Only 11 More Months Until CHRISTMAS!

Rather than say that this Christmas post is late, let's just say its purpose is to help us get in the mood for next year!  Here are some pictures from our cozy Christmas in our little blue house on Derby Wharf.  My parents and Matt's parents and sister were all able to join us again this year.  It might be the last year we are all able to be together like that since Michelle will be venturing off to wedded bliss and, HOPEFULLY, Becky will live closer next year to make it easier for my parents to visit with her at the Holidays.  Not that I don't love having everyone at our house.  I just know that each year brings surprises and new situations.  So, this year, I went all out decorating and we all enjoyed a blessed Christmas with our little Callie Mae.

Callie's Christmas actually started a week early when we visited everyone on the mountain.

 

This is how the tree looked when Callie got up Christmas morning.  Her "Santa" presents included a kitchen, a cart full of food, a hedgehog beanbag chair, a stuffed horse and Tickle Me Elmo.

 

Grampy (aka "Yoo-Hoo") requested a special shirt for the season.  It says "All I want for Christmas is Yoo-Hoo" although I don't think Callie minded having the three other doting grandparents around!

 Many presents required assembly this year.

 Callie has a sixth sense for knowing when a new looking food is a dessert.

 Cute Callie faces!

I couldn't resist posting the next two photos.  The first is apparently proof that a girl's best friends is actually tupperware, or at least its Dreama's favorite thing, by the look of joy on her face.  The second picture, well, I have no explanation for why my Dad appears to be having a stare-down with a toy horse.

 

 

 It's not Christmas around our house without the boys nosing in on the gifts and finding new places to nap.

 Chester is checking out Michelle's new shirt.

 Fat boy Ollie was disappointed the cart was full of fake food.

 Callie's present opening spanned several days due to her toddler attention span and the amount of gifts she had to open.  This is the reason she is wearing so many different outfits in these Christmas pictures.

 Playing kitchen with Daddy.

 She insisted on wearing her new hair clips all at once.  She should have shared one with poor hairy mommy.

 "Just set those presents right here and I will get to them later"

 Our delicious Christmas morning brunch was a group effort and consisted of Strawberrry and Banana smoothies, Sausage Stromboli, Scrambled eggs, Grits Casserole and homemade Cinnamon Buns. 

Sights and Sounds of Christmas Town

The sights were the beautiful lights and the sounds were Callie Mae's giggles of delight.  We went to Busch Garden's Christmas Town the night of our tenth wedding anniversary, thanks to Dreama and Steve's gift of tickets to the park.  It was a wonderful night for the three of us.  It started off with a slight mishap when we went to get Callie out of the car and realized that we (or should I say, I) forgot her shoes.  We had gotten her up from a nap, wrapped her in a blanket and rushed her to the car hoping she would just finish her nap on the ride to the park.  One of us grabbed Callie, one of us grabbed extra diapers and neither of us grabbed shoes.  So, Matt had the ingenious idea of putting some of his gym socks (left in the car from his workout, YUCK) on her feet and legs and then putting her socks on over them.  It worked and she stayed in her stroller wrapped up like a burrito most of the time anyway, so the shoelessness didn't put a damper on our evening.  Here are some pics from our 10 year celebration!  I wouldn't have traded this evening for any romantic trip to any location in the world.  It was a very special night for the three of us.


We arrived just in time for the start of a Sesame Street Live show.  As you can see, Callie LOVED it!  She got bored the last 10 minutes but we were surprised she lasted as long as she did.

 She enjoyed meeting a screech owl and looking at the Clydesdale Horses.

 There was also a live penguin exhibit that she enjoyed.

 Maybe in future years she will want to visit Santa's workshop and sit on Santa's lap.

 Her first carousel ride was very exciting for her as well!

 We stopped in for the show at the German Fest Hause and Callie danced on the table while watching the performers.  Her mouth is full of warm frosted pecans, yum!

 My favorite lights!  The purple trees with a twinkle of green here and there!

Obviously, the best part of Callie's night was getting to meet Elmo and Abby!  When she turned on that signature smile, every parent waiting for their own kid's turn went, "Awww!"  It was a very proud moment for the parents of this crowd pleaser!