Hummel Land, USA: December 2008

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Our Christmas was quite intersting this year. Ready for a long winded story? Here I go! 4 out of the 5 of us were blessed with the flu bug! Caislyn was the lucky one and didn't get sick. (maybe her body was tired from being sick a few weeks ago!) It all started with Burke, a week ago on Monday. He emailed me saying that his tummy was in knots. Before I knew it, he was home from work early. You know he is sick, if he comes home early! This lasted all of Monday and most of Tuesday. Tuesday evening, I (JoEllen) started feeling crummy. I knew as soon as I went to bed that I was not going to have a good night of sleep. I was right and I had a very miserable night! I was bummed, because the next day (Christmas Eve) we were going to have our Christmas here with our kiddos. I continued to feel sick all of of Wednesday, but managed to get through all the fun events that took place that morning. That afternoon, even though I was miserable, we decided to pack up and head to Indiana. Half way there, Maylee decided it was time to empty out her tummy. (I know this is gross, but that is what happened!) Great, what do we do? Continue on? Get my family sick? After a phone call to my mom, she said to keep going and that we'd spray everything down with Lysol. (She told me later, "If it weren't for Christmas, I would have told you to turn around and go back home".) Maylee was sick all of Thursday (Christmas Day) and Friday. She was not herself. She wouldn't eat and was very clingy to her Daddy. On Christmas Day, Jakobi woke up after his tummy emptied out all over Daddy. (for some reason he was sleeping on Burke's belly) What a nice Christmas present for Daddy. :) Jakobi was clingy most of Christmas Day. He only wanted his Mommy to hold him. He wasn't fussy and didn't seem to be miserable, just clingy. On Friday, Maylee slept a lot and Jakobi seemed fine. Kind of weird. But, Saturday was a different story for the little man, he was now miserable and it didn't help that we were traveling back home. He was not a happy man during that trip back. He was sick all of Sunday and even sick yesterday. I think he is doing better today. He still doesn't have a whole lot of energy but atleast he was able to keep his breakfast and lunch down. We are ready for this to be over!!

There ya go. The story of a memorable Christmas! This doesn't mean that we didn't have any fun, because we did! It just wasn't the perfect Christmas that we had in mind, but we got through it together and still made many memories. It was so nice to see my side of the family again. We hope to visit more often in the upcoming year.

Now, to the good stuff...Pictures!!

Here is Caislyn setting up for Santa. She drew him a lovely picture,

set up the nativity (her idea!) and set out a few treats.

The next morning, all the kiddos were happy! :)

Jakobi was very excited!

We discovered that Santa had been there! He ate his treats and moved Baby Jesus to the Christmas plate. HE wanted Caislyn, Jakobi and Maylee to know that Christmas wasn't really about him, it was about Baby Jesus and his birth!

Maylee and her stocking

Caislyn and her stocking

Caislyn opened up a few Hannah Montanna items!

Jakobi and his stocking

He took his time when it came time to opening presents.
There was no rushing! That may change next year. :)

During breakfast, Burke read the Christmas story. This year he used the Little People Nativity while reading from the Bible. Then we move to the living room for presents.

Caislyn had some fun expressions! She made so many faces.

I chose these photos, they are my favorites!

Maylee didn't show a lot of excitement.

She enjoyed unwrapping the paper though.

Jakobi knew what to do! He didn't need help.
He was almost a little too serious and
he very focused when he tried to remove the tape.

This year, we ended with a "together" gift.
It was a surprise that the kiddos had to find in the basement.

Little Chefs!

Christmas Day IN INDIANA.
Look at Jakobi and Maylee.
You can tell that they are not feeling well.

Maylee wasn't quite ready to open presents

Jakobi wanted Mommy to hold him!

Caislyn loving on a new dolly

Maylee wanted to be held by her Daddy

Wow, we got a smile out of the boy!

Maylee is not thrilled! She was just miserable.

Here he goes! What a pro he is!

What a good toy for Mr Jakobi. He loves tools!

We ARE A TEAM!! Thanks to my hubby,

I was able to enjoy the day with family.

He is always so helpful when it comes to our kiddos.

I am blessed.

Another good facial expression

Of course, its Hannah Montanna!

Maylee slept through most of the presents.

Here she is after her nap.

I think she is happy now!

The last set of pics were from last night. Its a tradition for our family to help Santa out at a local retirement home. This year, Mommy and Jakobi missed out, due to Jakobi being sick and Mommy being tired. Caislyn and Maylee (and cousins) enjoyed the evening being Santa's elves.

I hear that Maylee wasn't too sure of Santa at first.

Looks like she warmed up to him after she found a candy cane.

Cookie monster

Caislyn (and two of her cousins) posing with Santa.

Waiting to pass out presents to the residents

Caislyn waiting on Santa to read off the name on a present

Passing out a gift to a lovely lady

We celebrated Christmas with the Hummel Fam on Dec 20th. We met up at Mom and Dad Hummel's house and spent all day together. It was nice to see Matt and Brianne again!