Oliver's first "real" Christmas

As y'all know, Oliver was in the NICU for his first technical Christmas. And that Christmas was weird....I felt great joy to be the new mom of this amazing, precious and beautiful baby boy but I also was angry and heart-broken that he was there in the hospital instead of at home in my arms. In many ways it seems like a lifetime ago but the memories of that Christmas are very much there near the surface. While Oliver was in the hospital, it was all I could do to keep it together. I would get very frustrated if anyone showed too much sympathy because I was tired of crying....I certainly went into a little bit of hibernation mode and didn't want to be around many people. I didn't want to see the looks of sympathy and concern. Definitely didn't want too many hugs :) (For those of you that don't know - I am not a big "hugger" :)) I was tired of the questions and would get frustrated when people didn't understand what was happening and why...How many times did we have to answer the same question? Owen went into ultra research mode....I am convinced that at this point he knows more about Hirschsprung's than some doctors out there :) He researched, I slept and ate and we visited with Oliver. But when that day came that we got to drive away from Levine's with Oliver in the car, I was overjoyed. Still emotionally drained but SO happy have Oliver home where he belonged. I have said before that the NICU nurses took amazing care of Oliver....but they also took amazing care of us. They treated us kindly (of course) but without the pity and it was nice to walk in and be treated like "normal" people. I don't talk about that time much but this was a nice way to "get it out", thanks for listening! :)

So....on to Oliver's first "real" Christmas. Since 2009 totally didn't count :)

We spent Christmas Eve with my parents.....mom is an AMAZING cook and she cooked a delicious Christmas Eve dinner! Owen, Oliver and I actually decided to spend the night at my parent's house which was really fun. We woke up that morning and after Blake and Sarah got there, we started by checking out the contents of our stockings......

Then we got down to business with the presents!

After we opened presents and ate some breakfast, we put Oliver down for a nap and packed up and headed on to Christmas celebration round 2 in Brevard! The snow started on our way.....

Bryan came with his sweet girlfriend, Miriana and although Charles Robert and Michelle couldn't be there (in Beijing) we had a nice time.....despite getting stuck in the snow/ice on the way up to Brevard! :) Fortunately it didn't happen until we were on Owen's parents' street....we just hit a spot where we couldn't get traction and so Owen's dad came down in his 4 wheel drive truck, grabbed me and Oliver and took us up to the house. He and Bryan went back down to get Owen and ended up being able to tow the car up to the house, yay! :) But hey, a little adventure is good for you :)

All in all it was a MUCH better Christmas this year than last year! We are excited for all the Christmas festivities to come in the years ahead and are thankful for our family and friends.....a belated Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!