Confessions of a Not-So Perfect Wife: Edminster Christmas: 2012 Edition

As winter approached we started getting our house decked for Christmas early this year. I love the way Christmas decorations make our house feel all warm and cozy. This Christmas I thought would be uneventful, boring, and honestly kind of depressing. We have known since Jeff started his job in Utah County 2 years ago that this Christmas would suck. As the season approached we came to realize it was going to suck more than we had planned. Jeff was scheduled to work the weekend before Christmas, Christmas Eve, AND Christmas Day, each being a 12+ hour shift. Boo. I kept telling myself that at least it wasn't our first Christmas as a married couple and that I wouldn't be alone since my mom spent the week with us. We just planned a really early Christmas morning and pretty low key Christmas morning, since we have been saving up for a new stove and new couch (both of which are headed for the crapper... and quickly).

She wasn't quite 7 weeks old. She was so tiny.

As the dreaded weekend approached things started to look up. I was so excited, but still was really sad about Christmas. If you know one thing about me is that I live for Christmas. It really isn't about the presents, I love the spirit of it. I love having family and friends close. Not to mention I love decorating my house, as a kid I dreamed my house would look like the Pottery Barn holiday catalog. Honestly, still do. Sorry got a little side tracked. So anyways the Friday before Christmas weekend approached I was at work as usual and came home to a wonderful surprise. Little miss Bailee. (I have another post where I will tell you more about our new family edition). She was a great Christmas surprise.

A sweet coworker agreed to switch shifts with Jeff so he could go to the Moosman Christmas party and have some sort of holiday. The Christmas party is always the Sunday before Christmas and Santa always comes to visit. Its always fun to see what the kids ask for and their is always something unexpected. The best part is that now that I am married... no more sitting on Santa's knee! The most memorable moment from this years party was Grandpa on Santa's knee.

The night before Christmas Eve we got a surprise call from Jeff's work saying they were so low on patients (hello! Who plans a surgery around Christmas) that they were going to put him on call for Christmas Eve. I literally jumped with glee. I had so much cooking to do for my mom's side's Christmas party and don't know what I would have done if he wasn't there. I had volunteered my house for the party and to cook the dinner. Thankfully everything worked out for the party and had an amazing dinner. The night was filled with laughter and catching up. We played the game Things, which was a lot of fun. I recommend it for any group gathering of at least 6 people. Basically there are a ton of cards and each round there is a reader. Everyone else writes a response to what is on the card and then the reader reads them out loud and you try to figure out who said what. Some of the cards read: what you shouldn't do with your mouth open, things you wouldn't want to find out about online, or things you should share over the dinner table. I thought the night was a lot of fun and want to do it again soon.

We celebrated with Christmas with my mom and step dad Chris, plus another new addition (not in our home) Nic, short for St. Nicholas. Chris found a couple week old baby kitty at his work right before Christmas and rescued it. He is so little he barely weighed a pound. My mom is completely in love with the little kitty. Oakley loved the kitty too, sometimes a little too much. Christmas morning we opened presents in our new pjs (left by the elves of course) and made a quick tasty breakfast.

He loved being up on her shoulder

Oakley wanted to play, but both Bailee and Nic were fast asleep together

They would paw at each other through the puppy gate.

Aren't they cute? Baby kitty and puppy

It was great to have Chris over, he works so much and we don't get to see him very much. We wish he would come over more. We had coconut crusted mahi-mahi tacos, I'll post the recipe soon, they are absolutely AMAZING!!! Chris was overly generous for Christmas giving us a gift card to home depot so we could get a new stove. Thank you so much Chris, you have no idea how much that meant to us and will help us out. We love you so much!!

We were spoiled this Christmas with a much needed pro shark vacuum, new clothes and shoes, 3 inches of memory foam for our bed (never want to get out of bed), I gave Jeff a Dremel and clothes, and the dogs got a giant bone and giant dog sausage for treats. Bailee loved the bows and wrapping paper. Oakley lives up to his paper shredding tendencies and was great at opening presents.

Christmas morning was great. Christmas night was eventful. We were waiting for my dad to come over and Jeff was trying to fix Oakley's medication spray bottle that was clogged. The knife slipped and sliced his finger really deep. Jeff kept telling me he thought he saw his knuckle bone and blood was everywhere. We jumped in the car and rushed for him to get stitches. He ended up with 4 stitches and now has no feeling in a good portion of his finger. Fortunately, stitches was all that was required, because the doctor said where he cut could have caused him to not be able to bend his finger and would require surgery to repair.

Wednesday we went over to Jeff's parents house to celebrate Christmas with them. It was relaxing and fun just to spend time with everyone. Jeff's parents added 2 new members to their family too this year. I guess it was a trend. In October they adopted two brother Samoyeds, Kody II and Kenya, they are 3 months older than Oakley. They are full of energy and always together. This year was special, because we got to spend it with our brother-in-law Lene. He is in the Navy and currently in Naples, Italy. We don't get to see him very often and we had really missed him. This year Jeff's parents had the idea to surprise Cathy for Christmas by bringing Lene back to the states. The whole family pitched in secretly and for weeks had to keep it a secret. It was great to have him down and wish he didn't have to go back to Italy. We were spoiled again by Jeff's parents and we got the food processer that we have looked at for years. I was probably more excited than Jeff, but we have already put it to great use. Thank you!