Our 1st Christmas in Michigan!

I cannot began to describe how awesome it was to spend Christmas in Michigan with my in-laws. Conner had a blast being with his cousins. I had a great time catching up and developing relationships with my other half's family. Brian was happy to finally spend Christmas with his parents and siblings. We were only missing our sister and brother-in-law who now lives in Alaska. Someday, Christmas with the entire family will happen.

What life is like with the Greens/Morehouse at Christmas?

1. Baking cookies...if it ever get to the baking sheet.
2. Going to the store everyday for something we ran out of or forgot.
3. Watch kids show like "Cailou" thousand times with the little ones
4. Going shopping, especially Sears, Target and Lowe's 3 or 4 times. haha!
5. Eat dinner around the big family table.
6. Keeping the house clean...if its possible.
7. Take a cold shower or a hot shower in the cold air.
8. Walk up and down the stairs multiple times for something we need. Then all the stuff end up at the bottom of the stairs because we're too tired of going up & down.
9. Trying to pick up too many conversations at the same time. Awesome fun!
10. Putting a zillion of presents under a Christmas tree. And finding out that Carter had made a maze behind the tree so he can find out which presents is his. LOL!
11. "Come and knock on our door, we have been waiting for you!"....having lots of visitors come and visit us!
12. No matter how chaos the house can be, I thoroughly enjoyed being with them! 

I think this list pretty much describe what our visit was like. I think it's fun to observe how different families do their every day life.

So, here's one of the big question. How do everyone hide their gifts from each other? Well, pretty much just stuffed it all in my in-laws' closet and hope for the best! Some bigger presents were hidden at a friends' house. I once caught Carter sneaking around on the girls floor looking for hidden gifts. I singsong his name " oh I see you!..." AhhHh he scrammed down the stair. That was funny!

Hanging out with my nephews and niece was crazy! How do they get so much energy after being at school most of the days? I don't get a lot of quality time with them. Especially, when we come for a weekend visit. Since Conner and I arrived, they have asked "when is uncle Brian was going to be here?" so many time! They really love their uncle Brian. So sweet! They loved having Conner following them around and play. They like giving him a big hug and say goodnight. Sometimes when Conner gets a little naughty I hear the kids tell me, "Conner is trying to go upstairs!", "Conner is eating a paper", "Conner is in the pantry!" and so forth. haha! I'm thankful for watchful little eyes. Oh one more thing, sweet little Jack loved the fact that Conner has a similar belly button like his. Its an outie. He likes to go look at Conner's belly button every day. Because of that, Conner is aware what a belly button is. :)

Robin, Brian's oldest sister, is a wonderful person. I love how she works hard everyday and still try to make time to be with her family. It's really hard on her to do a lot of things at this time because of the big move. She wants to decorating/painting or clean her house, go shopping, doing errands and so on but I'm blessed to see that she has a listening ear and open arms to embrace every moment to be with her family. I had enjoyed getting to know her. Once, while we were out and about, my hearing aid battery had died and I had no back-up. It was a challenge to carry a conversation for a few hours. Her version of sign language was funny but I'm so glad that didn't stop her from talking to me. :) Thank you, Robin!

Dave--Robin's awesome hubby! What a hard worker is he! He works really hard at keeping his job organized while maintain some house repairs at home. The life of having your 1st home is a crazy experience! While we were there, the electric heater box had stopped working because of some electric power outrage. We were all freezing our butt off! Oh Dave...bless his heart! He tried so hard to figure out what was wrong with the heater. Finally, he called the professional guy to come & check it. All it was a little broken plug which cost about $3 at a hardware store. The bill $$$ to pay for the worker and for after hours. I felt bad but they were ok with it. Everyone was happy to have a warm home. He is such a wonderful dad! He loves hearing all his kids day and taking Robin on a midnight date to the movies. :)

Jenny, Hannah & Kimmy! The party girls...just kidding! Those girls have their own "apartment" on the 3rd floor! It felt like I was in a girls dorm. I like how they were able to have some privacy, especially from sneaky nephews and niece. Boy...the stairs going to the 3rd floor are a killer! Lucky, I came home with an awesome buff calves. LOL! Oh yeah, their doors were taken down when they had some carpet work but the carpet prevented the doors to fit because it was too thick. For a few weeks, they had "open door month"! Don't worry, the girls hung up cool blankets/curtains & Christmas lights over the door to give it a girly touch. Thank you Hannah for letting me crash in your room!

Lynn & Don---What a blessing it is to have a wonderful in-laws. I couldn't have ask for a better set of godly in-laws. I never thought that I will have someone like them in my life. The Greens' kids are blessed to have such a wonderful example in their home. I had thoroughly enjoyed hanging out and getting to know them, especially with Lynn while everyone else are at work/school. Lynn had enjoyed getting some Conner time. Oh did you know that Don is an artist? He is really good at watercolor...I'm stroked to have a piece of his art. It's a lighthouse and a sailing boat on the water. Beautiful!!

One more thing, I was able to paint some art in the kids room. I will make a post about that. It was great to be able to use my talent for the kids! So...that was my Christmas in Michigan. It was a great vacation!
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Christmas....oh boy! It's really hard to make everyone happy especially if you're married and have in-laws and your own parents who wanted to share it with you. You might have distant relatives, best friends, or siblings who usually spend Christmas  with you. Every year, BG and I always wonder what our Christmas would be like. It doesn't matter where we will be, we will always try our best to share our amazing joy...the birth of Christ. I believe that Christmas focusing on Jesus is something we need to honor. I am so exciting to have our own family tradition every year with our kid (maybe more than one in the future?). We want to share the story of Jesus' birth, be generous to others, and teach Conner how to give and love one another, and don't forget...we also need to have fun too! I hope you had a great Christmas 2011! Merry Christmas everyone =)