Catching Up On Christmas...

Whew, life has finally slowed down from the busy holiday season. In addition to starting a new job- which I love!- the Hayden's schedule was packed full of family festivities. The weekend before Christmas, we had dinner with my mom's family. That group consists of my grandparents, their 4 kids and spouses, 11 grandkids, and 3 great grandkids- so needless to say, we had a full house. Then Monday night, we went with my mom, dad, and sister to Muskogee. It is a long-standing family tradition to eat at El Chico's and drive through Honor Heights Park to see all the Christmas lights. A few years ago we added the Castle's inflatible tour too. We always have a lot of fun doing that. (Except Drew, who could do without the singing of Christmas carols the whole frive there and back!) I had to work a half day on Wednesday, and when I got off work we made the 3 hour drive to see Drew's dad's family in Wichita, Kansas. We ate dinner with most of his family Christmas eve and opened presents with his dad and brother Christmas morning. Then we ate lunch at another aunt's house and headed home about 5pm or so. I had to work again on Friday and we spent Friday evening opening presents with my mom and dad. We spent the evening over there eating dinner, opening presents, and watching Fred Clause (which I loved!) Saturday was spent having Christmas with my dad's equally large family (my grandparents, their 4 kids and spouses, 20 grandkids, 6 great grandkids) eating, playing dirty santa, and playing games. All of the cousins are right around the same age, so we always have a really good time (especially when the wine starts flowing!) Then on Sunday, Drew and I drove to Oklahoma City for his mom's family festivities. We played Dirty Santa at his aunt's house and spent the afternoon catching up with his family. Then we had his cousin's wedding reception at 7pm at a Brazilian restaurant downtown. We didn't get home till almost midnight, just to start another week. We had a lot of fun and got a lot of good presents, but I'm glad the business has subsided.