Christmas, Christmas, and more Christmas

I want to start by admitting that I didn't take one single picture of Christmas this year. This was partially due to the fact that I lost my camera battery charger for the millionth time, and yet even once I found it and charged the battery I still didn't take pictures. So I really have no excuse. Any picture you may see below my aunt took and those were actually not totally Christmas related.

Christmas eve at Seth's uncle Skip's house with his mom's whole family was a treat to get things started. Seth spent most of the night taunting his little cousin by telling him he was 10 instead of 8 and getting everyone else at the house to agree with him. Lots of good food and passing of the sonogram pics made for a good time had by all.

Christmas morning is always a blast when you are married to Seth. His mom, the genius that she is, decided a long time ago to make her kids work for their gifts. I don't know if they just thought Santa left clues and riddles for all little children or if they knew they were special. Either way, when they were little Seth and Levi both had to follow the clues to reach their big Christmas gift. They would open other assorted gifts and then get started with the first clue that would lead to some obscure place in the house which then held the next clue (kind of like a scavenger hunt). As they got older this continued but got much harder (more on that later). So, Seth has decided to do the same to/for me until we have kids that can appreciate it in which case he says the job becomes mine. I managed to make it through my clues in under an hour. Each clue not only led to the next one but also to a wrapped gift that menacingly said DO NOT OPEN. Once I reached the final gift (in the dryer) I was allowed to open all of the gifts...I got a Wii!!! We then spent the next hour or so playing tennis and bowling which may now be the only way I even come close to staying in shape. Seth opened his boring gifts (again more on that later) and we got ready to start the day!

We then headed to Lee's house for some fantastic breakfast and a few laughs as Levi painstakingly worked on his clues (which at age 22 now include crossword puzzles and word finds). Lee made up some story to get us to the back of her house where a flat screen tv was waiting for Seth from all of us (non boring gift)! Little did I know, there was also a fantastically comfortable glider chair for the baby's room for me from Lee and my mom. We are so lucky to have such great parents.


Next we headed to Marietta for dinner with Mom and Sara and more gift exchanging. I brought along the Wii and I must say I may start taking it everywhere with me. Mom made a delicious dinner so it made me happy that we could work some of it off!

So Christmas was then over right? WRONG...I have now discussed with various people the fact that Christmas now is actually a week for a lot of people and not a day. Why? Well, there's divorce....that's usually the leading cause of going 18 places for the holidays. Throw in new marriages and you could have multiple parents and grandparents in multiple places to cover.

Off to Americus, GA we go to see my mom's whole family. We crammed everyone into Grandma and John T's den yet again this year...we were plus two new spouses, a new adorable little one for my cousin Laura named Anna Kate, and a teeny tiny puppy my cousin Brandon gave to his wife Angela for Christmas. Otis (mom's dog) was there too. As you can imagine, you really only have to sit and watch to enjoy yourself.

Saturday morning my aunts, cousins, and cousin's wives gave me my very first baby shower! It was so sweet and exciting to get cute baby gifts. This past week I have been feeling especially pregnant (in other words, large and in charge) so it was quite fitting to get the parties started for Pickle Burrow as our little one is known thus far.












Sunday we met my dad and Liz in Warner Robins. Unfortunately, we missed the fun family festivities at my aunt Linda's house this year. It's so hard to see everyone! I'm glad we got to spend time with my aunt Linda, but my cousins will have to be harassed by Sara and I at a later date! Seth had to go back to work on Monday, but dad took Sara, Liz, and I on the great tour of his beginnings....we went back to the old farm which isn't so old looking anymore. We went to Roberta, GA where my dad went to elementary school and to Ft. Valley, GA where we got to see the old theater where dad saw his first movie (Flipper). Again, I wish I had taken more pictures. I have to get better about that before this baby comes....especially since dad and Liz got us a new video camera!


We are home now and it has been a long week, but a good one for sure. If you read this whole thing, I appreciate you taking the time! I hope you had a fabulous Christmas and I would LOVE any comments so I know you are still out there waiting anxiously for my next blog ;-)

A hop, skip, and a jump....

Here's what the holidays look like for the Burrows (or many families these days I'm sure)....

Christmas eve....dinner at Seth's uncle Skip's house
Christmas day....breakfast at Seth's mom's, dinner at Jana's mom's
Friday and Saturday night....Christmas in Americus (Jana's grandparents)
Sunday night and Monday night....Christmas in Warner Robins (with Jana's dad and his side of the family but without Seth who has to work)

New Year's is still a major toss up for us...I mean, who wants to party like it's 2009 with a pregnant chick? Seriously though, I certainly don't want to sit at home, but I am unsure of what sounds like I will last the longest at. We shall see.

I also want to pat myself on the back (or not, I'm not sure) for just a minute. I made at least 6 trips to Perimeter mall, probably 10 to Target, and for good measure 8 to 10 more stops at other various stores. All of this occurred and we don't even have kids yet. I think either my planning skills, shopping skills, time management, or all of the above will need to rapidly improve in the future. It's a good thing I am teacher and I have been off of work and able to go to all of these places. It may also help in the future to not be pregnant with achy feet after a few hours. Either way, I stuck it out and all within the week before Christmas (and also without becoming a scrooge). Go me!

