We had our "sibling Christmas" with Pete's family last night. It was casual - we ordered pizza and then everyone ripped into their gifts at the speed of light. Lucy was more interested in getting her hands on the boxes, wrapping paper and bows than in any of the toys she received :) It was fun. Tonight his brother and sister both go to their significant other's houses, but my family is in Charleston, so we spend it with Pete's Mom and Dad. We're just having dinner over there - it's nice - we did the same thing last year. Then tomorrow we go to Pete's Aunt and Uncle's house for the "extended-family-big-feast get-together".

Monday night Janeen had all the parents over for sloppy joe's and the kids put on a little play for us. It was cute. Then they sang a bunch of songs and Santa gave a surprise visit. Lucy was very good during the whole thing, but after about 2 hours she got squirmy and we decided it was time to leave. We gave Janeen and her husband a pair of our season tickets to the Timberwolves - they're big fans too. She was extremely excited - apparently they've never been to a live game.

There's no daycare today because Janeen takes Christmas Eve off as a holiday, so Pete stayed home with Lucy. I used up all my vacation days on maternity leave, and he's got some to use up before the end of the year, so it worked out perfectly. This is the first time he's stayed home with her all day, so I hope it goes well. I have a feeling Lucy is going to be difficult, though - no kids around to entertain her, and no Mommy to comfort her. Hopefully I'm wrong though and everything goes well. He's going over to his Mom's in the afternoon - she'll be a nice distraction for her :) He's going to do it again next Wednesday for New Year's Eve.

We don't have any plans for the big night - usually we're in Charleston by then and we go out with my brother downtown. They close off the streets every year and have a big event called "First Night" - it's nice going out down there vs. here because it's much warmer. This year I ruined the tradition because I could get much cheaper flights if we left on the 1st. I guess my brother was kind of bummed about it - I felt bad. But, we're poor parents now, and I only work part-time, so we have to save a buck where we can. My sister-in-law invited us over for a glass of wine if we want, but I think we'll probably just stay home and pack. Who wants to be driving around with an infant on the most dangerous night of the year?

Then we leave to see my family! Yay! I'm always so excited to go. This is Lucy's first plane trip. I feel very prepared (thanks for your help M!) - I'm fairly confident it will go well. My biggest concern now is all those gross germs on the plane. I almost always get sick when I go on a plane trip - I'm really not sure how to avoid it. I drink lots of water, and use Purell on my hands, but I am not well rested, and don't expect to be then, so that may be a problem. I'm even more worried about Lucy. I guess I'll just do the same for her, keep her hands clean and give her lots of fluids. Unfortunately, though, I'm sure she won't sleep much, if at all, during the trip, either - she's just too nosey. Unless she falls asleep while I'm nursing her - that's really my only hope. So, a lack of sleep isn't going to help either of us combat all those germs.

A friend at work is letting us borrow his portable DVD player. It will be a great help when Lucy grows bored with her toys and we can pop in "Baby Mozart" to entertain her. I think that little gadget will be a life-saver. I have a list of things to carry-on. Unfortunately, though Pete and I can't come to an agreement on the stroller. He thinks we should leave it at home and just carry her, and I'm thinking it may be the only way to get her to sleep. It's so huge, though - if we did bring it, I'm not quite sure how to get it in the trunk with all the baggage. It's true that she'd much rather be held than be in it anyway -so bringing it may end up being a big hassle for nothing. I'm sure we'll leave it at home and bring the Bjorn carrier, it just makes me a little nervous not having it.

Today's going to be a slow day at work, I can tell. Half the office is out, and I've already been here and hour without so much as a work-related e-mail. I know John plans to give us another gift today, but I already know what it is, so my surprise is ruined. I shouldn't have asked Michelle what it was - but my curiousity got the better of me. He's giving us each a nice kitchen knife from Cold Steel. We do their advertising and catalog, so we can get stuff at cost from them.

Last Friday at our agency Holiday party he did something different. He gave us each $100, and told us we had an hour to go purchase something for ourselves on the internet. Then we printed out a picture of what we'd bought and a panel of judges that he'd selected decided which items they thought were the "coolest" - (that was the exact word used). The 5 "coolest" gifts got a second gift - a certificate to a local restaurant. I didn't win. I bought boots from Zappos - but I ended up returning them because I didn't think they were worth $100. I have to figure out what I want to spend it on now. I think I will just buy another pair of shoes or boots from Zappos, because I really want to give them my business - they are the best internet company I have EVER come across - I am not exaggerating. Let me tell you why...:) They have the best internal search engine, a huge selection, customer feedback on every shoe with how each customer thinks the shoe runs size-wise (like if it runs true to size, or a half-size larger...etc...). They have great sales and prices, nothing is ever backordered - if you can put it in your shopping bag, they have it in stock. And the #1 best thing about Zappos....FREE SHIPPING, AND FREE RETURNS!! I love that! Not to mention the shipping is super speedy. They upgraded mine to 2nd day air just to be nice and get them to me before Christmas. I actually feel guilty returning them, but like I said I am going to give them my business from now on, so I don't feel too bad - plus I just plugged them shamlessly to you all :)

Okay, I'm going to go see if I can scrounge up some work, or this is going to be the longest day of my life. Have a Merry Christmas and hopefully I'll post one more time before the New Year!

Ciao-P

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