Christmas Reflections

I want to share some of the pictures and memories that we made during Nathan's first Christmas holiday. Brian had to work the week of Christmas (we love residency!), so my parents drove up, arriving on Christmas Eve afternoon, to keep me and Nathan company. That night for dinner we had our (the McDonald family) traditional steak fondue - yummy!

The next day, since Brian was working, we got up and had a leisurely morning. Papaw and Nathan had a lot of fun during tummy time!

Brian got home early on Christmas, around three, so he was able to enjoy the afternoon off to celebrate with the family. When it came time to open presents, Nathan had about twice as many presents as the rest of us combined (mostly thanks to his Great Aunt Karen)! Karen also came through with his only "First Christmas" ornament!

Nathan and Papaw in their coordinating plaid shirts!

That night, we had a wonderful Christmas dinner. Just earlier that week, I had found a FABULOUS new chicken recipe that found on Allrecipes.com called Anniversary Chicken. So we had that again for Christmas dinner, along with twice baked potatoes, Brian's favorite cranberry salad, broccoli salad, crescent rolls and sparkling grape juices. It was SO good!

The day after Christmas, my parents, Nathan and I all loaded up on the 4Runner and drove up to Bowie, MD for my Grammy's funeral. Grammy had Alzheimers and had died the week before Christmas. Nathan was a champ during the drive, sleeping through most of it. However, during the short time he was awake, he really enjoyed looking at the Pooh toy hanging from his carseat.

Unfortunantly, I didn't take any pictures of Nathan and the family while we were up in Bowie, but he got to meet Aunt Karen, Uncle Joe and cousin Kevin, his Uncle Mike, Aunt Susan and cousin Chandler, as well as my great aunts Margie, Georgeanne, Diane, and Ellen. It was wonderful to see all my relatives, though we wished that it was a happier occasion that brought us together. However, we knew that it was a blessing that Grammy had passed away.

After the funeral on Monday, my mom, Nathan and I piled back in the 4Runner and made the LONG drive to Knoxville, where Brian would meet us. We made it to my grandparent's house at 10:30pm and were greeted by Grandmother, Uncle Jim, Aunt Cathy and their dog Puddin. That night, since we didn't have a pack n' play or crib, Nathan slept in a drawer lined with a comforter! My parents have always told the story about how I slept in a drawer when I was a baby and they were traveling in Europe, and now I'm continuing the tradition with Nathan. Unfortunantly, I didn't get a picture of that either.

Tuesday morning, Brian came over to my grandparents house bright and early for a visit over breakfast and to pick up Nathan and me. We had country ham, scrambled eggs with chives and cheese, homemade bread toast, homemade strawberry jam, coffee and juice.

That night, we had Christmas with the Kornrumpf family.

Granddad opening one of Nathan's new toys (adult-proof packaging!)

Uncle David and Aunt Laura

Nana and Nathan

On Wednesday, Granddad, Nana, Brian, Nathan and I drove down to Mississippi to see Memaw, Nathan's great-grandmother. She was so thrilled to see her first great-grandchild!! We spent most of Thursday visiting with Memaw, and then stopped by again on our way out of town on Friday.

Memaw and Nathan Memaw, Nana, Brian, Nathan and me

So Friday was a long travel day back to Knoxville, and then Saturday we made it the rest of the way back home. We had a wonderful time visiting all our family, but I was SO GLAD to be back in our own house and not living out of suitcases anymore!!