Christmas in Ohio post #1 - A big announcement on Christmas Eve!!!

We came home to Ohio for the holidays on Christmas Eve and stayed in Ohio until New Year's Day.  We actually left New Jersey in the afternoon on the 23rd and finished half of the drive (with dog in tow) before staying in a hotel in Youngstown that night.  Griffey did well in the hotel - only a little bit of barking when he heard some people out in the hallway.

We finished the drive the morning of Christmas Eve, and got to Charlie's parents house in Cincinnati just in time to listen to the 2nd half of the Bengals win over Arizona that put them in the lead for the last playoff spot.  Who Dey!  Unfortunately, though they did make the playoffs, they got destroyed yesterday in Houston and are done for the season.

Christmas Eve at first consisted of our usual traditions at the Mowry household.  Katie's parents came down from Eaton and we went to the Wyoming Presbyterian Church for 5:00 service.  This was the church we were married in, and we always enjoy going there to see the yearly Christmas pageant.  After that, we come back as Charlie's mom finishes up on a Christmas Eve meal.

This year, we had a surprise for our family.  Charlie ordered teddy bears delivered to his parents' house, and both our parents, Charlie's sister, and Charlie's Grandma and Grandpa all got to open a present with a bear.  Depending on the family member, they got a bear with something like this on its T-shirt:

That's right - Katie's pregnant (if you're reading this blog, you likely know by now)!  Baby Mowry will be making his or her debut in July 2012.  It was fun to see who figured it out first (Charlie's sister, Abby had the most blatant t-shirt, so it was between her and Charlie's Dad) or who had the biggest reaction (the two Moms).  But this was a perfect time to announce our big news, and it made for a great memory and a great holiday atmosphere that night!