Christmas - Part 1

We're back from a long, busy Christmas weekend. We had tons of fun spending time with family. Christmas is such a magical time and I especially loved watching it through Lily and Bear this year. Bear is still a bit young to really understand what Christmas is all about, but Lily was super excited about everything. What suprised me the most is that at her age, as excited as she was for new toys, she still loved to give gifts as well and told everyone that Christmas happens because it is Jesus's birthday. I so hope she continues to remember that each Christmas season!

Christmas Eve was spent with the McWhorter family. We had breakfast for dinner and exchanged gifts with each other. I took tons of pictures all weekend long, but here are a few from the family Christmas Eve festivities.

Jacob and Brodie

Paw and Bear
Lily opens a gift from Mammy and Paw

Bear checking out his new toy
Attempting a McWhorter cousin picture

That evening, the kids (well, Lily) set out a snack for Santa. We then hurried them off to bed so that Santa would be sure to stop at our house. Josh and I enjoyed a quiet evening of watching movies and preparing for Christmas morning. The movie we chose wasn't great, but we had a fun time with each other. We started the idea last year of watching movies and staying up late together and it's definitely a Christmas Eve tradition I look forward to.

Lily on the hearth with her snack for Santa

I guess she thought Santa needed to go on a diet :)

Sisterly love - Bear wasn't asleep - just caught with his eyes shut

Christmas morning Lily woke us up, having forgot that it was finally Christmas morning. When we asked her was she ready to see what Santa had brought, she asked "Is he downstairs now?" She was a bit disappointed when she realized she wouldn't be seeing him. We got Bear up and went downstairs - chaos soon followed! The kids got tons of gifts: Lily got a new baby doll, a princess tent, ColorWonder markers and coloring book and dress-up clothes and jewlry. Bear got a firetruck ball pit, a Sit/Stand Giraffe toy, books, clothes, and a bulldozer truck.

Bear checks out his ball pit

Lily in her princess castle
Lily with her new doctor kit

Bear stayed in his ball pit all morning - he didn't care to look at any other new toys
Bear's other new gifts

Later in the morning, Josh's parents and Nanny joined us for breakfast and to see what Santa brought the kids. We then packed up for a weekend in SC, stopped by the McWhorter's for a quick visit and gift exchange with the Oliver family, and then we were off for SC to visit my family.

Christmas morning breakfast

More posts to come on the rest of our Christmas!

A Baby Changes Everything

I can't believe Christmas is here! The season has defintely flown by and as I reflect today on the true meaning of Christmas, this song keeps coming in to my head. As a mom now, I can't even begin to imagine what Mary thought and felt as she carried the Holy Child. I'm so thankful that this baby, Christ Jesus, did come and change everything!

Teenage girl, much too young
Unprepared for what's to come
A baby changes everything

Not a ring on her hand
All her dreams and all her plans
A baby changes everything
A baby changes everything

The man she loves she's never touched
How will she keep his trust?
A baby changes everything
A baby changes everything

And she cries, ooh, she cries
Ooh, oh

She has to leave, go far away
Heaven knows she can't stay
A baby changes everything

She can feel it's coming soon
There's no place, there's no room
A baby changes everything
A baby changes everything

And she cries, and she cries
Oh, she cries

Shepherds all gather 'round
Up above the star shines down
A baby changes everything

Choir of angels sing
Glory to the newborn King
A baby changes everything
A baby changes everything

Eveything, everything, everything
Hallelujah, HallelujahHallelujah, Hallelujah

My whole life has turned around
I was lost, but now I'm found
A baby changes everything, yeah
A baby changes everything

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Quotes from Lily

1. Lily (sitting in front of our Nativity scene, holding the baby monitor receiver): "Say Cheese Baby Jesus." "Okay, Mary, say Cheese too." She then rearranges the figurines and says "Joseph, smile and say cheese" as she clicks the buttons on the baby monitor. I guess we have a budding photographer on our hands - or she see has seen Momma take one too many pictures.

2. Let me preface this one by saying that Lily has been SUPER loving towards Josh lately. He gets home and she is in his lap, hugging and kissing him. The other night, they had this conversation:
Josh: "Lily, why are you loving Daddy so much?"
Lily: "Because I want a baby doll for Christmas!"
I guess she hasn't figured out yet that Santa makes the Naughty or Nice decisions, not Daddy!

3. Lily (singing): "Up on the housetop reindeer pause. Out jumps good ol' Santa Claus...is coming to town. Santa Claus is coming to town. You better watch out, you better not cry, Santa Claus is coming."
Her Christmas carols are all running together - it's Santa overload!

