Four Christmas's

So it has been a while since I last posted...this is going to be a long one!!

Our Christmas celebration started off with a bang at the Sherf household. We went there on Christmas Eve and hung out with Tom's Dad, grandparents and family. It was so nice to see everyone since they hadn't gotten a chance to see Kira since Thanksgiving.

Part of the Sherf clan, minus the grandparents...
The next day was Christmas, and that was spent at Tom's Mom's house (Dehart's). Tom's Mom graciously let us sleep over so we wouldn't have to drive back to our house in PA. Sleeping over made Christmas morning much more relaxing...
Kira seemed more interested in chewing wrapping paper than the gifts she got. It was funny to watch her!
Kira in her christmas dress...
A shot from the upstairs B&B as I like to call it! Tom's Mom has it all decked out up there, with a plug-in fireplace, rocking chair, soft cozy beds and a full bathroom so it is always a little treat to stay over because it feels like a vacation.
We stayed over the Dehart house most of the day, then traveled over to the Maro house (grandparents on Tom's Mom's side) to open presents there.

Saturday was the Yoder shin-dig. I had been looking forward to this party too because Grandmom and all of my aunts, uncles and cousins that I only see on a once-a-year basis were going to be there. It was a wonderful time of fellowship, hanging out and catching up.

Grandmom made her famous grandmom cookies, which everyone munched on all day, and gave all the grandkids jars of her homemade jams. Of course, Tommy had to loudly announce that Grandmom gave us the most (not true!) since we were the favorites. What a troublemaker he is!!

I was a little leery of the car ride over to the Yoder's that day. The reason was because this was going to be the longest car ride we have taken with Kira to date (4 hours in the car, up and back). She did fine on the car ride over. But the car ride back, she really didn't want to be in her seat anymore and let us know for the last 45 min. of the car ride. We stopped twice on the way home to hold or nurse her but each time she went back in her seat, the crying started again. I was glad to get home that night!

Here is a shot of when she was still happy! :)

Our last Christmas party (Wallin side) didn't happen until New Year's day this year. Mom decided to do the party on New Year's day since everybody is always so busy during the Christmas holiday and it would be something for all of us to look forward to after Christmas. What a great idea that was! We had so much fun together!

That morning, Tom and I practically ran out the door as soon as Kira woke up (that particular morning she happened to wake up at 6AM) and drove to Mom's where he dropped me off so he could drive to LBI for a quick "dawn patrol" surf. He got back to Mom's around 11AM right when everyone had just about finished opening presents. We would have driven separately but my car is broken down at the moment so we are stuck with one car until the end of January.

After opening presents and scarfing down panzarotti's and salad for lunch (yum!!), we bundled up and went to Rancocas State Park where there is an Indian Reservation with Buffalo, birds and hiking trails. We went on a short hike (it needed to be short since we had 8 little pairs of legs that can't be expected to go for long distances!) and then went back home for dinner and dessert.

Tom and I left right after dinner so we could get Kira home to bed, but Mom gave me a couple of pieces of her amazing cherry pie, my all-time favorite, to eat at home.