Christmas Day 2008

We've had a terrific Christmas today! Christopher got up around 8:00, so we had to make sure he saw what Santa brought him...he's still getting the hang of this whole "Santa" thing. In the living room was a GeoTrax train and track (last minute idea since he's ONLY been asking for a train).

yes, Santa screwed up and brought him an incomplete track :p Oops!


After playing with it a few minutes, the three of us opened our gifts. Christopher got:

A Black and Decker tool set


A Dirt Devil vacuum


A Magna Doodle Pro (which doesn't work so will have to be taken back!)


Shad got:

A new UT bleacher seat cushion


A Playstation 3


My big gift was:

A Canon EOS Rebel XTi digital camera!!!




After opening our gifts, we realized that Santa had left yet another gift for Christopher on the back patio...

a Ford F-150 Power Wheel!


His customized license plate...GBR HED=Goober Head (our nickname for him)


Unfortunately, since it was still cold outside, Christopher was only allowed to play for a few minutes. We then went back inside to play and wait for it to warm up a bit.

Later, in the early afternoon, Granddaddy (aka: Richard) came down to do Christmas with us. Here are some pictures from that gift exchange:

Granddaddy got a picture of the Vols running through the Open T that I took from our seats (imagine if I'd taken it with my new camera!)


Christopher got Monopoly Jr., Candyland and some games for his Fisher Price Computer Cool School from Granddaddy




oh, and LOTS of CANDY, too (this picture is of Pez dispensers)


(yes, it's a pooping reindeer!)


Here's my big gift from Richard:

a zoom lense for my camera!


Our big meal was dinner. Since we have a few relatives to visit with Thanksgiving and Christmas, we get ham and turkey'd out. So, back in 2006, we started our own tradition of doing Fondue instead of the traditional ham or turkey. My favorite restaurant is The Melting Pot, so this is right up my alley! Tonight, for our appetizer, we dipped tortillas, chips and veggies in a Velveeta cheese mixture (microwaved, not fondued). For the main course, we had steak, chicken and shrimp. Sadly, we didn't do the dessert fondue. =( Maybe one of these years we'll figure it out.

Christopher went without a nap today, so by dinnertime he was full of tantrums! Needless to say, he was in bed early tonight!

All in all, today was WONDERFUL!!! However, I'm ending my day with the realization that I need to go to the doctor tomorrow morning...I'm pretty sure I have Tonsillitis. :p It's either that or strep throat, but more likely Tonsillitis since it's not uncommon with me. We're supposed to be going to my mom's (aka: Grandma) tomorrow to celebrate Christmas with her, my aunt, sister, brother, niece and great-nephew. I just hope I can at least get on an antibiotic before I go.

I hope you all have had a GREAT Christmas! I'll leave you with a few miscellaneous pictures from today:

Close-up shot using my new zoom lense


Close-up shot of me and Christopher


Our family

First Visit With Santa

Shad and I took Christopher for his first visit to see Santa yesterday. Whenever anyone asks him what he wants Santa to bring him, he always says, "A train!" He was so excited about sitting on Santa's lap and telling him his wish...until it was our turn! When it came time for him to go up to Santa, he shy'd up and tried to hide. It only took a minute, though, and he warmed up. He even cheesed for the camera. Since I wasn't buying pictures from the photographer (they were a rip-off!), I was only allowed to take 2 pictures with my own camera. Here's what I got:

Bethlehem Marketplace

I forgot to post pictures from our visit to the Bethlehem Marketplace from last Saturday (12/13). Sorry! Here they are:

A vendor bandaging his finger even though he was adament that he didn't have a boo-boo!


A camel


A donkey


A soldier


Petting a real chicken


Sheep


"Joseph," "Mary" and "Baby Jesus"

My Baby Is Turning 3 Today!

Where has the time gone?! Christopher's 3rd birthday was today! It sure doesn't seem like 3 years ago when I went to the hospital to give birth! WOW!

We didn't do much today; it was rainy and dreary, so, except for going to the grocery store, we stayed home. We celebrated on Saturday with a small gathering at our house. We did a Mickey Mouse theme, had balloons, pizza, cake, a craft (Mickey Mouse Shrinky Dinks) and gifts. There were 4 kids, including Christopher, and they mainly played in his room while the adults ate and chit-chatted.

When it came time to open gifts, Christopher was completely overwhelmed! He didn't know which gift to open first. When he did get started, he'd get frustrated (usually because of ribbon or tape) and go on to the next one. We got through all of our guests' gifts and then took a break for cake. We finished the rest afterward. After that experience, I'm thinking Christmas will be an all day thing! LOL!

He got lots of really neat gifts! They included: a Color Wonder Thomas coloring book and markers from Aunt Mindy; a chalkboard/dry erase board from his friend Anna Grace; 'The Big Blue Book' by Dr. Seuss from his friend Jackson; a Cars stick-n-lift wall decoration and a bears board box puzzle from his friend Journie; a Curious George doll and book from his friend Lilly; a toolbox and tools from Aunt Cheryl; an ambulance (with lights and siren!) from Grandma; a Webkinz Black Lab, a Fisher Price Computer Cool School and some Pez candy from Granddaddy; a giant 'Finding Nemo' search and find book and some clothes from PawPaw and Nana Patti; a Fisher Price Kid Tough camera, a Hot Wheels race track and extra cars from Mama and Daddy.