Christmas Cuties

Just had to share - aren't they cute in their matching outfits! My crafty friend Katie made these for them and they are adorable. I just love dressing Lily and Bear up in coordinating outfits (though Josh HATES it) and these were their Christmas gifts from Katie Anne. They wore them tonight to Cracker Barrel for dinner and we got several compliments! Thanks again Katie!

Girls Morning Out

On Saturday, Lily and I had a morning out with friends. We went to Pottery Lane for Christmas craft fun and lunch with Natalie & Emma and Katie & Katie Anne. Katie, Natalie, and I always have fun Girls Nights Out, and we all decided it would be fun to get the little girls together for some fun memories as well.

We started at Pottery Lane, where the girls carefully picked out an item to paint. There was so much to choose from - miniature Santa Clauses, plates, mugs, and all kinds of Christmas ornaments. They all decided (with mommas' help) on the same Christmas ball ornament to decorate. We got settled at a table with red and green paint and the girls got started painting.

It was so cute to see the girls working so hard to paint their ornaments just right. Even Katie Anne, who's about a year younger than Emma and Lily did a great job. We moms also did a good job resisting the urge to "fix" their projects! The finished ornaments won't be ready for a few days, as Pottery Lane bakes and glazes them so that they will have a pretty finish. I can't wait to see how they turn out.

After painting, we went out to lunch at a yummy Mexican restaraunt and got to catch up for a bit. The girls were so cute together - they giggled for about 10 minutes straight about absolutely nothing and loved making silly faces for each other. I'm so grateful to have such wonderful friends and love that Lily now calls Emma and Katie Anne "her friends" too.

Christmas Cookie Fun

On Saturday, Lily and I decided to get into the Christmas spirit of baking. My shopping is almost complete, but I had not started baking any fun Christmas treats yet. I love to bake, especially during this time of the year. I thought it would be fun to get Lily involved in the fun this year.

I took her to the grocery store with me to pick out sprinkles and frosting colors. First, we made chocolate covered pretzels, which she decorated with red, green, blue, and yellow sugar sprinkles. We also made a batch of Heath Bar brownies - she didn't enjoy these as much, as she has decided that she doesn't like chocolate.

Later that evening, we rolled out sugar cookies, cut them with cookie cutters, and decorated them with frosting and sprinkles. She had such a fun (and messy) time painting the frosting on her cookies and dousing them with colored sugar. We had several dozen when we were done and she loved them. We packed up a few to give to her Sunday School teachers and her babysitter. She was so proud of her creations. We had quite a messy kitchen when we finished, but it was so wonderful to spend some time helping Lily with her own project. I look forward to this fun tradition for many years to come.

Visiting Santa

Gas to get to the mall - $15

Picture package purchased of photo op with Santa - $25

New Christmas outfits for the kids - $50

2 hours in line with 30 crying children for a picture with Santa - Priceless

We took Lily and Bear to Town Center on Sunday afternoon to get pictures with Santa. I wasn't prepared it all for how busy it would be. We got in a line that looked long, but manageable. It was much more slow moving than I imagined. We made the best of it, with Josh taking Lily for potty runs and chicken finger purchases, while I tried my best to entertain Bear. After about a hour of waiting, we began to make progress and were within the roped section of the line. Little did we know that Santa's reindeer would get hungry and he'd leave for 30+ minutes to go feed them. We had waited so long and were so close - so we decided to wait.

We finally got to see Santa and the kids were precious. They both sat with him without crying. Bear was mesmerized by his long beard and white hair. Lily told him she wanted a baby doll and that her Bubba needed a puzzle. The wait was long and a bit stressful - but oh, how I love these sweet memories with my babies.

Christmas Tree....Toddler Proofed

We've had our Christmas tree up for a few weeks now, and slowly it has become "toddler proofed".

Lily did a great job helping to decorate it and for the most part has left it alone. When she was younger, we never had a problem with her bothering the tree. On her first Christmas, she had just started to crawl and pull up, so she really wasn't mobile enough to get to the ornaments. Last year, she was so wrapped up with her new little brother that she didn't pay much attention to the tree.

Bear, on the other hand, is a completely different story. He has decided the tree is his new toy and we can't keep him away from it. Every afternoon when we get home, he makes a beeline for the tree. He sits and looks up at it for a while and then begins grabbing for ornaments. First, it was just the stuffed animal ornaments that I purposely placed along the bottom of the tree. Then, it was the "non-fragile" ornaments that were a bit above the stuffed toys. It wasn't long before the balls and garland were being tugged at. We've tried the stern "No Bear", hand poppings, and removing him from the tree area - nothing is working. He doesn't seem fazed by any of it and goes right back the tree.

So now are tree looks quite sad - all of our ornaments are bunched together at the top, and the bottomw looks neglected. The garland is falling down and the branches are no longer neatly spaced apart. Maybe there's hope next year!

The top of the tree

The bottom of our tree