Christmas 2012

*I always want to be one of those people who comes up with cute, witty blog titles, but unfortunately my brain can't get much further than basic, trite descriptions. Oh well.

This was the first year we stayed in town for Christmas. Since John and I were first married, we have rotated holidays between our parents in Jackson or Memphis. Last year we decided that 2012 would be our first year to stay home. Curran would be 3.5 yrs old and we would have a new little girl. We figured it was time to start our traditions at home. It was a bittersweet decision, but as the holiday grew closer, I became more and more excited that we would be at home this year. The only thing I was slightly nervous about was cooking three big meals for all the company we would be having. My parents and brother came into town on Sunday and left Christmas day before lunch, and Mr. and Mrs. Quinn, Robert, and Robert's girlfriend Kelly arrived literally as soon as my parents drove off and stayed until Thursday. And of course Christopher, Craig and Sinclair were here and joined us for each meal.

We always go to church on Christmas Eve, and our church in Birmingham's service was at 4pm. So we had to start getting ready pretty early in order to try to get there in time to get a seat {it was a zoo and there were no seats even though we were 15 min early}. We tried to snap a few quick pics beforehand. I hardly took any pictures this year. I know Chris and Craig got some great ones, but I won't see them before New Year's and I wanted to get this posted. I'm also a little bummed I didn't get any pictures of the girls together or any group shots.

She was tired and ready for a nap and the lighting was awful, but I wanted to get a picture of her in this dress since this was the only time she wore it. :/

Daddy and his girls. C was not feeling the picture, if you can't tell. 

My brother tried to get a family picture when we got home from church. 

I love having an excuse to use my "fine" things, but I detest the cleanup: hand-washing china, silver, and crystal and ironing linens. Not fun, but still worth it in my opinion.

 I love my holiday china. In high school, my mom started getting my sister and me a plate for Christmas most years. 

The "kids" table for Curran and Sinclair. They LOVED having their own little spot for a few days, and C was so upset when I moved the table back to where we normally keep it.

After everyone left and the dishes were done, John and I got to work on Santa. There wasn't much to do, but it took John awhile to put together the easel. 

Curran's loot.  Like my artwork? She mostly got puzzles/games and books, and the baby doll and easel were her big gifts. I hadn't planned on getting her a baby doll, but whenever anyone would ask her what she was getting from Santa, she would say a baby doll. And I got the easel at half off a year ago when a store was closing, so it wasn't that big to get her another "big" gift. 

Sallie Cate's stuff

Blurry, but C coming to see what Santa brought

SC went right to the new bed Santa brought for Cooper

C was so excited about her doll!

Practicing writing her C's

I was surprised by how much SC enjoyed Christmas. Not that she had any idea what was going on, but she had so much fun playing with her new toys as well as the wrapping paper. She was all over everything!

That tongue. She constantly has it pointed up to her top lip.

Or sticking straight out {ignore the red mark on her forehead where C had just nailed her with a toy}

Sinclair came over as soon as they were done with Santa gifts, and the princesses had fun playing

I didn't take any more pictures the rest of the day {I was too busy in the kitchen} except for the one below. This was when we were giving the Quinns their gifts Christmas night. C opened every single gift that was for somebody else. 

It was such a wonderful Christmas! I am so glad we decided to stay here! It was a lot of work, and I haven't been this tired in a long time, but it was so worth it, and we loved hosting our families.