Our Christmas

Time, slow down! We have been enjoying every minute of the Christmas break; I just wish it wasn't going by so fast! I worked through last Thursday, the 21st and Boomer worked an extra day through Friday, the 22nd. In the days before Christmas, Emmy was still recovering from HFM, so she spent that week back at Grammy Daycare. It was like the old days when my mom was watching her fulltime. We are so thankful that Grammy and Grandpa are close by! We were careful to keep Emmy away from her cousins which meant separate cookie baking sessions this year. Usually we would make cookies together, but we did not want to risk passing it along, so Emmy baked solo, and then Maddox and Zander did the same on a different day. Emmy loved using the cookie cutters and also tasting the finished product.

 On the 23rd, we went to see Wake Forest play Tennessee. It was Emmy's first college basketball game, and we sat at the tip-top so that she would have space to move around. She liked imitating the buzzer and copying her Daddy as he cheered. We may not have the money to afford it, but we are certainly raising her to be a Demon Deacon!

On Christmas Eve, we went to church that morning. Partially because of Emmy's sickness but also because of the holiday, we decided to keep Emmy in the service with us. She was relatively quiet, but she got pretty squirmy during the sermon. Needless to say, she will be back in the nursery next week!  :)

On the evening of Christmas Eve and again for breakfast on Christmas Day, we celebrated with my family. Emmy got a special book from Aunt M with her name in it, and a touch-n-learn teddy bear from Grammy and Grandpa. They also gave her several cute outfits for spring and summer -- laundry! :) Santa brought her puffs in her stocking, and she was excited to break into those right away.

 

After breakfast on Christmas Day, we headed to Star to see Granny, Paw Paw, Aunt Carlin, Uncle Kyle, Goosie, Darby, and Emmy's cousins Trivett, Adelynn, Kessley, and Ellison. Emmy loved crawling around and inspecting the new gifts. The living room was covered in boxes and paper, and since Emmy loves all things that are not actually toys, she enjoyed checking everything out. In addition to an elephant mega-blocks toy and a shape blocks cube, she also got a new toy chest. It was so cozy being all gathered together, watching movies and eating holiday goodies.

We stayed overnight in Star and came home in the afternoon on the 26th. After getting back to Kernersville, we continued a tradition we started last year of seeing the Tanglewood lights. It's a tradition when you do it twice, right? We went last year after Christmas and found that the line was much shorter than during the pre-Christmas rush. Dressed in our jammies, we went through the Starbucks drive-thru beforehand for some warm yummy drinks for Mommy and Daddy. Emmy loved looking and clapping at the lights, and I already can't wait to see her reaction next year.

We are enjoying that wonderful lull between Christmas and New Year's, of sleeping in and meeting with friends. It was sad to pack away the Christmas decorations, but I know it will only be a blink before we are celebrating Christmas again next year. This year, I had a cute little helper to assist me.

We are so grateful for the gift of Jesus Christ to our dark and hurting world. Our prayer is that you have felt His Light in your life this holiday season. From our family to yours, we hope you had a very merry Christmas!