Last Christmas as a couple!

Well, this Christmas of 2010 was exciting and bittersweet. The exciting part was revealing the gender of Baby Troutman, but it's out last Christmas just the two of us. This was our 7th (holy cow!) Christmas together! It was spent a little differently than usual.

Friday, Christmas Eve: We met with Ronnie's mom, sister and brother-in-law for lunch at Barberitos. Since Ronnie's brother, Miller, had to work on Christmas morning and drive here that afternoon, we decided to share the big news with Nan, Whitney and her husband, James that day at lunch. Partly because 1) my grandparents were getting their Christmas gift delivered that day, and I didn't want to run the risk of them calling family and someone posting the gender on facebook; 2) I really wanted to share with the immediate family first before his uncle and aunt and cousins; 3) I was just TOO excited to not tell anymore!

Somehow the conversation focused on Christmas gifts and stuff that was bought for the baby already, then Ronnie said, "Ashley, do you have that gift you want to show everyone?" So, right there while everyone was eating I gave Nan a little gift bag. Below is a video of her opening her gift. She didn't quite get it unfortunately. I was a little disappointed that there wasn't more excitement when I told her it was a picture of her grandson sucking his thumb, but oh well. She really is excited, I just think we caught her WAY off guard because she was convinced it was a girl. We ended up calling Miller, Ronnie's brother afterwards. Since he had to work on Christmas morning, we weren't expecting him until Christmas evening.

This frame with his ultrasound picture and the Hershey kisses that

we presented to Nan for the gender reveal.

That same day, my grandparents got their gender reveal package: a bouquet of flowers!

Inside the card, it said: "Tis the season for Christmas,

But don't make a fuss.

We will fill your hearts with joy,

because we're having a baby BOY!

I know the poem seems kinda lame maybe, but I thought it up on the spot when I was ordering them over the phone. Besides, grandparents like stuff like that, and I am a soon-to-be elementary teacher....

That night, we went to Ronnie's grandmother's house for Christmas Eve dinner, which was barbeque by Sonny's. It was easy to prepare since there was nothing to do! (We go ALL out on Christmas, and because Ronnie's grandmother needs round-the-clock care, it is kind of difficult to do things like we used to.) The barbeque was good...except for that darn heartburn! I have always had an issue with acid reflux, but I have it all the time now...hopefully it means the baby will have lots of hair! Anyway, I just blurted out that we were having a boy at the dinner table. I think the main people who would have enjoyed and appreciated out gender reveal would have been my friends. Ronnie's family down here are just a straightforward kind of family.

Christmas morning: We got a call at 6:30 am, well many calls. Ronnie would answer the phone, but couldn't hear anything. It was his dad! Ron called all the way from the resort they were staying at in the Philippines! His dad has lived in Kuwait for the past 16 years as a pilot and married Jam. She is from the Philippines, so that is why they went there for Christmas. They have a son named Arlis. He is 11 I think. I was glad Ronnie was able to tell him he was going to have a grandson! We weren't sure if they would be able to call or email b/c the connection is so bad out there. I told Jam our secret in advance in case they couldn't call, so she could share with him and Arlis about the baby boy. We usually go to Ronnie's mom's house Christmas morning at around 7, but this year we went to Grandmom's for Christmas lunch and went to Nan's for dinner and gifts. It was strange celebrating Christmas morning just the two of us...first time and last time! I attempted to make it traditional by making a breakfast casserole and cinnamon buns, since his mom always serves them on Christmas morning. I used a different recipe for the casserole, and made the canned cinnamon buns (they taste WAY better to me!). The casserole was good, I used maple flavored sausage, but I just don't like sausage that much at all. Actually, I hate it. Maybe next year, I will try bacon. For fun, I added blue icing to the cinnamon buns to include our baby boy:)

Don't pay attention to the step ladder right in the middle of the

kitchen floor...I have to use it to reach ANYTHING! haha

Ronnie did a GREAT job on gifts for me! I wanted an address book since I kept all of them on my computer...then one day my computer crashed and I lost everything! I guess the "old-fashioned" way is better sometimes! He got me a massaging chair thing! I always have an achy back just from carrying my "blessed" chest around anyway, but now with carrying them AND a baby, I know I will appreciate it every day! My favorite gift was a spa visit! I have never had a spa visit (well, I did get a massage on our honeymoon, but that was all I got), but this gift was N-I-C-E! It has 4 visits! A 30 minute swedish massage, a facial, a peel, and a make-up application or waxing. They said the peel is fine during pregnancy, but I may see if they will extend my gift till after the baby comes or let me exchange the peel for some other service... But he did all that on his own! I am a lucky girl!

Around lunch, we went back to Grandmom's for Christmas Day lunch. We had the typical casseroles that most southerners eat during the holidays: sweet potatoes, squash casserole, potato casserole, dressing... I never grew up eating casseroles, but this family eats them on the reg...gets boring, but it's easy I guess. I offer to make something every time, but they say no. One day I am just going to bring something new! We got a huge surprise, Miller was able to leave work even earlier and got there in time to eat with us! I could have waited to reveal the gender, but we didn't think he'd be able to get there 4 hours early! We were glad he could eat with us!

Ronnie's grandmom even got something for Baby Troutman!

Nan's gifts to the baby. Notice Ronnie's excitement...

Well, ain't that just adorable?!

If only the baby was a girl....next time though! This is too adorable not to keep!

He has so many UGA ties, but I have never seen him wear one...

Nan's sister gave her this. It says: "My therapist lives in a barn."

Hilarious! She has 5 horses so this is very fitting.

She gave me a bracelet made of freshwater pearls!

This boy is loved by his Nanny so much already! She got him these little outfits too.

The duck outfit has little footies that are the duck's bill. So cute!

Us girls! Whitney (Ronnie's sister), Nan (are you digging her outfit? If it was a full body shot, you would see the red and white striped knee socks), and me.