Merry Christmas! (a little late, I know)

We had a lovely Christmas this year– the first of what will hopefully be many in our new-old house.  We kicked things off with a Christmas Eve celebration with C’s nana, pop-pop, grandie, and pa at our house.  C enjoyed drawing on everything in sight at church with the pencils she found in the back of the pew.  She also may have enjoyed the cast of Christmas story characters that proceeded down the aisles, and perhaps the music and candlelight.  C loved her new dollhouse and all of the gear for her dolls– doll bed, diaper bag, and baby carrier.   In short, though, she got so many presents on Christmas Eve that she was completely overwhelmed.  At one point she looked at me– no kidding– and said, “I don’t know what to do next.”  I took her cue, and so after she went to bed had a little chat with Santa about how we should put away the vast majority of what he’d planned to bring for her birthday.  Happily, Santa is a very obliging chap, and he agreed that on Christmas morning C would most appreciate her Ikea pup-tent (which looks like an igloo) filled with an assortment of books and a Mr. Potato Head with Santa parts.  Birthday will bring a super-cute tea set and tea kettle (if I can wait that long), as well as some additional parts for the train set. 

So Christmas itself was spent crawling in and out of the tent, reading books and playing with our new dollhouse.  Oh yeah, and eating all the delicious junk food that ended up at our house.  We will attempt to get some pictures up soon (not of the eating).  Shane and I put our Christmas funds toward a plan to have drapes made for the study.  Thanks to a cold, I did not make it to any after-Christmas sales, but that was probably for the best.

We topped the weekend off with a visit to the zoo, where the animals seemed to be enjoying the mild weather.  We saw the rhino rolling in the mud, as usual– watching a rhino manage to roll on his back in the mud reminded me a bit of how I feel these days when trying to turn over in the bed.  Pretty awkward.  On that note, thanks to all of the well-wishers for checking on us.  There is no baby yet, but don’t worry– we will keep you posted with any news.  In the meantime I will be keeping up my regimen of walking, eggplant, pineapple (a new one I learned today), reflexology, and refusing to pack a bag (I mean, I figure it must be Murphy’s law that as long as a bag is packed nothing will happen, so I’m just not going to do it).  Also on the list is evening primrose oil (which I haven’t tried yet) and walking up stairs (ooh, how fun does that sound).

Carson wants a spider for Christmas

Hi all– I know I skipped right over Thanksgiving, but time just got away from me!  We are now in the full swing of getting ready for Christmas and have been so busy!  Weekend before last, we went and bought a real Christmas tree– the first Shane and I have ever had!  Carson liked the flocked trees, or the “snow trees,” as she called them.  I decorated the tree last week as a surprise for her, after Shane spent about 5 nights straight trying to get enough lights on the thing (it’s 9 feet tall, so that’s a lot of lights), and she loves coming home each night and turning on the lights and looking at all the ornaments.  She also loves spotting the Christmas lights on our drive home each night. 

This weekend was packed with fun, as we went to see Santa for the first time!  Okay, let’s be honest, C was really, really unexcited about Santa.  She did not want to sit with him and almost had me in tears, as he was an awesome Santa all set up in a sleigh with a professional photographer there to capture the moment.  I had to get in the sleigh with C and Santa, which was highly uncomfortable and had me afraid the whole thing would crash down with the weight of the three of us.  But, in the end, she pulled it out, and she even smiled at the jolly old elf.  She would not tell him what she wanted for Christmas, but on the way home she said she wanted a spider without a cage that could crawl all over the house.  Hmmm. 

Also this weekend, we attended our friend Gavin’s first birthday party, and we had a lovely dinner at the Dyars’ home, along with the Smiths and the Wilkinsons and all the kiddos (there are seven of them among us, and six of the seven are under age 3!).  The little ones greatly enjoyed decorating and eating Christmas cookies– who knew that they make food coloring pens that work on icing?   

Below are some pictures of C with Santa for your amusement.  Hope all of you are doing well!