Southern Illinois Christmas

We had a nice Christmas. It was a quick trip, way to quick really. But it was nice to be there. We didn't get to go last year because of my continuing unemployment and also because Allie was so little.

We drove down to Bloomington Wednesday night and spent the night in a hotel. We drove the rest of the way on Thursday morning, though we didn't make it as early as we wanted because of a few stops we had to make on the way. We hung out Thursday night and Allie went to bed early.

I think walking at the mall may have been the highlight of Allie's Christmas. She was so shy when she first got to Grandma and Grandpa Durso's house, but she just ran ahead without fear when we went to the mall on Christmas Eve morning.

Allie got an umbrella stroller and we got to test it out, also at the mall. Allie liked asserting her independence, but she also liked hopping in the stroller and taking a ride.

Back at Grandma and Grandpa's house, we had a great turkey dinner. The turkey took a really long time to cook for some reason and to try and divert Allie's attention from the Christmas tree and presents beneath it, she got to open one of hers. This Redskins dinosaur was for Dada too. The dinosaur plays music and lights up and rolls all over the place. I have some fun pictures of Monk's reaction the the dinosaur. Anyway, the dinosaur held her attention for awhile, but then she was back to her favorite spot:

She did manage to rip a few presents that were not hers, but all in all, most of the presents escaped her grab.

She enjoyed opening presents, but was really more interested in opening the presents that belonged to others.

She knew what to do with her new sippy cup.

Another unexpected highlight was this green long sleeve shirt. It said "My first football and puppy," but it was a Rams theme... Grandma and Grandpa are Rams fans. Nobody's perfect. :-)

Christmas morning we got up early and drove to Doug's sister's house outside St. Louis. It snowed most of the day on Friday so it was a white Christmas even in southern Illinois.

A surprise at Julie's house was the fact that Allie sat and watched Grandpa and cousin Cole playing chess for quite awhile, at least a half hour.

But then she got crazy. It was a lot of fun watching the cousins play together. The boys are big sports nuts. Cole is in the Orlando jersey and Carson is wearing the Aaron Rodgers jersey. I wish we lived closer to them.

The drive home on Saturday night was long, but Allie did great. She was fussy off and on from being stuck in the car seat, and she got really cranky just before dinner time. But after a big dinner and a change into pajamas she was great and slept the rest of the way home. We were so glad to be sleeping in our own beds again. Christmas continued at Grandma and Grandpa Swanson's house Sunday night and our Durso pack celebration is TBA.