Lindsay helped by bringing their truck so we were able to have them transport somethings back to Derry.

so i guess that's it. we've now spent almost a week out of our suitcases and i've managed to get most of the laundry under control. we even got the cat back (she stayed at g'ma Suzie's and Papa Joe's through all of this).

we hope you all have had an enjoyable Christmas. we are so thankful not only for the generosity of our family but also for the blessing we have in such a large, loving family and we look forward to many more Christmas's together.