The Rest of the Christmas Story
Posted By Jill on January 6, 2009
So we left off after Christmas day, when we were heading off to Madison for a few days. I wanted to try to connect with a few friends to fit in some visit time but also wanted to spend time with my Mom, Clare and the rest of the family in Madison. It’s really tricky to find time in a weekend visit to see friends, especially in Milwaukee, so this time I planned ahead and will do so again in the future when I know with enough advance notice. It was much more relaxed and easier to manage Mac when we had a plan!
We all got up the morning of the 26th a little earlier than we would have liked. Mac had an appointment for his second dose of the flu shot at 9:00, and my plan was to get on the road right from there. But that meant getting up early (well, for vacation), getting Mac his breakfast and getting the car loaded. We almost left on time. His flu shot went without a hitch (the kid didn’t even wince), and we were on the road by 10. We had an uneventful trip, and we didn’t have to stop except to get gas and washer fluid. Mac did very well for sitting that long – even better than our last trip! We arrived safely around 2:30 and had a little playtime before Mac needed a nap. Julie, Matthew and Emily came over for a while, so we got to play with them also, and they joined us for dinner – Matthew and Emily even stayed for a sleepover!
Saturday I had planned a visit with my friend Kathy in Madison. She invited us to her house for dinner. We got there around 4:30 (was supposed to be 3:30, but Mac was off his napping schedule that day so we let him sleep). We played with her kids – Mac and Joey played nicely together – and sort of watched the Badgers get trounced. We all had a great time, and Mac even took a good nap while we bowled on the Hovland’s new Wii!
Sunday we stayed at my mom’s to watch football (finally, a Packers win to end the season) and give Mac a chance to recalibrate. 
We also went to Julie’s for dinner and kind of celebrated Jeremy’s birthday – Julie wanted to make him a special dessert. The kids again played great together, and Mac loved the fish tank! I also had a chance to get some of my video captured, which has to be done before I can start editing and get it on the web. It takes some concentration for the editing though, which was proven when I tried to do it while visiting at one point and didn’t realize until I was almost done that the audio was out of sync, so I had to start over!
Monday we headed out at Mac’s morning nap time to Milwaukee to spend the day with Anita. Mac didn’t sleep the whole way as we had hoped. 
When we got to Anita’s, we went in to see her awesome Christmas tree, but we didn’t stay long because the dogs were barking a lot and it scared Mac (remember, not as long a nap as he needed). Then we went to get some lunch and headed to her sister’s to play with her nephews who were home from school and daycare. We did try to get Mac to nap a couple of times but unsuccessfully until later in the afternoon. We had a great day and enjoyed the leisurely time together. 
Jeremy even got to play with the older boys and Bob (games I’d never be interested in). Mac seemed to have fun too! We headed home at his bedtime, and he slept the whole way home after his bottle.
Tuesday we lounged at my mom’s, went out to lunch with Clare, then Jeremy and I stole away for a little shopping – for Christmas lights and decorations for next year! We also went to dinner with my friend Heidi, but Mac was off schedule again and didn’t join us. Instead, she went back to my mom’s with us where we could continue to visit and she could see Mac. Jeremy even got to get into his “geek night” via their coined term “telenerding” (known to normal people as video chat) while my mom and I continued work on a puzzle after putting Mac to bed.
We decided it would probably be best to come back home on Wednesday since there was threatening weather forecasted for Thursday and Friday. Julie’s family was heading this way then also, and we were all going to try to get together for our family Christmas over the weekend. My mom traveled back with us, which is always a treat! We had no problems, and again only had to stop once for a short break and to switch drivers. 
On the way, we started planning for the evening, invited the Begalkes and Wolfgrams over for dinner and fun, and arranged who would bring what. It ended up being a great evening of lots food, treats, and Wii (the shared Easter gift from Clare moved to our house for the weekend). 
Even my mom got in on the Wii fun with bowling and MarioKart. It was a blast!! We tried to stay up to see if Dick Clark looked any better this year, but we were too tired (we recorded it and watched it the next day and decided he does look better than last year).
Thursday was a little more back to normal. We stayed close to home, just had my sisters’ families over again and watched football and played Wii games.
Friday we planned to have our family Christmas later in the afternoon, which consisted of the kids opening their name-exchange gifts. Mom, Mac and I went to Begalke’s for breakfast prepared by Stephanie (and Jo, a school extra-credit project), then we played a while until naptime when Mac and I headed back home. Julie had just arrived with her kids, but I thought it would be better for Mac to be in his own bed in case he slept into the time we’d be expecting company. It also gave me a chance to get a few things done around the house that I tend to ignore when we have company. Everyone arrived by about 4:00 when we could open presents and have some dinner! The Maiers family and Mom decided it would be best to head back home to Madison that night to beat the ice and snow we were expecting, so they left around 6, and then 
Jeremy and I went to a Gopher hockey game. I had bought the tickets at the BT Gala silent auction as a birthday present to him. It was really fun and a great place to watch hockey! Although the Badger Fan in me must question the lame fight song and cheerleaders on skates? Jane, Jo and Steph stayed back to babysit (which I hear consisted of feeding Mac and putting him to bed then watching a movie).
Saturday would have been a pajama day for me, but I had to sing at a wedding at St. Peter’s! Besides that, though, Jeremy and I pretty much stayed home, took down all the Christmas decorations, and started getting the house back in order, besides playing with Mac when he was awake. I also worked on more video editing and got a couple of them on the web.
Sunday morning I ran some errands, then we had a couple of friends over to watch the Vikings game. Then I had to get things ready for going back to work… 
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