Getting ready for Christmas

We are busy in the Lanz house right now, trying to get everything ready for our trip to Minnesota! For the first time since we moved to Colorado, we are flying home for Christmas. After last year's (horrible) road trip filled with car trouble, sub-zero temperatures, and frozen pipes I vowed never to drive back in the winter again. So...Jack's first flight is coming up on Saturday! I'm sure I'll be more rattled about the experience than him. I'm nervous about how we'll be able to comfort him if he (as Adam calls it) starts "blasting" on the plane. He can be a little "blaster" sometimes.

When we get to Minnesota, we'll be picked up by the Hjelles and stay at their place for a night before heading up to Alexandria for the next few days. We'll spend Christmas Eve in Alexandria where Jack will meet his Great Grandma Gloria and Great Uncle Tom and maybe some other Southward relatives. On Christmas Day we'll head down to St. Cloud to spend a few days with the Lanz side of the family. Jack will meet numerous aunts and uncles (Sara, Darren, Tommy, Michelle, Joe, Kathy, and Michael) and his cousins William and Eliana. We'll go to three Christmases in St. Cloud...the extended Lanz family, the Weber family, and the immediate Lanz family.

On Sunday the 27th, Jack will be baptized. He will become a fifth-generation member of my family's church, Calvary Lutheran, in Alexandria. Both his godmothers, Lissa and Sara, will be there to help welcome him into the Christian faith.

After the baptism and all the other adventures I'm sure we'll have in Minnesota, we'll head back down to St. Paul and hopefully meet some of Jennie's college friends before we head back to Colorado on December 30th! We have a lot planned, but everyone assures me that I won't have any trouble finding someone to hold Jack while we're home. We're getting really excited to see everyone and help Jack celebrate his first Christmas!