On the Fourth Day of Christmas...

I’ve finally done it. I’ve reached the end of my catch-up holiday-related posts. Aren’t you glad! I know I could have just skipped them all, but that would have really gone against my strong (or anal, as some would label it…) sense of organization and completion. Still hearing about Christmas has probably been driving you crazy, but not posting about it would have driven me crazy, and it’s my blog, so I win! Sorry :) Even though it doesn’t feel like spring out there, it is right around the corner and I am ready to move away from Christmas (it is March for goodness sakes!) and on towards Easter and then (yay!) summer! So here it is, our final day of Christmas…Christmas Day!

We spend the night at Travis’ parents on Christmas Eve and had opened most of the presents that night. His aunt and sister weren’t able to be there though, so they came over early on Christmas morning and we opened more gifts with them.

After breakfast, we said good-bye and left for LA with a very sad Savannah in the backseat. Apparently she though Bailey was going to continue on with us and was horribly upset when we left without him (we weren’t too sad though). We made good time and arrived at my aunt and uncle’s house in time for dinner. All of the close extended family on my mom’s side was there – mom, dad, sister, sister’s boyfriend, two aunts and uncles, four cousins, cousin’s husband, and grandma. Even my grandma on my dad’s side came over and my uncle’s sister was there with her husband and kids. It was a full house, but luckily my aunt and uncle live in a large house and there was plenty of room for everyone, even with ten of those people were sleeping there for a few days, while five of them stayed at my grandma’s.

For fun, we took some generational pictures…

Here’s four generations of women starting with Eleanor, my mom’s mom.

And four generations starting with Ruth, my dad’s stepmom (the only grandma I’ve ever know on his side.)

And finally with the men added in.

As you can see, we’re a little estrogen heavy in my family. My dad has one sister who has a daughter, and of my grandma Eleanor’s three daughters (my mom and her two sisters), only one of their six children is a boy. (Nick’s definitely outnumbered, but luckily for him, in recent years we’ve added Travis and Seth to the family, and this year my sister Ashley brought her boyfriend Bill.) Apparently Savannah is continued proof of this long lineage of women and I have a feeling that baby#2 may follow in that way too. Let me tell you, there will be definite shock from all parties if it’s a boy!

That night, we opened the last of our presents and again, Savannah got more than anybody. I know it’s normal for a two-year-old, but after this holiday season, she has a pretty good reason for thinking every present is for her.

We stayed for two more days and had a great time just relaxing and hanging out with the family. And we even did a little family baking. All the women were going to make Syrian bread (pita bread) from my grandma’s family recipe, but after buying the ingredients and making the dough, some people dispersed (which ensued in a little sisterly drama :) and somehow my dad and Travis got dragged into the kitchen. Travis was soon a pro at properly rolling balls of dough, and looked pretty cute in his apron too!

My cousins Julia and Nicole helped out also, and Savannah had fun stabbing the dough with various utensils.

They came out delicious, even the one Savannah mutilated a bit, and we all worked hard (I think we filled two big paper grocery bags with them after they were all cooked) and had fun while we were at it.

After a great visit, we headed home with a stop back at Travis’ parents to pick up Bailey and all the opened gifts we had left there. Luckily we only had an hour and a half left to drive at that point; the car was so packed with luggage and presents that poor Savannah and Bailey only had a little bubble of open space around each of them. We made it home very tired and very glad that Christmas only comes around once a year (or four times successively if you’re us…) and I’m sure Savannah woke the next morning and looked around thinking “I don’t understand. Where are all the presents for me to open?”