Thanksgiving this year was spent with Collin's family. The first time since we've been married. It was so much fun with food, food, food! Which means I ATE, ATE, ATE! Jorgan had fun with all the different food we kept letting her try!
Cousins! Jorgan loved playing with her cousins. They are so fun!
All of the Collin's family and the Norton Aunts and Uncles and cousins were there and it was fun to visit, wrangle kids, and of course play CATCH PHRASE! Some of us get very creative and intense (Chelle) when we play that game... :) Fun times. After Thanksgiving Day we had the Norton Family Reunion that weekend. I met a whole lot of relatives that I have known all my life and am now related to. It was fun. I'll forever have burned into my mind a certain rendition of YMCA...
We had a few weeks break where I made a mad dash to get every one's presents put together. Every year I swear I will start that whole process earlier than December 17th but I am the Queen of Procrastination so I find myself in the same place every year; One week to go and I'm not even 1/3 of the way through my list! I got it all pulled together thankfully and it was a great Christmas.
Collin had to work Christmas Eve so Jorgan and I stayed at my parents house that night. Talk about flashbacks from the past! Evan and Olivia went carolling, so we got to stay with my mom and dad and sing songs and look at the fire, and I fell asleep at about 9. It was heaven! Thanks for taking Jorgan, Mom! That in itself was a great Christmas present!
Christmas morning we woke up early and fixed breakfast and waited for Collin to get there so we could open the presents. We got about half way through with presents and then Sean called! It was so fun to talk to him. He sounds so good! His release date is March 5th and he'll be home on the 6th. My mom is counting down the hours practically... Anyways, back to Christmas. We finished opening the presents at my parents (We were so spoiled!) Collin got a GPS unit from me and Jorgan, and a bunch of stuff for guns and other manly stuff. I got a new camera from Collin! My parents also got us year supply stuff (thank you, I already feel more secure) and a play pen for Jorgan, and then Jorgan was spoiled rotten!
I think Jorgan enjoyed eating the wrapping paper more than opening presents!
Evan made her the prettiest little rocking chair. I love it!
After presents, we got ready really fast and headed to spend the rest of the day with the Claridges. Yummy food at Vick's beautiful new house, then we headed to Chris and Debbie's for presents over there... I never knew Christmas could be so fun with two families! JK... They got us some beautiful books on the Claridge and Norton heritage, and Debbie slaved hours to make us a scrapbook full of pictures of great-grandparents, and stories. It is really a treasure. The rest of the day was spent eating, visiting, eating, playing games, eating, and did I mention eating... I love her face in this picture... she has crazy eyes! Thanks Chelle, she loves these!
The Sunday after Christmas, Seth and Courtney blessed their new little baby boy and we had more good times. Eating, visiting, eating, wrestling crazy, crying, babes who desperately needed naps, eating some more, you know the usual. It was a fun day and little Mason is so precious.
After presents, we got ready really fast and headed to spend the rest of the day with the Claridges. Yummy food at Vick's beautiful new house, then we headed to Chris and Debbie's for presents over there... I never knew Christmas could be so fun with two families! JK... They got us some beautiful books on the Claridge and Norton heritage, and Debbie slaved hours to make us a scrapbook full of pictures of great-grandparents, and stories. It is really a treasure. The rest of the day was spent eating, visiting, eating, playing games, eating, and did I mention eating... I love her face in this picture... she has crazy eyes! Thanks Chelle, she loves these!
The Sunday after Christmas, Seth and Courtney blessed their new little baby boy and we had more good times. Eating, visiting, eating, wrestling crazy, crying, babes who desperately needed naps, eating some more, you know the usual. It was a fun day and little Mason is so precious.New Years Eve was about as low key as I've ever had. We must be getting old because we went to bed at 9, and only happened to notice it was after midnight because one of us was taking a bathroom break and noticed the clock... Life's grand.
I sat down New Years Day to write my resolutions and realized that half of them had to do with weight loss and my figure. I can only assume that this is a result of all of the aforementioned holiday parties and family get togethers. Mostly though, I have to remember all of the blessings I have: a wonderful husband and daughter, a fantastic extended family, a home, Collin's job, etc, etc, etc. 2009 sure was a wonderful year but I'm excited to see what this year brings!
