Once we shared the news with my family, it was painful to have to wait the six days until we celebrated Christmas with the Boboths. We had planned to celebrate Christmas with them on New Year's Eve, and we decided we would tell them then.
We both woke up early that morning, full of excitement. This would be the day that our secret was completely out! Once we told Cole's family, we could go on and tell everyone else. There was a slight tinge of sadness in that this secret would no longer just be ours, but that feeling was quickly overwhelmed by excitement.
We all made breakfast together in the kitchen. Cole kept catching my eye and winking; his eyes danced with excitement. When breakfast was finally cleaned up, we settled in the living room to open gifts. Again, as with the Schlects, round and round and round we went - opening one gift at a time. We loved watching the kids open their gifts and try on their new bike helmets and play with their toys, but inside we were both squirming, willing them to move faster. Finally, the time came - all the gifts had been opened and we, once again, feigned confusion at the fact that there wasn't another gift under the tree. Cole ran back to the room to grab the gift that we most certainly hadn't forgotten.
He handed it to his mom, and she began to open it. It was his dad that realized what the frame, grainy little image was. He immediately stood up with eyes full of tears and - speechless and dazed-looking - came over and hugged us tight. When the realization hit his mom, she was let out a squeal of delight and turned the picture frame around so the rest of the room could see. I have never seen Everett cry so hard. He just clung to Cole as he sobbed - and Carrie screamed and screamed.
I think the kids were pretty alarmed at the spectacle.
We called Cameron to tell him, and then proceeded to FaceTime with GramGram. Our faces hurt from smiling.
We left not long after to get home to prepare for the NYE party we were hosting for our college friends. Instead, we spent the afternoon calling our family. We got to FaceTime with Brian and Stacie and Von, Andy, and Megan - all of whom cried with us. Calls to all of our aunts and uncles were so much fun. Tyler even told us that he was more excited for our news than he was when he found out he was going to be a dad.
That night, Cole used the AppleTV and put up the footage of our first ultrasound to tell our friends the news. More tears and hugs and story retelling.
*****
The next day, we got to tell our church family. What a gift to get to share this with them too. Adam told us on our way out of church that day, "You know what I'm most looking forward to in 2017? Holding your baby."
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