Duckmen and Playing Cards

One not-so-awesome thing about living in Boston is that we live really far from all of our family. I know that seems really obvious, but you really feel it around the holidays. We choose to make holiday travel a priority, so we've logged quite a few miles in the sky recently. Since we spent Thanksgiving in Tennessee with Brad's family, we spent Christmas in Alabama with mine. However, we chose to fly into Tennessee (well, technically, we flew into South Carolina <Hi, Kylie!>, and were picked up by Tennessee family) and spend a few days with the Boswells first. We had a nice few days visiting with everyone. Claire has really enjoyed all of her southerly trips and seems to becoming familiar with our families and their homes, which makes everyone really happy.

We did the Brad/Erin/Claire part of Christmas with the Boswells the night before we headed out to Alabama. It started off fabulously for Claire, as one of her gifts was wrapped in a Duck Dynasty gift bag. Claire loves watching the Duckmen, so seeing their bearded faces on a bag that was right at her eye level was very exciting. Uncle Tim picked out that bag and did equally well with the gifts inside: a board book with protruding reindeer antlers, as well as a pack of Duck Dynasty playing cards. Claire definitely held onto that pack of cards for about half an hour. The cards are still in the cellophane, and she still loves holding them. Who am I to argue with that kind of love?

Such a great idea of Uncle Tim's.

The ever-popular pack of cards.

She loves that Uncle Tim. Don't be fooled by this face she's making.

She was kind of into opening presents but was more into the presents themselves. You know how everyone tells you that for a baby's first Christmas, you really only need to give them boxes because they like those best? Not exactly the case for Claire. She loved playing with the Duckmen bag, but she was actually rather interested in her gifts. Much to my delight, she got a lot of books and puzzles. Those happen to be her favorite things, so it was delightful for everyone. She also got extra-absorbent diaper inserts for nighttime. I was thrilled! 

Bear and Gran.

My friend, Breanne, gave Claire a fantastic Melissa and Doug zoo-themed puzzle when she visited in October. It quickly became a favorite. So much so that when we traveled at Thanksgiving, I tucked the giraffe and alligator pieces into the diaper bag for in-flight entertainment. That was a great move on my part, if I do say so myself. Well, for Christmas, Claire got several more puzzles from the same line, which was GREAT! I waxed eloquent about Claire's love for that puzzle, and the family took note. On top of that, my mother-in-law got the puzzle stand to hold the puzzles. That has turned out beautifully. Bear has already figured out how to get the puzzles out of the stand for herself.

Hangin' with Aunt Rachael.

We had fun getting to see some family friends and participate in Boswell family traditions, like fudge eating, puzzle assembling, and egg nog drinking. The only ripple to disturb the waters is that Sadie, the family dog, does not like sharing attention with Claire. She's not aggressive or anything dreadful like that, and she'll actually interact Claire a tiny bit; she just mopes something awful. It's really sad. She tucks her tail and hangs her head and makes us all feel very sorry for her. Poor Sadie.

Grandpa had this idea. Sadie was less than thrilled.

Boswell Family Christmas was jolly and merry. We were sad to miss the extended family shenanigans, but we were so glad to be able to spend the time that we did! 

Stay tuned for the saga of the Boswell Family Stomach Virus. Let me tell ya: that was a rollicking good time.