Christmas 2011

Well, here is my recap of Christmas 2011.  It was busy, busy, busy.... a little less blurry than last year (when Owen was only six weeks old), but nonetheless exhausting!!  I think after two Christmas seasons with a baby I can now say that I think they will all pretty much be jammed-packed, tiring, and fun!!!

I do not have ANY decorating talent (even had Mom come over to help me with some Christmas decorating this year), but I did manage to copy this from a magazine picture all by myself!! :)

Our Christmas tree

Gotta love that face!!

The Santa shoes that he wore a lot this season!  

Christmas Eve Day we had Jim's aunt and uncle and cousins over for lunch.  Sorry there are no pictures ... there were three kids and lunch... I'm definitely going to have to get Jim in on taking pictures next year!!  It was really fun though!!  

Christmas Eve we did something we've never done before... we went downtown to eat out!  Michael, Kristy Lane, and Jesse were in Illinois, so the rest of us just went out to eat.  It was fun!

After dinner, we drove around to look at some Christmas lights.  Julie, Mom, and I tried to inform Dad and Jim about tacky Christmas lights vs. classy decorations, but to no avail!! :)

This little guy was full of himself!!

After putting Owen to bed, Mom beat us all in a round of Clue and I won a game of Rack-O.  We were having such a good time that everyone stayed until 11:00!!  Then it was off to bed so Santa could come!

This is Owen on Christmas morning!!

He had peed through his Christmas pj's so we had to make a complete change first!! (This also happened to his Christmas Eve outfit... oh well... that's how it goes, right?? )

Santa brought him the blocks and the board book version of "Goodnight Gorilla," one of his favorites.  He has ripped  , I mean, "loved" his paperback version so much, that it had to be thrown away.  You can see him pointing to the clock in the picture above.  He is seriously obsessed with clocks now!!

We got him the Toddler Bible.  Now in the pictures above it may look like he loved his new gifts, but that was not the case.  When we first brought him out to the den, to see what Santa brought, he went right to his ... OLD TOYS!! :)  He was not interested at all in the new things... he picked up a water bottle (one of his all-time favorites) and wanted nothing to do with the blocks or books.  Again, this should not have surprised me!!  It took a few minutes, but when Daddy dumped some blocks out, he finally got interested.

You can see that he didn't t let go of the water bottle, though!!! :)  After breakfast, we went to church, and then to Mom and Dad's for lunch.  We stayed all day and had sandwich stuff for dinner. 

Then this is how the rest of the evening went...

Dad is always, and I mean ALWAYS, in charge of the trash!! :)

I have always respected Mom, but after Owen I think it has quadrupled in size!!!

We came home and crashed Christmas night.  Then at 8:00 AM the next morning we met some old high school friends for breakfast and to exchange presents with the kids.  This cute picture of Clara with her Christmas dolls is the ONLY picture I got, but we had a great time!

Then that night, as if we had not had enough of togetherness (HA!HA!),  we all went to eat and to Opryland to see the lights.  Our good friend, Chris, joined us for the fun!

Owen loved the mirrors in the hotel lobby... they were at his eye-level.

I still can't believe our little guy is walking around places now!!!

We made my brother take this picture!! :)

I had to post this picture of Jesse... it describes what we were all feeling the day after Christmas!!

Poor Chris... he took a family picture for us and then the people in line behind us asked him to do the same for them... I'm not sure how many family shots he took before he got out of there... maybe next year this could be an extra job??? :)  This week after has been full of special events as well... but I want to remember the special and simple joys too.... here are some of those...

Owen "helping" me wrap presents.

Wearing Christmas PJ's for the first time!!

Playing peek-a-boo in the kitchen!

Finding joy in a ribbon!!

Julie and I attempting to make Grandma's boiled custard!!!

Hope your holidays were great!  We are already treasuring our memories!