Well, it's almost May, but I'm just now getting around to posting about Christmas. At least I'm still trying to catch up!
Sam got a promotion at work in November, but the downside of it was that he had to start "shift schedule". It is this crazy schedule that changes between 12 hour night shifts and day shifts. He has 4 days on, a few off, 3 days on, a few off, 4 days on... I still haven't figured it out all. He has to stick to the 4 week rotation schedule, meaning no matter what the day is he is scheduled to work - he works it, holiday or no holiday. He has one partner and can only schedule vacation time if that partner is not taking it off and since Sam is the newbie... he doesn't exactly get first pick. (The main benefit to this schedule is that every 4 weeks he does get 1 week off!) Any way, I'm explaining this all because he was assigned to his shift crew mid-December and the schedule turned out to be the absolute worst for what we had hoped for in order to make the trip down to AZ for Christmas. We had already bought plane tickets hoping we could somehow make those dates work, but it wasn't going to happen. Fortunately, we had the opportunity to travel down for the Thanksgiving holiday and did so to also attend Sam's brother's homecoming. So, we had all been in Arizona a little prior to Christmas but it still broke my heart to think of not being in town for my favorite holiday and being together with all of my family (it was my family's "on" year). Since Sam had to work almost every day the week of Christmas, he sent Eleanor and I down to Arizona (thanks Sammy!) and we traveled back to Wyoming on Christmas Eve. It worked out pretty well, I missed having Sam with us but Eleanor and I had fun, Sam didn't even miss us much since he was working the whole time, and we still got to celebrate Christmas together as our own little family.
I was so excited for us to be twins :) I was also thrilled to see my mom's Christmas tree up. Decorating Chirstmas trees is one of my favorite traditions of the holiday and my mom's tree is my favorite!
I tried getting a good picture of Eleanor on Christmas Sunday, but this was the best I could get...
My mom has a tradition of buying all of the grandkids matching pajamas and then we take a photo of all of them together in front of the Christmas tree. Can you spot Eleanor? Between everyone with cameras out we took a billion photos and Eleanor would not cooperate for a single one. Everyone kept saying it adds personality to the photos. Oh geez!
Christmas Eve morning, Eleanor and I flew back to Salt Lake City and then hit the road to make it back to Wyoming. We made it home just in time to see Sam for only a few minutes before he headed out to work. Christmas Eve night was definitely different than any other year, but I was so excited for the morning and for Eleanor to experience Christmas! She was still too young to really comprehend what was going on with the Christmas tree, decorations, and presents but I knew she would be happy opening presents the next day.
Sam made it home about 7 am and shortly after Eleanor woke up so our day began! Our tree with all the gifts (Santa and family gifts included)
Eleanor wanted her milk right away (as usual) but it didn't take her long for something to catch her eye and we assured her she could go look at her stocking!
Sam went a little above and beyond in ordering gifts and filling our stockings while we were out of town. There were some good surprises! We kept laughing because Eleanor saw her can of Salt & Vinegar Pringles (she's obsessed) and a big container of Tic Tacs in her stocking and didn't want to move onto anything else before opening both.
And then the real fun began...
We had fun just spending time together the rest of the day. We hadn't received any snow yet in the winter but it DUMPED snow on Christmas day! Every time I looked out the window I just had a heart full of gratitude that the snow came Christmas day and not Christmas Eve. Had it been a day earlier Eleanor and I probably wouldn't have been able to make it back home since they often close some of the roads between our home and SLC when there are bad storms. We spent a little time outside playing with the snow. Eleanor was in heaven. My first White Christmas!
It really was a special day. I feel so blessed to have my little family as well as the knowledge of our Savior's birth and life and for the opportunity to celebrate it each year at Christmas.
We took these photos later in the week. Only one month left until we would meet our boy!
