TillFam Christmas 2015

This year we were blessed have not one, but TWO full weeks of fun with our extended family. On the 20th, we went over to our friends', the Alonsos, new home to build some graham cracker houses with them and the Lee family.  It was excellent food and even better conversation.  After that, we headed to Maga and Paga's house for some marshmallow gun shenanigans and baby snuggling with Team Tillman 2.  Over the course of the week, there was much girl time out shopping and celebrating Katie and Alyssa's 14th birthday, lots of hiking, exploring and beach time in both Santa Cruz and Tomales Bay.  It was cold, and far too much car time for Jack, but we saw lots of beautiful sights and got caught up on one another's lives during the car trips.

Christmas Eve brought the arrival of Team Tillman 3!  We went to David and Joan's for their annual Christmas Eve get together, which brought on more food, catching up, a white elephant gift exchange and a visit from Santa!

Our poor kids were so exhausted that everyone slept in on Christmas morning, and Lyla eventually needed to be woken up to see what Santa brought.  The kids were really excited about their gifts - two Aurora dresses for Lyla, Tonka trucks for Hank, and a car mirror and crawling bear toy for Jack.  It was a very happy Christmas, and it was so crazy and exciting that we didn't even make it over to Maga and Paga's until the afternoon.

Saturday was a soccer game for all the extended Tillman fam, lots of outdoor play, an impromptu piano recital and variety show from the cousins, then some grown-up only time with the brothers and their wives for a late dinner.  We got home really late, and had to say super quick goodbyes to Uncle B and Aunt Liz's family before they hit the road super early the next day.

Uncle Bret and Aunt Aubrey's family stuck around the entire next week, which brought on more hiking up around Oakland, playground time, another beach trip to Santa Cruz (and it was warm - hallelujah!), and lots of hanging out and learning what the boy nephews are into these days.  Jack and his cousin James met each other for the first time and there was lots of looking at one another and finger/head sucking.  It's fun to see them see another little baby and interact with each other for the first time.  The week went by way too quickly, and all too soon it was time for them to go home too...

We were blessed to have Dad take most of the two weeks off from work and I was blessed to have all the extra help with Jack, who decided it was a good time to be a not so great sleeper AND got treated for pink eye as a precaution AGAIN and needed eye drops four times a day for a week.  If I never have to put eye drops in anyone's eyes again it will be too soon!

It felt hard gearing up to get back into school, work, and activities but I feel like the good-quality fun and family time helped us feel like the time was well-spent and we were well-rested enough to get back into the swing of things.  I love holidays so much, but the comedown is always a bit of a killer.  Until the next time TillFams...