PHEW!

I hope anyone who's reading had a wonderful Christmas, just like I did :-)

It was a whirlwind of activity...... Erik and I joined my family at my dad's on Saturday morning for brunch. We had a really nice time..... Mary brought this wonderful egg souffle, my dad baked a ham and I did the fruit salad. It definitely felt nice to have my family around me - I'm also grateful to spend a little time with my bro Tim. I don't get to see him very often, so even the short 20 mins was nice. We opened presents, watched the Seahawks beat the Colts and ate way too much cheesecake! And Calvin (my nephew) got this cool ninja play set that he couldn't get enough of. It was a KICK watching him run around the living room like we were under seige!

Then later that afternoon, my dad, Erik and I hopped on the freeway towards Bellingham to see my dad's family. We stopped by the hospital to see my grandpa.... he hasn't been feeling well the last few days, so they're keeping him there to keep him comfortable. It was great to still see a nice smile on his face and hear him cracking jokes :-) Dinner with my aunt and uncle Gillespie was wonderful! Stan is always full of stories from his travels as a missionary. I swear there are few countries he has yet to see. It was getting late so we headed out after dessert. Erik and I still had some things planned....

We had left my car in Everett to make it easy to travel to Whidbey Christmas Eve..... we made the 11pm ferry and looked for his parent's but we didn't seem 'em. Turns out, they were on the ferry and we all arrived at the same time. There was some last minute present wrapping, but all of us headed to bed not to long after arriving, I think we were all pretty much beat :-) Erik and I got to sleep out in the living room by the tree and I gotta tell ya, it was kinda fun to fall asleep smelling that fresh tree smell while it was storming outside. Anyways!! Christmas morning with the Hadlock's is always fun...... it's laid back and full of smiles, breakfast and surprises. Judy got a new dishwasher, Kenda got a new cell phone, Erik got a nice propane camping stove. Erik and his grandparent's also went in on a huge gift for his dad. He's been so excited to fix up the hydroplane, so they decided he could do a better job with air-compression tools. So....... they bought him a nice, vertical air compressor! But it was at Donna and Harry's, so he only got clues on Christmas morning.... he had to wait until later that afternoon to find out and it was AWESOME watching him try to figure it out. In the end, the wait was worth it and I think he really loved it. Phew! So we had a great lunch with Donna and Harry.... their present to me was almost overwhelming - they're going to take Erik and I out on the town for a ballet performanc at Mccaw Hall! We're stoked to go and Erik even gets to drive their new Mercedes.... I felt very grateful and I'm looking forward to a classy night out :-)

FROM THERE, we went to Grandma Glo's for dinner! By this time we've had 3 full, holiday meals and were stuffed. But of course we made some room for Glo's yummy roast and mashed potatos. We hung out there for the rest of the evening, drinking wine and opening presents. Oh yeah, and got wrapped up in this frustratingly difficult puzzel.

Erik and I then headed home to veg out and watch Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation, possibly the best Christmas movie ever made :-)

Christmas went by in a whirlwind of fun......and I am so glad that I can look back on my first Christmas without my mom and remember a happy time. I thought of her often whileI was watching other people hug their mom's and cook with their moms.... and I got a really sad and wished she was here to share in all the fun.......but I was also truly happy to be with the people I love and so grateful to be welcomed with open arms by Erik's extended family, just like every year :-)

And I know my mama was watching us party and spend time laughing with each other. I know that's all she wanted, was her family to be together and to be happy. And we were. (And just imagine what kind of party was going on in Heaven....she was having a wonderful time).

Here are some photos from our fun......