Merry Christmas!!!

Christmas dinner and acrobat baby

Last weekend we had Christmas dinner at our house for the third year in a row....when I was in college my group of friends decided to have a huge Christmas potluck dinner. Novel idea for a bunch of irresponsible kids, but it stuck. Every year now for almost ten years we have gotten together and had "Christmas dinner" as it is still called. I have to say, this year it really hit me how special this is. How many people do you know that take the time to get the same group of people together every year for a meal? People have moved away and only one has had a baby (we are next in line!), but each year at least 25 people show up to eat together. This year we even tried to get a picture of everyone on my brand new couch (stressful for a sec). It went surprisingly well, as you can see (thanks for the picture Nicole)....check out the guys in the kitchen through the window. It truly was very funny. My friend Asa brought over his dog Georgia who has been a staple in our lives since he got her in college. She is old now, but our young buck Woody still managed to fall in love with her and hump the crap out of her. Molly also took to licking her in the face. Needless to say, Georgia probably did not have a very good time. However, the dogs did alright even though I was a nervous wreck they would drive people nuts. I was very proud!

On a totally different subject, the big ultrasound was today where we would have found out the sex but didn't...it was really so comforting to hear that everything was going well and normal. It was also fabulous because I felt the baby move for the first time last night. Since last night our little acrobat hasn't stopped. What's funny is, today was the first day my students seemed to notice I am pregnant. I mean, they knew already, but today one of them came up and just started patting my belly. It was super cute. She didn't say anything...she just stood there patting. So needless to say, it was a very good day. It's even better when you add in the fact that school is out in two days....my already fat swelling feet need a break!

(PS - Angie, if you read this blog, thank you for loaning me a new maternity wardrobe...it is MUCH appreciated!)

How peaceful

These pictures are rare moments in the Burrow household. I love our dogs but they are full force all the time. So when they are like this it is very picture worthy...oh yea, that's our Christmas tree too. We had this elaborate plan of starting a new tradition of going somewhere and cutting down our tree. Well, time got away from us so that didn't happen this year! But we decided it would be cool to do with a baby next year anyway. I am very interested to see how two dogs and a baby goes...if you have seen the preview for the new movie "Marley and Me" Seth and I have decided that is our life. Marley is really Molly and we have the added joy of Woody and his very own drum that he insists on beating at all times. Wish us luck!

Hobnobbing and the like

Thanksgiving review:

The dress from high school that I was so proud to wear ended up (as you can probably tell from the pictures) squeezing my shoulder blades together because it really didn't fit so my back hurt the vast majority of the night. BUT, the food was good, Regis was indeed a wee little man, the decorations were gorgeous, and the company was wonderful. We are so good at pretending to be rich, high class society. Seriously, as we walked into the portion of the famous Breakers Hotel in West Palm Beach that was housing this event, the entrance way included two rows on either side of us of 10-20 stringed instruments being played for our arrival....ok not just us....it was for everyone. BUT, Sara and I agreed that we felt more famous than we probably ever will again. Bravo Lady in Red Gala....you made this sophisticated redneck feel every bit of her sophisticated side.

Hanging out with dad, Liz, Ben, and their dog Bubba was nothing short of glorious over Thanksgiving. Liz cooked wonderful food along with all the cookies and cakes she fattened us up with. Who knew putting Portuguese sausage in everything could be so good? Thanks again Liz! We seriously ate, laid around, and watched movies which would explain how glorious this trip was.

The downside of the whole thing? Sitting in traffic for 13 hours on the way home. Those folks in Florida really know how to piss of throngs of people. They must have been getting a good chuckle out the fact that they employed the three most uneducated toll booth operators in the entire state so that waiting at the two tolls would total almost two hours added to the trip. Not only were those three people (total) the only tolls open, but there is no way they knew how to add and subtract change. Each car took 5 minutes to pass through.....did I mention I am talking about the SUNDAY AFTER THANKSGIVING WHEN THE ENTIRE WORLD IS DRIVING HOME? We managed to come up with the exact $11.20 we owed to avoid forcing these people to provide the simple service of 2nd grade Math only to finally reach the booth and have the woman ignore us while she searched for something in her booth. We finally creep our way out of Florida (through tornadoes in Orlando as well mind you) only to near Atlanta where the drivers are now the morons. We sat in even more hours of traffic due to accidents ON THE OPPOSITE SIDE OF THE HIGHWAY...needless to say, Seth came to close to having a coronary. Atlanta onlookers are truly the most infamous but legitimate drawbacks to living here. Seth compared our day to one of those end of the world movies where every car in America is stuck on a highway somewhere waiting for the asteroid or sunami or whatever to wipe them out.

Lastly, I got dressed for work on Monday to find out that my pants no longer fit (even though I had worn the exact same pants the day we got to Florida only days earlier). The baby bump/food baby from Thanksgiving eating has led to the purchase of my first pair of maternity pants. Not to mention the baby is said to be the size of a pickle now :-)

I hope your Thanksgiving was as glorious as ours minus the insufferable car ride....I promise I will blog again before Christmas....