Beautiful

A White Christmas

To top off a wonderful Christmas morning, we got snow on Christmas day! The flakes started following in the late morning and we were jumping with excitement! While the snow was falling, we ran over to Mammy and Paw's for Christmas lunch with the Olivers. We enjoyed ham, turkey, Nanny's delicious dressing, and all the trimmings. Hershey Chocolate cake was by far this little boy's favorite thing on the menu!

When we got done and back home, we had a few inches of snow on the ground! It was such a beautiful gift from God, an awesome reminder of the ultimate gift he gave us on Christmas!

We enjoyed throwing a few snowballs....

and tasted a few snowflakes...

We played hard the rest of the day with all of our new toys, and capped off the night our only family Christmas picture of the day!!

Merry Christmas from the McWhorters!

The Excitement of Christmas Morning...

Christmas morning was so much fun this year! Lily woke up a little after 7, anxious to run downstairs to see what Santa had left her. I asked her if she heard Santa last night and she said she did - he said "Ho, Ho, Ho" as he left, according to her! We had to wake Bear up, as he is our sleeper these days! He was a little confused at first, but quickly got excited as well!

Santa was very good to us this year! Lily got an American Girl doll, table and chairs for having tea, and lots of other fun gifts. Bear's surprise was waiting in the garage for him, as it wouldn't fit down the chimney. He's the proud new owner of a power wheels jeep, among other things! After reveling in all that Santa left, we opened gifts from Mimi and Grandaddy, who were staying with us for the Christmas weekend. Lily finally got her long-awaited Calico Critters House and Bear was transformed into Buzz Lightyear! It was such a fun morning full of sweet memories!

Later in the morning, Mammy, Paw, Nanny and Unc Joey joined us for breakfast and to see all of our new things! One of my favorite moments of the morning was watching Bear and Lily play at her new table together! Bear loves playing with Lily these days. She was very patient with him, but when he put her new tea cup to his mouth, she firmly yelled "Bear, you're not drinking tea the right way". I caught her expression on camera and it was the funniest thing! She certainly is coming in to her own as the big sister these days!

Christmas Eve 2010

Christmas Eve kicked out with a great gift - Mimi and Grandaddy came to spend Christmas with us this year! Mommy and Daddy were so excited not to have to travel and Lily and Bear were thrilled to have all their grandparents around for the Christmas festivities.

We started out with our Christmas Eve service at church. It was a great service and capped off with the traditional singing of "Silent Night" by candlelight! I almost became the star of the show, when Bear's candle caught my hair on fire, but we quickly stopped the flame! I certainly made our side of the sanctuary smell of burnt hair though!

After church, we headed home for Christmas Eve dinner. While I put the finishing touches on our dinner of prime rib, mashed potatoes, green beans, and squash casserole, Lily practiced her reading skills out on Grandaddy.

All set for Christmas Eve dinner

After dinner, Mimi, Lily and Bear decorated a few more cookies to leave for Santa!

We went outside and sprinkled reindeer food...we couldn't forget about them!

And finally set out cookies and milk for Santa and went to bed anxious to see what the next morning would bring!

On the Eve of Christmas Eve...

We spent Thursday evening with the McWhorter clan, celebrating Christmas. Josh's parents cooked a wonderful dinner of barbecue and brunswick stew and we had a great time together! When you put 3 brothers together, when a houseful of little ones, there's never a quiet or dull moment!

The McWhorter cousins after dinner...you'd never know there's almost a year between each of them. They are all 3 so close in size now!

Lily loves her Unc...snuggling up before opening gifts! Mammy and Paw with all the kiddos

After dinner, we opened gifts. It was complete chaos, but a joyous time! Bear got lots of new CARS toys, including a set of die cast cars and a Lightening McQueen garage.

Brodie was also thrilled to get his share of Cars and trucks!

I didn't get a picture of it, but Brodie and Bear got matching Alabama football uniforms. They even have shoulder pads in the jersey! They'll be so cute playing football together in them!

Lily loved the pink cowboy boots that Nanny gave her. She also loved her Baby Alive doll, Tinkerbell playset, and many other fun things!

Mammy and Paw opening their gifts - we are so blessed to have such great parents/parents-in-law!

I personally think I hit the jackpot on Thursday night. My in-laws gave me a Keurig coffee maker and my sweet husband surprised me with my gift early - a brand new camera! I've been wishing for a dSLR for the last year or 2 and I finally got it! I had to charge it Thursday night, but I don't think I've put it down much over the rest of our Christmas weekend! I guess I made Santa's "nice" list this year!

Christmas Cookie Baking

Today was my first day of vacation for the Christmas holiday! High on Lily's to-do list was making cookies for Santa. Today, we ventured out to the grocery store to stock up on items for meals this weekend and cookie making supplies. Lily was a great helper with everything from mixing the batter, cutting cookies, and icing them! Bear even joined in when it was time to decorate the cookies.

Carefully cutting Christmas shapes out

The best part of baking - licking the beater
Sugar cookies, fresh out of the oven

Lily took her decorating very seriously - she even mixed red and white icing to make pink for her last few cookies!

Bear needed a bit more help, but still did a great job...until he broke a cookie. Tears then started falling, but having a cookie snack helped save the day!

Lily, of course, had to have a taste test too....they are approved to serve to Santa

Deck the Halls

Just a quick post to show what Christmas looks like around our home:

Kitchen shot - I love displaying Christmas photos from the previous year. It's amazing to see how much the kids have changed from one year to the next!
The dining room table setting, all ready for Christmas Eve dinner and Christmas morning breakfast!

Our family room and Christmas tree. Lily and Bear were a huge help decorating this year. They loved going through all of the ornaments and picking which ones they wanted to hang. I had to help spread them out a bit, and of course, hang ones towards the top, but they really did a great job being momma's little elves!

The stockings have been hung, waiting for Santa's visit

Gingerbread Houses

Last Wednesday, Lily's class celebrated Christmas with a party and gingerbread house fun! One of the moms had the great idea to hot glue the graham crackers to a milk carton and then down to the plate...though they aren't edible, it sure made for easier decorating and transporting! Lily had a great time choosing which candy to decorate her house with. She didn't want to use any chocolate - she still doesn't like it and didn't want it on her house. She's also really into making patterns so she was very particular as to the order of the color of her skittles on the roof!

Lily showing off her finished product! We brought it home and it is now sitting on our kitchen counter! Bear looks at it each day and asks if he can eat it...I can only imagine how little candy will make it on to his first gingerbread house!

After making the gingerbread houses, the class enjoyed a quick snack and gave the parents all of the ornaments that they had been making throughout the month! I'm going to need a new tree just to hold all the ornaments that we will be collecting in the coming years if this year is a sign of years to come!