Christmas with the Keyes

On Christmas Day we traditionally spend with the Keyes side of the family at Mat's aunt's house.  We debated just a bit about going this year, because Mat and I were both still not feeling too well and hated to run the risk of spreading any germs, but it's one of the only times of the year we have a chance to see the entire Keyes crew, not to mention the disappointment of missing out on a Christmas celebration and MJ being unable to see his grandparents and great grandparents. 

I was completely off my game though and forgot to bring a sippy cup, snacks or MJ's two essentials for a nap:  binky and Cuddle Bear.  Not sure what we were thinking, but I think we were both just in a fog and rushing around.  Unfortunately that paired with a cranky baby during missed nap time and all three of us not quite feeling too well lead to one ROUGH day!  MJ was in rare form; he cried just about the entire time we were there!  I captured two whole pictures the entire time we were there-this being one of them:

At this point, at least MJ had a smile on his face.  Mat and I spent the entire time holding him and trying to comfort him.  Didn't even get one pic of him in his cute Christmas outfit (not to mention those darn shoes I searched all over for..uhhh).  Instead I stripped him down to some comfy clothes and tried my best to make him happy.  At one point in the day I was rocking him in the bedroom crying along with him. BRUTAL!  It was just so unlike him!  We were supposed to go to Mat's parent's house that evening, but we had to postpone and just call it a day.  Shortly after we gave up, got in the car, and went home (I'm sure everyone was glad to see us go-haha), MJ konked out.  Little stinker!! 

Luckily a couple days later we were able to go spend some time with Mat's grandparents and MJ got some quality play time with them.

Then, we finally had our postponed Christmas with Mema and Papa (Mat's parents) as well as Uncle Leif, Aunt Peggy, and baby Lily!  Mema made a wonderful lunch for us and we all opened presents and spend some time loving on the little ones.

MJ hugging cousin Lily (4 months old)

Cars are MJ's new favorite!  He received cars from his babysitter, GiGi and PopPop, Aunt Lorrie, Mema and PaPa and Mama and Dada!  He loves to say "car" and "go,go,go"! 

Opening presents with Mema

Not one Christmas event seemed to go as planned, but no matter when it was postponed to or who was present, we took joy in just being together and enjoying the company.  One of the greatest blessings around the holidays is just being with loved ones!