She loves getting all the pans out of the bottom cabinet and hiding in there. She even stores her own entertainment in there, and in fact, the other day, she opened the doors and pulled out her water cup. She's got a great memory, because I hadn't seen that cup in several hours.
So, Christmas. Sadly this year Seth couldn't come to Memphis with us because he had to work the day before and the day after. I'm hoping we won't ever have to be apart on Christmas again because I hate that he missed out on all the fun! Evie and I drove to my parents' house on Christmas Eve and got in around 2pm. Evie slept the whole way. We had been running around since 7am; Evie had a follow up appointment at the ENT (turns out she still has some blockage in her right ear, so more ear drops and another follow up in two weeks), getting new shoes and an outfit for me, and then going to her first dentist appointment (where we got a good report).
She slept for the 3.5 hours it took to get to Memphis, so she was well rested when my brother and his family arrived at 4pm. Evie, Addie, and Will played together for a little while and then we had to get dressed for Christmas Eve service, where all of us were lighting the Christ candle. We did it last year too, but I guess they liked us so much they wanted an encore. Aimee bought Evie a beautiful dress, so we enjoyed having new duds.
The kids did really well at the Christmas Eve service. Addie said the closing line of the Christ candle reading, and they all enjoyed listening to the music. Evie was particularly enthralled with flipping through the hymnal and spent a good portion of the service on the floor looking through it.
Evie kept trying to talk, and while it was just kind of a string of sounds together, she kept repeating it to me with the same sounds and same inflection like it was really a sentence or thought she was trying to convey. I kept trying to get her to understand she had to be quiet, but to no avail. I ended up taking her to the back of the sanctuary at one point, where we could have a little more freedom to move around and we could also see Lydia, my youngest cousin, and the rest of my aunt Kristy's family.
The kids after the service. From left to right: Addie (5), Zach (11), Evie (1), Lydia (3) Aiden - with no head :( (7), Will (2)
Afterwards we all went back to my parents' house and had our usual Christmas Eve fare with Kristy's family and my Dad's side of the family. It was a full house and the kids enjoyed playing with each other and the grown ups enjoyed chatting. Then it was time for the kids to head to bed and my Dad, Ryan, Aimee, and I all went to St. Mary's Episcopal for their 11:00 service, which was very nice. Now that I have a child to attend to during the first Christmas Eve service, I like going to the late service so I can give my undivided attention and have the full experience.
When we got back at 12:30am Christmas morning, Evie was awake, screaming, and poor Granna who'd been left to watch all the kids was trying to comfort her. I'm really not sure what was wrong because Evie screamed like that all three nights we were there. She slept in the same room she usually does, in the same crib, with the same glowworm, and I gave her ibuprofen in case it was her ear or some other pain, so I really haven't figured out what was bothering her. I went up the first night and tried to sleep in the same room with her, but she kept wanting to talk and play rather than sleep, so around 3:00 I gave up and decided it'd be best to leave her alone. I felt bad about it, but she finally quieted down around 3:30am. Fortunately my niece and nephew are good, solid sleepers so it was only the adults that Evie kept awake.
Christmas morning came quickly, considering how late I'd been up, but it was so much fun to watch all the kids open their presents. Will got some Thomas the Tank Engine trains that he nicely shared with Evie, and they had a blast making the trains go up and down the hallway.
Then, they sat in the cardboard box that some of the larger gifts came in, and it just reminded me that even at a young age, we find friendship and imagination more compelling than stuff.
We spent the morning playing and then Grandma Jeanne, Kathy, Rickie, and Tia came over for lunch and more presents. One of Evie's presents from Grandma Jeanne was a percussion set, which was a big hit with everyone. We passed out the triangle, wood block, tambourine, cymbals, and I led "Jingle Bells" on the kazoo. I'm trying to locate video, but here's a pic of the Krech Family Band.
Around dinner time, we headed over to my Uncle Tim's house. Tim has a pretty large German shepherd (my favorite kinds of dogs) named Lucas. Lucas was sitting in his doghouse when Evie and I came up, but since I love him so much I asked Tim if we could pet him. So Tim held Lucas while I pet him and Evie just boldly walked right up to Lucas and pet him on his nose. I'm really glad she's so comfortable with dogs (though when she's older I know we'll have to explain that you can't pet just any dog you meet). The whole rest of the night, she wandered to the door to look for the "woof woof".
We had a great time with all the cousins and got even more presents. Evie enjoyed getting to play with Lydia again, and with Nyla and Naomi, my cousin's girls who are 3 and 2. We got a picture of almost all of the grandchildren (my generation, where we had 13 of the 14 of us present) and the great-grandchildren (Evie's generation, where we had 5 of the 6) all together on the steps at Tim's house. I'm working on locating that picture too, but I did get one of the youngest in the family.
Lydia (the youngest of my generation), Nyla, Addie, Evie, Will, and Naomi (5 of the 6 great-grands)
Edit: Here's the picture of all the grands and great-grands, minus 2.
2nd row: Mary, Maggy, Ben
3rd row: JT, Mallory
4th row: Ryan with Will, Aiden, Andrew
5th row: Zach, Nyla, Daniel with Naomi
Bottom row: Addie
One nostalgic/emotional moment for me was when I was told the story of the jumper Evie was wearing on Christmas Day. We've been given lots of clothes from many sources and I recently organized them all into sizes rather than leaving them separated. So when I was packing for Christmas, I grabbed a couple of choices for Christmas outfits and Christmas morning just decided that I liked the angel jumper best. My aunt Kathy, when she came over for lunch, asked if she recognized that dress. I didn't think it was something she'd know for some reason - it was in such good condition that I assumed it had come from Lydia or Addie, from a boutique that someone had shopped at. Then my mom said that it was mine and Kathy remembered that Olivia had worn it when she was a little girl. You all know I'm a sap for that kind of thing, so of course I cried thinking about how special it is for one little 2T dress to see such happy Christmases. We couldn't find a picture of me in the dress, and I looked through my baby book to see if we could find out who gave it to me, but I didn't see it written in there either. But I'm glad I happened to choose that Christmas outfit option so I could be reminded that that jumper was mine.
Great summary of a wonderful week! We really enjoyed having everyone for Christmas!
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