Living, Laughing, and Loving Life: The Cassady Christmas Marathon

Christmas this year was nothing, but a whirlwind. We had a wonderful time visiting with our respective families, but the traveling was a new experience. Last year, we somewhat had control of our whereabouts and travel or lack their of because we weren't entirely sure when Leo Boy was going to make his grand entrance. This year, we prayed for decent traveling weather which we were in deed blessed with. On Friday, 12/16, Scott, Leo, and I traveled to Fort Worth to spend the weekend with Scott's family. We got to spend time with John and Grace and most of the crew, but Greg and family and Matt (who is in Afghanistan) were certainly missed. It was fun getting to have 3 new additions at Cassady Christmas this year. Matt's new wife, Tamera, and her two boys Wes and Zane all joined the family this year. We also got to travel to somewhere outside of Dallas to enjoy Christmas festivities with Scott's extended family who hadn't gotten to meet Leo yet. That Sunday, 12/18, Scott flew back to OKC and Leo and I drove to Baytown to spend time with my family. Scott was so very lucky, being so new at his job, to get Thursday-Tuesday off to celebrate Christmas. He flew down on Thursday and we had a whirlwind of Christmas celebrations with both my immediate and extended family. It is quite the spectacle watching 27 people exchanging and opening presents...to say that it is loud and raucous would be a severe understatement. Leo had a great time, but was slightly overwhelmed at times, choosing to take cover in either Scott's or my lap. He did have a blast with the bows and wrapping paper. I am unsure of really how much wrapping paper he actually did ingest. Christmas morning Santa brought him a pirate ship "rocking horse", some new blocks, and lots of other fun toys. The Cassady Three made the 8 hour trek back to OKC on Monday with a car overflowing with toys from the four Christmas celebrations we attended. Our boy is certainly loved!
Overall, we had a great, busy Christmas full of food, presents, laughter, and love and absolutely cherished getting to witness the joys of the season through the eyes of a precious one year old.