Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve "day" was very busy for us. We had to make Santa's cookies, give both Nathan and Charlotte a bath, get both of us showered and ready, put Nathan's gift from Santa together (a new big boy bike), lay Nathan down for an early nap, get diaper bags packed, presents loaded, and have an early gift exchange with Wayne's mom...all before 2:30! Before going to my parents' house for Christmas Eve dinner, we were going to the candlelight service at our church. Plus we had to have time to take pictures before! Whew! I'm exhausted just remembering back to that day! Since I have TONS of pictures, I'm not going to write a lot of captions.

The first few pictures are of Wayne and Uncle Chris putting together Nathan's big boy bike while Nathan took his nap. When he woke up, Auntie Carrie helped me get both kids dressed and then we exchanged presents with Grandmother before going to church. Nathan got to open presents from Wayne's brother's family that Helen brought back after a visit with them. And he LOVED getting piggy bank money from Grandmother and a box full of balloons! Those have given him hours of fun!















Nathan and Charlotte both went to the service with us and were SO good! Luckily it was only about 45 minutes long...they both reached the end of their attention span just as we were lighting our candles and singin Silent Night :) The service was beautiful. The music was amazing, and I felt so blessed to have such a wonderful family.

Afterwards, we headed to Mama and Papa's house for a chili dinner and to open presents. My sister Jennifer and her children, Alexandra and Robert, were there along with Carrie and Chris, Grandma, us, mom and dad, and Helen. It was a full house and full of fun! The kids started the night by playing "Hide the Pickle." This is a game we've played for years! Mom hides a pickle ornament and whoever finds it gets a money reward. Mom was very fair and let all of the kids get a chance to find it :)

Charlotte was awake for the first half, fell asleep on Papa, and then woke up in time for presents. After dinner, Nathan surprised everyone by putting on his Santa outfit to help pass out presents. He really played the part! He came out saying "HO, HO, HO!" And then had everyone take turns sitting on his lap while he asked what they wanted for Christmas. It was the cutest thing!

























Here is Nathan giving Charlotte her presents, a new flower bow, a pink poodle, and a snowman


This is the necklace we gave Carrie, don't you love it!


And Carrie and Chris gave me this makeup set...now I don't have an excuse not to look my best!








After we got home, Nathan got his cookies and milk ready for Santa...At first he wanted to put them under the tree and then was worried Santa would knock them over, so he and Daddy put them on the table. Good thinking Nathan!






And here is Daddy sampling the stocking stuffers after everyone went to bed :)

Decorating Cookies for Santa

On Christmas Eve morning, Nathan woke up bright and early...he's been asking if it's Christmas time for the past month! We started the morning by baking and decorating cookies for Santa. I was going to buy icing and sprinkles that were a little more "holiday" looking, but Nathan really wanted to use his special sprinkles for Santa :) Plus it saved me a trip to the grocery store, so who cares if they look more like birthday cookies!

Nathan is a master cookie designer if I do say so myself...Santa is going to LOVE these!

Putting Up the Tree

I forgot to post my pictures of Nathan helping us put up our Christmas tree...I'm a little overwhelmed with how many pictures I have and how behind I am in my blogging! I was really proud of us because we got the house decorated and our presents bought the weekend after Thanksgiving! We've never been that early! It was such a huge relief to have it all finished so that we could enjoy getting ready for Christmas.

There's Santa! While we were shopping for a few presents, we found this Santa outfit. It fit Nathan perfectly when he tried it on so we got it for him...he put it on again Christmas Eve when he helped pass out presents :)

Lunch at Neiman Marcus

While Nathan and Daddy were at The Gaylord ice exhibit, the girls went to a Christmas lunch at the Neiman Marcus store downtown. Helen came over to my house where we took a few pictures and then we met my mom and grandma at Grandma's apartment. We visited for a while and then headed downtown.

At first, I wasn't planning on taking Charlotte. Wayne was going to have the privilege of keeping BOTH of his precious children while I went to lunch. But then we found out about the ice exhibit and knew Nathan would love going to that (something you couldn't really do with Charlotte) so I decided to bring her with us. And I'm so glad I did! She was a perfect angel! During lunch, we took turns holding her in the beginning. She was completely happy playing with a spoon. And then she fell asleep on Helen's lap! I laid her in the stroller, and she slept through the rest of our lunch! We had a wonderful lunch, but most of all, we loved spending the day together doing something special.

Ice Sculptures at The Gaylord

Last Saturday, the boys and girls split up for the day. Wayne took Nathan to the Gaylord Hotel in Grapevine for their annual ice sculpture exhibit. This year's theme was Charlie Brown's Christmas. They use 2 million pounds of ice to create the sculptures and keep them frozen at 9 degrees! When you go in, they hand everyone a special parka to keep warm. Wayne said that even though Nathan's coat was child sized, it still hung to the ground :) Nathan liked looking at all of the ice, going on an ice slide, having hot chocolate and a cookie for a snack, and spending the day with Daddy. One funny thing Wayne told me was that when they were waiting in line, there was a "biker" guy in front of them with a long white beard wearing Harley Davidson clothes :) Wayne said that Nathan leaned over to him, pointed, and said, "There's Santa!"

But before they saw the ice, they got to see a miniature train exhibit.