We had to wait the longest for this Christmas, but it was worth it to spend the time with my parents! Bobby went with his parents and brother to see the Gamecocks play in their bowl game (sorry Bobby, can't remember which one... but it was a really good one and they won), so we waited until January 5th to have the Montanarella Christmas morning. The festivities, however, started on the drive up to Boone with the Christmas music and continued on the whole week with decorating/eating cookies, watching movies, teasing each other about gifts and dressing Gia up in all her Christmas outfits. Unfortunately, Gianna took to sleeping TERRIBLY and then having extreme seperation anxiety from me, which means I got no sleep at night and then couldn't pass her off to take a nap during the day. That equals one tired mommy, but I made the very best of it by spending time with my parents instead of sleeping. After Bobby arrived, it got easier because he could share the nightly burden, but we were both exhausted all week.
Anyway, on Christmas Eve my dad and I cranked out Christmas Eve dinner like machines and, if I do say so myself, it was one of the best meals we have ever made. It was great to cook in the kitchen with my dad, I really miss that being so far away. I rushed around to finish wrapping gifts and got Bobby to help me. And let me just say that Bobby has improved 100% at his wrapping ability since we first got married. I'm very impressed. Poor Mom had the stomach bug (we had been passing it around), so she didn't get to eat much of anything that night, but the food was wonderful.
Christmas morning was awesome. We sat around opening gifts and telling stories about how we had to struggle to get the gift, or how we saved a bunch of money when buying it. Gia had fun eating the paper again, and fortunately, since she was requiring a lot of attention, we were able to get some gift opening done while she was napping. We ate a lot of leftovers, ate a lot of chocolate, laughed a lot and enjoyed each other's company. I must say that my parents did a fantastic job on stockings this year. Stockings have always been my favorite part of Christmas morning! After opening gifts, we read the Christmas story in Luke and watched a couple episodes of NCIS. It didn't snow, but mom and I took a walk anyway in the freezing cold.
I am so blessed that Bobby and I both have wonderful families whom we LOVE spending time with. It really makes the whole holiday fun knowing that we get excited to share the time with both sides. We are also so grateful to have been able to afford plane tickets to go home, even if American Airlines did mess up our initial flight and lose us one day with the Wood's. I pray that God blesses us with the time and finances to be able to spend Christmas with our families next year and in years to come! Here's some pictures to show our fun!
I look ridiculous, but this is me reading Gianna her Christmas Eve story
Our Christmas Eve spread
Our Christmas tree
Mom and I were pretty tickled about this
Our gifts from Peru to my parents... can you tell that Bobby accidently got the wrong sized hat for my mom? It was really funny.
I'll leave you with this one... my dad wearing the rudolph nose we got him in his stocking and the toy my mom got him. Hilarious! If you want to see more pictures, they will be on facebook!
No comments:
Post a Comment