Christmas 2011

I have lots of pictures so bear with me.

We spent Christmas in Jackson with my family this year. It was bittersweet as it was probably our last time to travel out of town for Christmas, at least for the next years to come. It's hard having both families living out of town and having to alternate holidays, and I will so miss being in my hometown for Christmas, but it will be nice to start establishing our traditions here. Growing up, we were always at our own house on Christmas morning, so I want that for my own kids. Not to mention the idea of having to pack up Santa gifts once C is old enough to notice (next year!) does not appeal to me. Plus I know grandparents will be traveling here, so being with our family, no matter where we are, is all that really matters to me.

Christopher, Craig and Sinclair were with us, as was my little brother, and it was such a blessing to all be together.

We got into town on Friday afternoon. That night we took the girls up to Canton to see the lights {we did that with C after Thanksgiving last year}. It was absolutely freezing but C had so much fun.

the courthouse on the square

the girls with my brother and Cricky & Big

lots of fun window displays

riding the "carouself" with Daddy

We also all rode in a carriage around the square but I don't have the pic of that.

Unfortunately our church is undergoing renovations, so on Christmas Eve we had to go to Mass at another church. We went to the Children's Mass at St. Richard's {our elementary school} and it was PACKED. We had to stand {well some poor little girl's mom forced her to give up her chair for this big ol' pregnant lady :) } in the cry room off to the side, so C kept complaining that she couldn't see anything. That girl loves her some church. :) Afterwards we went to my aunt's house for supper like we always do.


These are our attempts at pics after church but before dinner.

Side note- I gave S her first cracker {they are starting her on table food}. Not sure Chris was initially too thrilled about it, but S loved it! :)

This lil lady could not get enough of the piano!

My aunt always breaks out the Christmas hats. 

C picked put the Christmas lights headband.

of course these two boys didn't don any hats :)

My cousin's husband, Will, with Chris and Sinclair

After we got home, C got to enjoy part of a candy cane {I wasn't about to let her have the whole thing right before bed time}.

 I was so excited about our first Christmas with a child old enough to kind of understand what was going on and get excited about presents. However, in all of our explaining of what Christmas is, we never really mentioned the fact that Santa Claus brings gifts, just because it didn't seem like she would get it anyway. We really just focused on talking about Jesus. {Not that she can really get that yet, either.} But the weekend of Christmas, we did talk about Santa bringing her presents, and on Christmas morning we talked about it again, but of course I don't think it will really click until next year. She was a little nervous walking into the living room to see her gifts, partially because I think she may have thought that Santa Claus was actually going to be in there, and she is not a fan. :) But she perked up soon enough. Of course she was more fascinated by Sinclair's baby toys than her own.

We didn't do too much for C this year- at least I didn't think so. She got a few coloring books, Buzz and Woody dolls, a few books, a new baby doll and some things to go with the doll. She also got some really ugly/tacky princess slippers from Wal-Mart in her stocking. I knew those bad boys would be a huge hit! :)

She was a little timid at first.

But then grabbed her Buzz and Woody right away and was pretty happy after that.

Already moving on to Sinclair's toys. :)

Showing off her new slippers.

Chris and Craig gave her a doctor bag with tools, which she has loved! I gave them the idea b/c she loves using the antenna of her baby monitor to check my temperature, and she loves playing with my "ears" {stethoscope}.

All the playing smack wore her out. She rested on the floor with her blanket for a little while.

She has played with her magna-doodle nonstop! She really has played with all her new toys every day since Christmas. I'm glad she likes them all!

my wild child!

Trying to get pics Christmas night. Not much luck.

This picture makes me laugh for some reason. She reminds me of a little old lady with that bag and big ol' dress. :)

Curran loved "playing" Chinese Checkers and requested it multiple times per day {clearly she didn't really play it but just organized and moved the marbles around}.

I didn't take many pictures the rest of the trip. We didn't do much but just had fun hanging out and being together.

My parents had an old table of ours refinished and we got to bring it back to Bham. C has LOVED coloring at it, as well as eating some meals and snacks at it.

One night I told C she could watch a movie, so we rented Tangled and ate popcorn. She was pretty much in heaven.

It was such a wonderful Christmas, and I was so sad when it was over. But I am thankful to have had time off work to spend with those I love. Now if I could just get C to understand why they are no more Christmas lights up or inflatable Santas in the neighbors' yards. We are still listening to Christmas music in the car, and we still have our tree up, so she is happy there. I can't wait to have two little girls next Christmas! I already have their matching dresses and pj's! :)