Christmas recap

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! What a Christmas we had. I feel like I've eaten nothing but junk food since sometime in November. Our good friend dropped off a portion of the most spectacular batch of fudge she's ever made. Crazier Grandma came to visit and spent a fortune on all the goodies I've been ogling at Trader Joe's. Anthony's gone through gallons of eggnog. I found my absolute favorite, wouldn't-be-Christmas-without-them Marshmallow Santas in the 25 cents bin at the grocery store! I made cinnamon rolls, crescent rolls, and blueberry muffins multiple times. (All from either a box or a pop-open canister, and I'm too replete to even feel ashamed about it.) Good eats!

Christmas itself, of course, was just as it always is. I'm looking for a kinder word than "fiasco" or "nightmare"… how about "trial"? Yes, it was a trial, as always. We tried to cram in two Christmases on Christmas Eve, and we got a late start because of Katie's nap. We were expected at Anthony's mom's at 3:30, but Katie was still asleep at that time. We made it there by 4:30, only to find that Anthony's brother and his family were livid because they'd been there since 2:30. So there was quite a bit of passive-aggressive behavior and some snide comments. I let it roll right off - they've made us wait for untold hours in the past, and besides, they have 2 kids and should understand the concept of naps. I wonder if Anthony's mom told them the wrong time because they're always at least an hour late? LOL.

Seriously, though, every family get-together is the same. Anthony's brother competes with us to see who can get to my mother-in-law's the latest, because she always holds us hostage for much longer than we want to stay. She does it by not having the food ready until hours and hours have dragged by and we're all grumpy. Genius. I'm hoping it's a good long time before the next gathering. What's the next holiday, Easter? (Thank goodness we don't go there for Valentine's Day. Sidebar: did I mention that I went to Michaels the day after Christmas and they were all decked out in pink and red? OMG!)

But anyway, back to the fiasco - er, trial. There were barbs flying here and there because my sister-in-law wanted to move things along and my mother-in-law refused to be hurried. Nobody had eaten a thing except some pigs-in-a-blanket and a few olives. We decided to open presents because my poor niece and nephew had been waiting forever. They opened our gifts and decided that we are the best aunt and uncle who ever lived. Yay! Then we gave Katie a special present to open, one that we've been waiting months and months to give her in front of everyone. It was a cute little pink T-shirt, that says:

BEST BIG SIS

Anthony's brother cottoned on right away, and said "Is this an announcement?" And we said, "YES!!" And Crazy Grandma and Crazier Grandma still had no clue. "It's a shirt!" they exclaimed. "How cute!" "No," I said patiently, "what does it say?" Finally we had to spell it out for them: "Katie's going to be a big sister! We're having another baby!"

Once it sank in, everyone was very excited. I'm so happy I got it off my chest! I can stop hiding my belly - which, by the way, is showing WAY earlier than last time! Like, two months earlier!! Ack! I'm now 16 weeks and 4 days, and I can feel adorable little flutters in my belly. I've been feeling something for almost 2 weeks but I wasn't sure they were kicks until a couple of days ago. I had a prenatal checkup today and everything seems right on track. Woohoo! We're due in June, which is cool because the new baby can wear all the infant summer clothes that Katie couldn't wear because she was born in November. Oh yeah, did I mention? We're having another girl! :) (Judge away, we wanted our surprise early! If we have a third, maybe we'll wait. Or not.)

Anyway, "trial" aside, we had a nice Christmas. One of the best parts was going across the street to the Gonzalezes and telling them our good news - Olga screamed and hugged me and jumped up and down for about 10 minutes! Priceless. Plus, TAMALES! 

I've used up just about all of Katie's nap time, and I have to wash bottles so that Katie won't volunteer to wash them "Katie-self", so I must dash. I'll be back soon to tell the tale of: The Microwave Fiasco Revisited! Oh, just you wait!!  :)

Happy New Year, everyone!

Yummy stocking stuffers!

Aw, come on, this would have been so cute without the goofball face!

Why yes! Christmas IS my favorite holiday!