A Christmas to Remember

Another wonderful, magical Christmas has come and gone.  It seems that every year is comes quicker and quicker.  We did so many fun activities to celebrate the season and it all led up to a very special day.  

On Christmas Eve I wanted to do one more walk through the mall......not to buy anything but just to soak up the last little bit of Christmas frenzy.  I tend to do all my shopping online and I realized that I actually only went to the mall maybe once since before Thanksgiving.  After a quick lunch at Panera and a brief stroll, we headed back home.  Savannah and I had cookies to decorate for Santa and we didn't have much time left.  

At 5:30 we attended the family Christmas Eve service at church.  It really is the longest 30 minute church service ever.  Having a heavy, squirming toddler in my lap and a whining preschooler asking every minute "how much longer til Santa comes" really makes the time go by slow.  After a few Christmas carols, a short children's book, and a reading of Christ's birth it was finally time to head home for dinner.  We had Savannah's favorite dinner, spaghetti and meatballs, and then it was time to throw out the reindeer, take a bath, and put little man to bed.  Savannah stayed up a little later so she could prepare Santa's snack.  Then it was off to bed.  After a couple of stories she was sound asleep.  

decorating Christmas cookies

throwing out the reindeer food

picking out a few special cookies for Santa

all ready and waiting for Santa

Surprisingly everyone slept in Christmas morning.  Walker woke up around 7:30 and shortly after we had to wake Savannah up so we could all go downstairs and see what Santa brought.  Evidently everyone was on the nice list because there were goodies everywhere.

HE CAME!!!!

the first glimpse of their gifts

W went straight for the car while S inspected everything else

our little stud

going through her Santa gift bag

W didn't quite know what to make of it all

S passing out all the gifts

W with all his Santa gifts

apparently he preferred the boxes over what was inside

my happy babies

taking the car out for a spin

Since this was our first Christmas with just the four of us I decided that I wasn't going to cook a huge meal and be stuck with tons of leftovers.  So we headed to the Carolina Inn for a delicious lunch.  We were even sat in our favorite room, the blue and yellow one, which made the whole meal even more special.  After indulging in a few too many desserts we returned home to spend the rest of the day in our jammies and to playing with all our new toys.  

The day ended all too soon and everyone went to bed happy, healthy (well except for a slightly sick Oscar), well fed, and very grateful.  Grateful for all that we have, all that we received, and all the wonderful memories that were made.  So with that said, Merry Christmas to All and to All a goodnight!