We survived!!

Aaron and I crammed more in 2 days than I think I ever have before.

1.) We started off on Christmas Eve with Aaron's extended family. It was a lot of fun to be with everyone and participate in the gift exchange (although Aaron's family needs to learn how to steal presents!!). We got to play with kids, one of my favorite things to do, and sample everyone's Christmas cookies.

2.) Then we headed up to my mom's house. We made it there right after Santa, so we ate goodies and discovered what was in our stockings. Then we opened all of our great presents and had the annual "present hunt." We have a Santa ornament that opens up and my mom always hides a clue in it. The clue leads us to several other clues around the house until we arrive at our big present of the year. Aaron and I got a Kitchen Aid mixer this year!!

3.) We got home just after midnight on Christmas Eve and were up early the next morning to have our own Christmas. Aaron created a chocolate relaxation themed stocking for me. He made a chocolate milk bath and a chocolage facial and gave me chocolate lotion, soap, pedicure soaks and a bath soak. I had said I wanted to go to Hershey, Pennyslvania sometime so I could bathe in chocolate, but we didn't see that trip in our near future, so he brought it to me!!

4.) We went over to Aaron's parents mid-morning and ate more Christmas goodies before we even had breakfast!! This is the first year that Emma has been excited about Christmas, so it was fun to watch her open her presents. Our big present from Aaron's parents was a video camera!! We've had a ton of fun playing with it already!!

5.) On Christmas afternoon we headed over to Cedar Rapids to have celebrate with my dad and Roarke. My dad had lots of good munchy food and we had more cookies (can you tell that I love Christmas cookies?!?) Roarke opened his presents in record time. If there are any career opportunities in present-un-wrapping I think Roarke's perfect for the job!! I had the pleasure of playing Old Maid and Hungry, Hungry Hippos when the un-wrapping was over.

It was a long couple of days.... We got up at 5:30 am on Sunday and worked for 9 hours before starting the 5 Christmas celebrations, but we were lucky enough not to have to be up early this morning, so we slept super late!! (at least in our world...until 9!!) and are well on our way to being "fully recuperated".... but it was a great couple of days, not only because of the presents :-D, but because we were able to spend so much time with our families!!