Christmas Time

Howdy friends,

We hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas time.  Kim pointed out I had not posted pics of Lucy on Christmas morning and everyone knows we must not keep an almost 40W pregnant lady waiting so here's our update:

This will probably go on the record as one of our quietest and more relaxed Christmas days ever.   Jim has been off from work since the 23rd and it's been a treat for Lucy and I.  He has totally spoiled us with handmade candy (divinity and peanut brittle), awesome meals, hot chocolate, warm fires, Christmas movie marathons and endless hours of one-on-one play with Lucy which I love too 'cause I get to rest and read.   

Lucy's Christmas eve started out with being allowed to open one gift.  It is normally our tradition to do it at night but since we had plans that night we let her do it in the morning.  She opened the play-doh caddy set from Titi Nadine and OH-MY-GOODNESS was that a hit!  She had never used play-doh before so you can imagine how much fun she had.  That evening was spent with the Wilsons and the Justs celebrating cajun style with Gina's seafood gumbo and an awesome southern pecan pie.  The kids (8 total) had fun doing a dirty Santa gift exchange while the adults just enjoyed good conversation.  We had a great time and got home about 8pm in time to put Lucy down and start assembling gifts and filling the stockings.  Santa got her two toys this year, a double sided easel and a basketball hoop.  I have to say it was HARD to restrain ourselves when it came to buying for her but I think we did a good job of it.  We didn't want her to be overwhelmed with a bunch of new toys.  Two items were perfect for this age.  

Lucy woke up at 6am on Christmas morning and we brought her to our room to try to get her to sleep a little longer but that was a bust.  We made our way to the living room and as soon as she saw the toys (Santa doesnt' wrap here, he just leaves the toys out assembled for instant use :) she couldn't get a word out and stuttered/hyperventilated a bit before jumping right into it.  There was no opening of stockings or any other gift as she just wanted to play with her two new toys plus her play-doh.   We go the cinnamon rolls and coffee going while she kept playing and then we all sat down to get started on the rest.  

Amongst Jim's favorite gifts were an autographed copy of Giada DiLarenta's latest cookbook.... if you watch the food network channel you know who she is.  His sister got to meet her in Las Vegas and got him the book.  He also enjoyed a Venison cookbook from grandparents (anyone seeing a cookbook trend here?) and a number of giftcards and cash towards hunting equipment he's been wanting. 

Amongst MY favorite gifts were a box of See's chocolate candy, a box of english toffee (another trend? :) and the CD Rose of Bethlehem by Selah a fabulous group from Nashville, TN that I recently discovered.  

The rest of our day was spent playing, napping, eating, talking to relatives and watching Christmas movies.  

all because of Jesus...

Enjoy the pictures:

Here's Lulu in her Christmas outfit... You would have all received a lovely card with a picture of her wearing it if she would have looked at the camera once

Well, looked at the camera minus the mouthful of bacon and the attitude...

Playing with the chocolates on the advent calendar her Granny sent to her... still hasn't figured out candy is for eating not for sorting into colors...

Getting ready to read Christmas books with Mommy and Daddy...

Christmas morning scoring a goal, I mean, a basket...

Feeling quite proud of herself...

In the midst of a master piece, Christmas morning

Daddy is the bestest toy of all...

The craft she made with Daddy...