Twas the Night BEFORE the Night Before Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE...EVE!!! That's right. It's officially the day before the day before Christmas and we're FREEZING here in Nebraska! I think we were at -14 degrees without the windchill when Kevin left for work yesterday morning at 5:30am. So cold... But today we have a heat wave and I think we're resting comfortably at 23 degrees. I'd like to take Noah out in the snow for awhile today so I'm glad it's not so frigid!

And speaking of being thankful (did you like that segway?)... We had the most amazing Thanksgiving in Medford with our family and friends. We drove from Lincoln, NE to Oregon in two days with our patient little guy in the back seat watching all sorts of favorite DVDs. What a trooper! He made the trip very pleasant. :) Here are some highlights of our trip:

Noah got to know "Grandpa and Grandma Stephie" (his great-grandparents) very well this trip. I've never seen my grandmother on her hands and knees hiding around a corner, waiting to "Boo!" the pants off of a toddler. At one point, we caught Grandpa and Grandma and Noah on video playing Ring Around the Rosie - his new favorite game!

Thanksgiving morning started off with a blast when Kevin, Jordan, Dad and our new addition Jason had a rousing game of football outside. I don't know who won, but we all enjoyed watching. The little ones all watched the game from the living room window while Hayley and Tia played dress-up, and Noah kept refusing to put on the dresses and tiaras... Phew! :)

One of my favorite memories with the Smiths this year was when Heather and Jason opened all their wedding presents. We were trying to keep the space in front of their feet clear for more presents, so when they'd opened a few we asked the kids to take the gifts and set them down the hallway. Well, Noah decided that this wasn't enough. He wanted to bring them back to Heather and Jason as well! So we spent all evening ushering Noah back down the hallway with the newlyweds freshly opened tupperware sets and other non-breakables. What a helper!

This is us on Thanksgiving morning

Family Hugs... Poor Abbie Mae!

Grandpa joined in...

The Smith Grandkids

With Grandpa and Grandma... And Abbie!

After we met up with aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents at Aunt Jeanne's house and had our FIRST Thanksgiving meal of 2008, we headed to the Stephenson's for more noofy craziness! My sister Jaime had the most BEAUTIFUL table set up for our SECOND Thanksgiving meal of 2008. Jaime is the Martha Stewart of our family! We couldn't do it without her, that's for sure. :) She even set up a special little place for Noah.

Mmmmmmmmmm.... French Silk Pie...... (And pumpkin and banana cream)

My favorite memories with the Stephensons this Thanksgiving include playing Screwie Lewie games where we all ended up within 5 points of each other and everyone demanded, or course, a rematch. Good times, good times. Grandma, I swear you cheat!!! Also, one night after Noah went to bed, we all settled in the newly remodeled family room with Dad's incredible home theater and we watched Home Alone. It's fun to watch a movie that everyone has seen thousands of times, but we haven't watched it together in a very long time. We all laughed till we cried in the same places that we used to!

The drive back to Nebraska was a little more eventful. We made it to Salt Lake City just fine the first day, but then I-80 Eastbound was closed due to a snow storm between Laramie and Cheyenne, WY. So we spent the night in Rock Springs, WY. Fortunately, Noah was such a happy boy even on the THIRD day of our trip back home that we arrived tired but SANE!!!

Since we're having our own family Christmas for the first time in 6 years, I wanted to decorate the house to the nines! I finally found a great place for the wreath that Mom made for me years ago and we actually have a fireplace to hang our stockings over this year!


Our tree this year is just an artificial 3 footer that we've placed on our kitchen island. We have our special lights that Kev and I bought the year after we were married on the tree. We set them so that only one color fades in at a time (like red, then blue, then yellow, then green...). It makes me happy to see them again.

We can't wait for tomorrow. I think this Christmas will be fun with Noah at this age. We wish you all a very Merry Christmas Eve!!!

Nicole
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