Our Christmas 2012

When I got off work Friday (21st) we loaded up and headed to Batesville.  Essie was beyond excited to celebrate her first round of Christmas with my parents!  We opened presents Saturday morning when my brother, his wife, her two girls, and Haley came over.  There were a lot of girls in that one room and each one received a doll.  It was a doll heaven for sure!

Essie got the cutest little princess game, so we had to play it....

 

We came home Sunday so we could get the house ready, grocery shopping done before Christmas Eve.  We scrubbed the house down, went grocery shopping, and made reindeer food.

 

Christmas Eve came and we drove over to Heber to see my dad's side of the family.  We go pretty much every year...have since I was little.  My Uncle Tom read the story of Jesus' birth from the Bible and the new generation of kids played.  We didn't stay very long because we had to get home to get ready for our big Christmas. 

 

Later that night YaYa and Peepaw came down so they could celebrate Christmas Day with us.  Essie baked her cookies for Santa, sprinkled her reindeer food, listened for bells, and finally went to bed so Santa could put together that princess bike! Essie got to kiss Bobis goodbye...she wasn't happy to see him go at all.

 

Christmas morning arrived, we had to drag little miss out of bed and she tore into her gifts! 

 

 

After presents, it really started sleeting and freezing outside and it didn't take long before it started to snow.  We had our first WHITE CHRISTMAS!  We began cooking our big Christmas dinner and we ate while watching the snow softly fall outside...magical.

 

We had a wonderful Christmas together...even though we were missing Meemaw terribly.  We had a blessed time with the ones we love most!

 

 

 

 

 

December fun

I have just been too busy to regularly update the blog...I hate it but we just had too much fun in December! Here's what we've been busy doing:

Essie wrote her letter to Santa this year and gave it to him when she had her pictures made with him! She did soooo good and was so brave.  We got the most beautiful picture of her and Santa.

We went to the zoo with YaYa and Peepaw.

We decorated Gingerbread houses...they were just too gorgeous.

Essie had her dance open house.  She was supposed to be able to give us a preview of her recital but she freaked out halfway through and stood frozen & cried.  Nana, Pa, YaYa, and Peepaw all drove up to see her so we were really disappointed.  I think it was just overwhelming having that many eyes on her at once.  She did much better during the gymnastics session because we were not all in the room.

We made homemade gingerbread ornaments.

Essie had her Christmas program/party at school! Oh wow it was amazing! We had a huge potluck dinner and the kiddos sang for us.  The kids exchanged gifts with each other and Santa even came!  It was such a magical night and we are so blessed to have Jerry & Carol in our lives.  It took a lot for them to host...they even rearranged their entire house for it! They have been the biggest blessing for our little one.

We decked our house with lots of lights...

and spent many nights driving around in pajamas looking at Christmas lights.

And I cannot even count the number of Christmas movies watched, cups of hot cocoa drank, and songs that we sang! :)
I feel this past month we were able to spend so many nights making memories...happiness!

Bobis and Advent

Soon after Thanksgiving Wrapped up, Bobis arrived.  He had a North Pole Breakfast prepared for Essie when she woke up (she had a terrible rash that morning from her new jammies).  She was so beyond excited to meet him again and fell in love with finding him every single morning.  We did a much better job this year with him and he found all kinds of fun trouble to get into!  He brought her surprises and treats all the time. 

Another new tradition this year was we put the Advent calendar Meemaw made last year  to good use.  We are so thankful that she made it for us.  We hung in down low in the kitchen and Essie loved looking at it and counting the tags before December.  Once December arrived, the fun began.  Each day she got to turn over the tag on the tree.  Each day held a small treat and an activity for us.  Our activities ranged from baking cookies to gingerbread house decorating to Grinch parties to looking at Christmas lights.  She loved it and looked forward each day to our fun activity.  It did take some plannin and prep on our end but we cherish those fun moments with her! I cannot wait to do it all over again next Christmas.