Friday, December 27, 2013

merry & bright

Well, our Christmas may not have been white, but we have made our days merry and bright!

 
Christmas is an excellent excuse for cooking and baking decadent treats!  And ya know I love a good treat.  The girls and I made some sugar cookies one afternoon and then we decorated them all together that evening. This year we also baked molasses cookies, chocolate chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter kiss cookies, and peanut butter nutella cookies. And I made english toffee and fudge.

 
We went to Lights of the South for the third year in a row and visited with Santa there.  I LOVE that he greeted the kiddos with a big "Ho, ho, ho!" and "Look how much you've grown!" Jake and Amelie had no problem being set on the well-worn lap of this legendary fellow. If Jake looks under dressed compared with the other kids, it is because he was. He lost his coat somewhere the day before we went here.  We layered his shirts up, but he was still a little chilly. Going coatless in Georgia isn't exactly a crisis in my book though.

 
He recovered nicely with a hot cup of cocoa and roasted marshmallows around the fire.


 
Christmas morning was so joyous and fun with a houseful of littles this year.  Every gift brought exclamations of "oh WOW!" from Jakey.  You wish you had straw glasses too, huh?


Our artist extraordinaire received so many new art supplies!  She set up at the kitchen table and got right to work writing a new book. Yesterday we moved all of her stuff to her room and set up a corner studio space.

 
My dad sent us their old Wii game system, accessories, and games.  Rob and Toby spent HOURS playing together on Christmas day! Toby was killing everyone at Swordplay.  It was hilarious to watch... except Jake didn't think so.  He doesn't appreciate being the little brother at moments like these.  I was really enjoying my new camera from Rob. This photo, taken with my old camera, would have been one big blur.

 
Let's not forget Miss Pinkness.
Smiley didn't have the best first Christmas ever I'm afraid.  In the past 10 days, we have been to the pediatrician three times- once for Jake who had bronchitis and an ear infection and twice with Amelie who had (and still has) the dreaded RSV. Charlotte had this as a baby and spent a week in the hospital because of it. So far, we have been able to avoid the hospital by giving breathing treatments at home every four hours and nursing lots.  Hopefully, she will improve soon and not get any worse. She remains a super happy, well tempered baby... though not as great of a sleeper these past two weeks, and more demanding of being held and cuddled, and Rob and I are feeling pretty worn down. 
 
That said, it has still been a very Merry Christmas around here.  We are so thankful for our many blessings, and family and friends are at the top of our list of those!  We hope that Santa was good to you this year, and that you also felt the warmth and joy that accompanies the Spirit of Christ during this season.  We'll see you in 2014!


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