Christmas 2016 = the BEST

Christmas might be over, but we just finished celebrating {no better way to start the New Year!}! We had Christmas with my parents, sister/brother-in-law/nieces today so we've left our decorations up and I may or may not have continued the Christmas music last week.  This was one for the record books!

Last year we had a tiny little 2 month old nugget and even though he couldn't possibly understand what all the fuss was about, it was certainly our best Christmas yet.  This year, though, this year was phenomenal.  Duke loved opening presents, gave a little attention to each one {I was worried he would get fixated on one thing and not care about anything else!} and he loved being surrounded by so many family and friends. He got ridiculously spoiled {not surprising},  sort-of behaved himself in church, and ate his way through a million cookies.  Overall, huge success!

We took off for Colorado on Thursday night and while Duke was a champ in the car, Dennis and I were both in rough, sleepy shape.  We managed to make the drive in about 9.5 hours and pulled into my sisters around 2 a.m.  Once Dennis convinced Duke it was not in fact time to play, we all got about 5 hours of sleep before taking on our first round of Christmas.  We had cinnamon rolls, opened presents, and then ate more delicious food in the form of chicken cordon bleu ravioli. My sister and brother-in-law are secret chefs.  I even managed to sneak in a nap. We loaded up the truck around 4 and headed to Dennis' parents house, stopping only for hot beverages {don't even ask me how many times we went to Starbucks this weekend} and a few last minute presents for friends.  We bravely decided we would check out the lights at the Botanical Gardens but were pretty unprepared in the Duke-department so he refused to sit in the stroller and had to be passed around 27 times before we eventually cut through a blocked-off area to escape the packed route and duck out early. We put the wild man to bed and went out to dinner with two of our favorite people.4

After a long night {hellooo pregnancy insomnia} we were able to have a pretty relaxing Saturday which included brunch, more presents, naps, and lots of grandparent time for Duke.  We celebrated Christmas eve with Dennis' dad's side and had a little too much fun watching Duke try to fit himself into any size box he could find. He had an absolute blast playing with everyone and was in a great mood.  When he finally crashed on our way home that night, he managed to stay asleep sitting completely upright and not move an inch in his bed for hours after we laid him down.  I think he knew Santa was coming...

Bath time schenanigans

Christmas can be pretty exhausting

We had a great night's sleep on Saturday and woke up bright and early Sunday to get ready for church.  After church and a nap for Duke, he got to see what Santa brought him.  Santa was all too good to all of us and I couldn't help but feel incredibly grateful all day long.The rest of the day was spent with Dennis' mom's family and we were pretty excited to get to spend some quality time with family we've missed like crazy + eat our weight in ravioli. Always happy I married an Italian man. Sunday night we watched a horrific Bronco's football game and then switched over to the Jungle Book to end the night on a good note.

Monday meant more friends and family visits before hitting the road for the drive that gets longer every time we do it. I don't know how it happens, but it does.  At least Duke got lots of sleep and took being harnessed in for another 9.5 hours like a pro! 

I was beyond thankful for a short week last week and another short one this week as we kick of the New Year!  Happy First Day of 2017!

-T-