Christmas 2012

Doug and I truly had the Best. Christmas. Ever. It was not the gifts that we received, although I do LOVE my new iPhone from the Hubby and cute clothes from family, but it was the secret we finally got to share!! I was exactly 12 weeks on Christmas and had not told any family.....the waiting was starting to get a bit old. Telling family was the weirdest/greatest/most relieving feeling ever and my face hearts from smiling so much. So many hugs:)

 Mom's Christmas was first. This included Mom, Doug, Austin, Avery, Christina, and me. We take turns and unwrap one present at a time....it took a while for Mom to get to THE present. Mom's gift has a bit of a back story--Last year I bought my cheerleaders necklaces. It was cheaper to buy necklaces with charms on them and take the charms off. This left me with over 20 Mom or Nana charms. Mom wanting to be called Nana= Mom getting a Nana charm fo Christmas! I also bought her a beautiful ruby necklace (hopefully Baby Jansen's birthstone) to go along with the charm. She unwrapped this and knew EXACTLY what I was trying to tell her. Too bad she was too teared up to say anything ha! We also included a picture frame with the pictures below. She passed this to Avery, and after looking at it for a while, he asked if we were serious! I think all in all everyone was pretty surprised!

 

I love this picture so so much!

 

This is how we told our news!

After swearing the boys, Mom, Dora, and Aunt Linda to secrecy, we looked forward to Dad's Christmas the next day. I knew this one would be a tear-jerker---and it was not a let down! I had the same two pictures for Dad and Gma and Gpa to open. Besides telling them our secret, I was already PUMPED for this Christmas because we had all chipped in and bought my Dad a new camera. He deserves this sooo much, especially after the year he has had, and he would have never bought one for himself. Tears were already almost flowing after the camera was opened ha! The time finally came, and Dad and Gma opened the pictures at the same time.....they said "Oh how cute!"....looked at each others..... and that was about it. THEY HAD NO IDEA!! I asked Dad to please read the picture again, and after putting his glasses on, he slowly read "The Jansens--Doug.....Ashley......" and then there was the longest pause in the history of pauses. The tears came and they knew!! We laughed so hard at how long it took them.....I guess I should have just made a big sign saying "HEY! We are pregnant!!" 

Then the really impossible waiting began....Dad and Mom knew Tuesday and Wednesday.....Doug's family Christmas was not until Saturday....Longest. Wait. Ever. 

Doug's Christmas is a little bit different then mine....it's HUGE. One thing is for sure, our baby is going to have the best of both worlds. Spoiled rotten in my family and one of 23 wonderful cousins in Doug's---this makes me so happy:) Every year we give Sue and Sam a calendar. Julie fills it with pictures of the eight families and after they open it, Sue and Same flip through it to look at the pictures. It was Doug's idea to put the picture in the calendar---I loved the idea. Gary and Julie were the only ones to know and they kept our secret until the very end! The below picture was for the month of July....yep, this baby will be #23 for Sue and Sam.

 

The problem with so  many Jansen's is getting them all in one room to watch two people open one present. We wanted the calendar to be the last gift opened, and I honestly did not think they were EVER going to open it ha ha! The time finally came and they started to flip through the pictures. One problem-- they always get this calendar so they knew something was up---why would we want them to open this last and had made sure everyone was in the basement paying attention. Sue was on her toes checking out every picture. She flipped one month, after another, after another. They finally got to July ( Yes I know this because I was counting months in my head), they looked at the picture, and moved right on to August. NOOOOOO!!! I honestly thought my heart was going to burst. By now everyone else was curious as to what the big calendar deal was and Gary shouted for Sue to go back to July. You could tell by the look on their faces  that they finally understood...and a couple of my sisters-in-law had figured it out too! Lots of laughter, hugs, and cheers followed---along with the greatest sense of relief. Our families knew!!

We will never forget this Christmas and I do not think they will either. It almost makes Baby Jansen seem more real having everyone know. We feel so blessed right now and seeing the excitement in our families' eyes only makes that feeling stronger!!

Next Christmas is going to be very, very fun:)