Christmas 09

What a wonderful time of year! Family, great food, old friends, reflecting on a year of growth and most important... Baby Jesus' Birthday (as Grace and Todd say). Those first days of December brought on an overwhelming feeling of "Where do I begin?" I had to slow down and remind myself to enjoy this time and the season and the reason for it all. Although I'm usually finished Christmas shopping by Thanksgiving, this year I didn't even make my list until the second week in December. It all worked out though. I got to take a weekend trip with family to go shopping and spend some much needed family time. It's also Cameron's very first Christmas. This year has been so incredibly amazing on so many levels. Our girls are growing so fast. I can't remember if I blogged about this already but wanted to make sure I wrote it down so you may be reading this twice.

Grace's Christmas Wish List:
1. A real Dinosaur
2. A Treehouse "Like the one you have to climb a tree to get in"

Madison's Christmas Wish List:
1. Rudolph chapstick (or snowman if Santa runs out of Rudolph)
2. Hello Kitty Purse or anything Hello Kitty
3. Rudolph stuffed animal

Could we have two more differently programmed children? haha. These two crack me up to say the least.

Dad's Family
This year we did Christmas at Dad's. It was wonderful. We'd gone a few weeks earlier and me, the kids and Brandi decorated a tree Dad bought for us. We even put ribbon on the deer. The house looked great. It was the first Christmas we've had there since mom and dad seperated so it was really special for us. And although I think it may have been a little hard on Dad he was great and put on a happy face for us. All of the family was there. We passed out presents to the little kids and then played Dirty Santa. Aunt Mary made the best fudge and Christmas candy as usual and Aunt Paulette made an okra gumbo just for Todd for his birthday. Nicole and Meagan came and I was proud of them both. I'm sure Meg was a little uncomfortable at first but she did well. Eventually I gave her "Cameron Duty" so she wouldn't have to just stand there but all in all I think they had a good time too.

Mom's Family
We had Christmas at Aunt Kim and Uncle Russell's. This is always a great place for Christmas. ALL of the little kids love it there. Uncle Russ has a huge wooden swing that I swear can touch the top of the tree's and they have a smaller tree swing with a seat for the smaller kids. There's more yard then the kids can ask for and it's always pretty relaxed. I don't know how they do it, each year we add a new grandbaby to the family and soon even their yard won't be big enough for us, haha. I've always admired them for all they do and how involved they are. They really are good to all of us.

to be continued when kids aren't asking for 10 things :)