Christmas Morning

On Christmas morning, Will and I got up about 7 and were able to fix coffee and read the paper before someone stirred about 7:30. Someone must have been a good girl because Santa had definitely come!

The first look

Santa's spread

Checking out the stocking

Snow White named her hamster Sweet Tea

Santa brought something for Miller and Murphy, too!

Beautiful Ariel

Stunning Belle

Taking Belle for a ride in her gymnastics leotard

This gives new meaning to "sleeping in your car"!

We changed outfits many times that morning, but we had one happy little girl on our hands! Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve, we met Nannie, Pops, Nana, and Erin at our church for their new family-centered service. It was a precious impromptu Christmas pageant with the Christmas story and carols. Perfect! I had no idea that Anna would be old enough to be in it, but when I asked if she wanted to, she emphatically said, "Yes!". She didn't even look back when it was her turn to go get her costume on.

Now I realize that due to being 9 months pregnant, I am hyper-emotional and prone to crying. However, I was not prepared for the rush of emotion when I saw Anna march out in her little angel costume. I lost it! I mean, ugly cry and everything. She was so proud of herself and kept waving at us and saying, "I can see baby Jesus!". It was so cute!

The proud angel

After the service we went to Erin's for a delicious dinner of salad and lasagna and dessert.

Then we headed home to get ready for Santa! Greg and Michelle were already in Winston keeping Harley and Riley for Sarah and Jason, so they met us at the house to hang out for a little while. Anna decorated her cookies and got the milk ready for Santa. Then we all went to bed to rest up for the big next day!

A Birthday Party for Jesus

On the Thursday before Christmas, a friend of mine had the precious idea of having a birthday party for Jesus at her house to help remind the kids about the true meaning of Christmas. Becky is that friend that all of us have that comes up with the cutest things, whether it be cooking or crafts, and could out-do Martha herself if she really wanted to. These friends are dear to us but make all of us feel slightly inadequate from time to time (however, I digress). Anyway, despite this quality (ha), she has become a dear friend and the best part is that she lives right around the corner in our neighborhood. She and Nicole are the ones that wouldn't give up getting me to MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and for that I will be forever grateful.

We met at Becky's that morning and Jeremiah was so excited that "the two Annas" were coming over (Nicole has an Anna, too). Becky had made homemade cinnamon rolls the day before (told you), so the moms munched on breakfast and sipped coffee while the kids played for a little bit. Then, the action started.

Becky found the cutest nativity craft for the kids to do. With some simple small clay pots and some wooden balls, craft paint, and burlap, they made Mary and Joseph and baby Jesus. So cute!

Then we took turns blindfolding the girls so they could play "pin Baby Jesus in the stable". Jeremiah was content to just watch the girls be silly.

Finally, we baked some sugar cookies and let the kids decorate their birthday cookie with icing. We all sang "Happy Birthday" and talked about why we really have Christmas. It was such a fun morning!

Anna's Class Christmas Party 2010

Anna was SOOOOoooooo excited that I got to come into her class for their Christmas party. To tell the truth, I was excited, too, because since she is in the drop-off and pick-up line this year, I have only seen the inside of her classroom a couple of times. I was eager to see what she "lived in" on her days at school. The kids had just come back from music with Mrs. Davis when the moms arrived and we laid out the spread of reindeer cookies, fruit, cheese, pretzels, and juice boxes. The kids definitely did not need lunch after school that day!

The moms chatted with Miss Susan and Miss Jane about the different personalities in the class and it was fun to see all the kids after hearing names for so long. The part that frustrated me was that after the party, the kids were allowed some free time to play and Anna turned into this whiney, wild maniac who would not listen to me or the teachers. Miss Jane reassured me that Anna was usually "so good". I hope that she is, minus those couple of times she has hit someone over the head with a toy and has gone to time-out this year. Why is it that kids save their worst behavior for when Mom is present? Gotta love it!

The Great Cookie Experiment

At the beginning of the school year, I signed up to help with Anna's class Christmas Party with two other moms. I had found this really cute reindeer cookie recipe, so I offered to try it out for the party. Last Monday morning, Anna and I took over the kitchen to make cookies. The reindeer cookies were the easy part. We baked the sugar cookie dough, pushed on the pretzel antlers and then used icing and M&Ms to make the eyes and nose. They turned out so cute!

We had quite a bit of dough left over and I discovered some Christmas sprinkles in the cabinet, so I knew what I had to do. Don't get me wrong, I was loving this time with Anna and the tradition we were starting. However, I am extremely Type A, borderline OCD, and the thought of rolling out dough with flour and then letting Anna put on the sprinkles was making me anxious as I envisioned my kitchen post-baking. I took a deep breath, did some self-talk (along the lines of "the kitchen can always be cleaned up, let your daughter enjoy this opportunity to help make Christmas cookies"), and trudged ahead.

Anna loved helping with the flour and decided we needed to make teddy bear, sleigh, reindeer, and Christmas tree cookies. She played while the cookies baked and then it was time to put on the icing and sprinkles. I was icing the cookies and her job was to put on the sprinkles. I thought I was doing a fantastic job of "letting go" as I heard sprinkle after sprinkle hit the already-flour-covered floor when Anna looked at me and asked, "Mommy, why are you not happy?" I told her that I was happy and then she preceded to reenact the face that she had reportedly seen me wearing. Busted! Guess I wasn't doing such a great job of "letting go" after all. I explained to her that Mommy just isn't very good at being OK with making a mess, but told her that I loved making cookies with her. That'll have to do until the next perceptive observation from our 3-year-old comes along!:)

The Second Snow

The first snow of this winter season was after we left the UNC/Kentucky game in Chapel Hill. We were bummed because it had turned back into rain by the time we made it home, so Anna never really got to play in it. The second snow of the season was the other night and it started about 8 pm. Since Anna had missed the first one, we had to get bundled up and at least go out on the deck to enjoy it. I'm glad we did because it was pretty much gone by the morning. She had the biggest time eating the snow (not sure why she found this so amusing...possibly because the dogs were eating it, too. I don't know). It was beautiful for the hour or so that it lasted. I wish it would stop teasing us and give us a good snow to play in!! They are calling for some on Christmas night, but that would be way too good to be true!

The Chef

Talley and Block came up for the annual Hege Christmas Party and stayed with us for a night. It was wonderful because we finally had time to sit back and relax and enjoy each other's company. (Little did we know that Talley would go into labor 2 days later and be stuck on bedrest, but I digress.) They brought Anna a couple of Christmas presents which she LOVED. One was a V-Tech princess wand that you have to "wave" to answer different questions for the different princesses. Block was quite knowledgeable about the workings of this wand, which cracks me up imagining him sitting and playing with it so he could show her what it did. Hilarious! The other gift was this adorable chef apron, hat, and oven mitt. Anna wouldn't let me take a normal picture of her, so I had to chase her around the house to get one. Pretty good if I do say so myself!