Here are a few pictures:

The Birthday Boy


The balloons


The cake was made by a friend from church


Singing 'Happy Birthday'


Daddy cutting the cake


Eating his cake (and showing off his black teeth)


Close-up


Grandma helping Christopher with his craft


The finished craft...Mickey Mouse Shrinky Dinks

Opening his gifts...'The Big Blue Book' from his friend Jackson


...an ambulance from Grandma

...a camera of his own

...safety goggles and a screwdriver from his tool set from Aunt Cheryl

...Pez candy from Granddaddy

Posing with Aunt Mindy

Friday Fill-Ins

Sorry I've been MIA this week. Not too much going on yet; the weekends will be the busiest. We decked the yard and living room with Christmas decorations last weekend. Thanks to Richard, Shad put up our icicle lights for the first time in 3 years. They also put up the net lights on our bushes, the rope lights on our porch railing and our tomato-stake Christmas tree. I'll post those pictures in a separate post. This one is for Friday Fill-Ins!

1. Snow...bring it on!

2. I'm looking forward to Christopher's birthday and then Christmas.

3. December is the best (and busiest) month ever!

4. One of my favorite old tv shows is Little House on the Prairie.

5. I'm done with absolutely nothing...still working on everything.

6. The most enjoyable thing around the holidays is the atmosphere (not including crazy stores and malls!).

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to Domino's pizza and chicken (sad, I know), tomorrow my plans include a trip to The Discovery Center with Christopher and Shad in the morning, a birthday party in the afternoon and Shad's work Christmas party in the evening and Sunday, I want to watch the Titans win #12!

Black Friday Fill-Ins

Better late than never!

1. My stomach is very finicky.
2. A little bit of everything is what I ate the most of on Thursday.
3. The yard and house are almost completely decorated for Christmas.
4. At the beach is where I'd rather be at any given time.
5. The smell of burning leaves reminds me of Autumn.
6. Sleep is what I need right now!
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to watching 'Polar Express', tomorrow my plans include putting up the Christmas tree and other inside decorations and Sunday, I want to finish the one outside Christmas decoration that's left!

Happy Thanksgiving and Black Friday!

I didn't get to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving yesterday since we were in West Tennessee, so I'll do that today! I hope everyone had a great time with friends and family! We enjoyed our visit with Shad's grandparents, aunts and cousins. Christopher had lots of fun playing with his cousins. He was so exhausted that he slept in until 9:30 today!! We spent Wednesday night with one of Shad's cousins who's married and has a 3-month old baby boy. Being around him and another newborn made me realize that I have absolutely NO baby fever! Instead, I'm suffering more from Doggy Fever! LOL! I really want another small lap-dog, so will start looking into it more after the holidays.

As for Black Friday...I did my part in stimulating the economy. Did you?? I decided to brave Wal-Mart around 9:00 this morning. It wasn't too terribly bad: the parking lot was normal, the inside was a bit crowded, but it was all centralized to the Toys, Electronics and sale isle (all of which were areas I needed :p). Sale items I snagged were: 2 pairs of pj's for Christopher ($4/pair...too bad I didn't know the style is snug, so 24M wouldn't fit him right!), Kung Fu Panda ($9) and Ratatoille ($10). I also finished up Christopher's shopping by getting him a Hot Wheels race track. Later this evening, I also did some shopping online, but I won't go into those details since the recipients may be reading. ;-)

Richard came down this morning, so after my shopping excursion, we all worked on outside Christmas decorations. We haven't put up the icicle lights since getting our metal roof 2 years ago, so Shad didn't know it's nearly impossible to hang lights anymore. So, we had to find a ladder to borrow. Once we found one, things went fairly quickly. After icicle lights, the guys started working on the tomato-stake Christmas tree, but ran out of lights before finishing. So, I made my 2nd trip to Wal-Mart. Unfortunately, I got the WRONG ones (who gets white lights on WHITE wire??), but I decided not to make a 3rd trip today, so will exchange them tomorrow. The guys then moved on to the net lights on the bushes and the rope lights on the front porch before finishing just in time for it to get dark. Shad will finish the tomato-stake Christmas tree on Sunday afternoon since the Titan's don't play. I'll attempt to take pictures and post them when it's all finished.

Shad's going to be gone tomorrow to the final UT Vols game, so it'll just be me and Christopher for most of the day. Since I didn't get to work on the inside Christmas decorations, that's what we'll do. I'm sure having Christopher's help will be lots of fun! LOL! I'll take pictures and post when that's all done, too.

Fall Pictures

On Sunday afternoon, before Shad chopped the leaves up in the backyard, I raked a pile for Christopher to play in. Boy, did he have a BLAST!!! Here are some pictures from our playtime: