Christmas Day

Playing in the SNOW!

 

Family Portraits. The only way that Mae would smile is if she was allowed to wear MiMi's pearls. Notice that this didn't even help in some of the pictures.

 

Opening presents. Katey got a significant number of Vera Bradley bags. Mae sincererely believed that they were hers!

 

Snowed In!

On Sunday we planned to get up and go shopping, I was scheduled to sing at church, and we were going to go home. Well, the snow had other plans. It was too slick to do any of those things. Brax couldn't even get out of the driveway to get to Wal-Mart. So, instead we RELAXED! The kids played in the snow with PaPa, we played lots of games (Brax and I lost about a hundred games of Sequence to MiMi and Katey before we staged a comeback!), ate leftovers and Royal Reds, played with Christmas toys, and (if you were Thomas) played games of Angry Birds on Katey's phone. It was wonderful!

 

Christmas Morning

Unbelievably, we woke up to a white Christmas. That pretty much NEVER happens in Alabama. The last time there was any snow at all on Christmas day was 1989, and that was just a dusting. We had actual snow! It was SO festive to listen to Christmas music while we opened our presents and see snow falling outside our windows!

We opened presents, let the kids jump on the trampoline for a little while and then enjoyed what is becoming our family tradition for Christmas morning: French Toast Casserole. Brax and I were a little disappointed because Thomas came downstairs before he woke us up and saw the "Santa" toys under the tree and the trampoline without us. Next year we'll have to give instructions. Who knew.

While we were eating breakfast, it became more and more apparent that we needed to go ahead and pack up for PaPa and MiMi's if we were going to make it there at all on Christmas day. So, away went our plans of a relaxing morning playing with toys, and instead we ran around getting stuff ready. We all left in our pajamas. :)

 

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve Brax didn't have to work so we had a wonderfully relaxing day at home! Our family lit the Christ candle at our church's 5:00 Christmas eve service, which was really special because I love the tradition of the advent candles! PaPa, MiMi and Aunt Katey were with us, so after the service we went to Five Guys for dinner and then to the Botanical Garden to drive through the Galaxy of Lights. (We hadn't thought about the fact that a lots and lots of other people might be wanting to drive through the lights also-took a little longer than we were anticipating.)

After the lights we came home and the kids opened their Christmas pajamas. We set our cookies and milk for Santa the the kids went to bed. Then, "Santa" and I put together the trampoline and got the house ready for Christmas morning.

 

Family Christmases

Christmas with Uncle Jim and Aunt Mary's Family

 

Christmas with Uncle Mike and Aunt Laura's Family

 

Funnies

Today we were home all day. I cut Thomas's hair this afternoon, so the kids had had a bath, and were all ready for bed before supper. I thought I would take some pictures of them in front of the Christmas tree while they were all clean. Of course at the end Thomas had to show me how he could jump over the present!

 

And now, the funnies...

Brax: Thomas if you tried mashed potatoes I'm sure you would like them.
Thomas: No, Dad. I'm sure I only like them fried and "tatortotted."

Kim: What's my name?
Mae: Mommy
Kim: What's my other name?
Mae: Mommy
Kim: Am I Brax?
Mae: No.
Kim: Who's Brax?
Mae: Babe.

Kim: Thomas, it's really bright outside.
Thomas: I can see out there because of my blue eyes.

Kim: Can you tell Daddy what we put up today?
Thomas: Our Treenery
Kim: No, remember (whispering) our Nativity.
Thomas: Oh yeah! Our activity!

Kim: We really need to clean up the playroom. I need you to help please.
Thomas: My foot hurts. Can I just watch?

Thomas: Who did call?
Kim: Aunt Sally.
Thomas: Why didn't she answer? Maybe she's at the doctor and can't talk. Maybe her voice is gone. Maybe her breath is down.

Kim: I mean could she (Mae) be any cuter?
Brax: No.
Mae: I cute!
(Yikes, apparently we'll have to start spelling cute!)

The Friendly Beasts

Thomas was recently a sheep in the school Christmas program. He even had a line, which was, "I could hardly believe my eyes!" The program was pretty much as adorable as you would imagine that it would be with 1-5 year olds dressed up as sheep, donkeys, cows, camels, and the other Christmas story characters!

 

Evolution of a Christmas Card

Getting four people to look the same way (and nicely) in one picture is really hard. I decided that this year I was going to make it easier for myself and just get pictures of the two of us and the two of them. Turns out it's not much easier...None of these made the cut.

 

Santa

A few weeks ago Thomas and Mae got to visit with Santa at a craft show. Mae wasn't sure about it, but since Thomas sat with him she agreed. Thomas told Santa that he wanted a dinosaur that walks and talks.(check) Mae didn't tell Santa anything, so Thomas told Santa that she wants a pink spoon. (pretty sure we can cover that one too!)

 

 

Gingerbread House

It has been really fun this year to have two kids that are able to participate in things rather than one and a baby! We've been doing Christmassy things like an Advent Calendar, lighting the Advent Candles at home, watching Christmas movies, looking at Christmas lights, etc. We also did a gingerbread house all together. The kids loved it, although I'm pretty sure Mae ate A LOT more candy than she put on the house! (Thomas has a fever in these pictures from a raging cold/ear infection!It's also the time of year for that!)

 

Decking the Halls

 

 

 

Christmas Tree Farm 2010