Christmas 2010-- Part 1

Our Christmas weekend began on the 23rd when Aunt CC and Aunt B came to our house. They kept Mason so that we could go to the Raines' Tacky Christmas Sweater party. I wasn't feeling that great and ended up getting a fever that night. So first thing Christmas Eve, I headed to the doctor and got some drugs for an upper respiratory infection. I started feeling better by Christmas Day.

headed to the party

After I got home from the doctor, we started making cookies for Santa. Granna showed up just in time to help decorate them. Mason had a blast pouring the sprinkles on.

Finished cookies. Not the prettiest, but Santa liked them anyway!

Later in the day, Pops and his parents showed up. We all went to the candlelight service at our church. It was beautiful! We took Mason to the nursery, but went and got him before we lit the candles to sing Silent Night. He was amazed by all the fire and loved hearing the music!




After church, we came home and ate our traditional Christmas Eve meal, chili. We let Mason play a little bit longer before getting ready for bed.

This boy is loved by his Aunties!

Donna brought our annual Christmas wine glasses for us to drink out of. I had sparkling pink lemonade this year. :)

Putting out the reindeer food

All the Christmas gifts! We are blessed!

Next up, it was time to open our one gift, which is always new pajamas.

Picking out just the right cookies for Ho Ho

Ho Ho came!

Coming down the stairs

Checking it all out

This train set was a winner!

This is all Mason's! Think he is spoiled?!

Granna got him a Woody. It is his new best friend!

We decided this year to draw names to decide who prepared which dish for lunch. We ordered a ham and then each of us made a side. Here we are cooking away...

Playing with Pops

I was excited to get to use my china. I think the table turned out pretty!

best attempt at a self-timer shot

I forgot to get pictures of all the food but we had ham, blue cheese and pear salad, a green bean casserole, stacked corn casserole, and three cheese potatoes. It all turned out so good! Here is the dessert I made- Chocolate Banana bread pudding. Yummy!

Playing with his new truck

Putting on a dance show for us after bath

Mike and his parents left after lunch on Saturday since they had such a long drive back. We all took naps and then Donna, Caroline, Sarah and I went to see Black Swan. Caroline had to drive back to Dallas that night to catch a flight the next morning. On Sunday, Donna, Sarah and I decided to make Pioneer Woman's homemade cinnamon rolls. It was an all day project and took all of us to get them made. They turned out so so good!

All the supplies

Finished product!!

Here is one more shot of our little stinker. He loves his Buzz boots and Woody! He cried when he had to take his boots off for nap and put them back on immediately after he woke up!

We have my whole family coming in this weekend to celebrate Christmas part 2. Should be fun getting Mason and his cousins together!

Christmas traditions

I have always loved Christmas, but I have to say that I have loved it a million times more after becoming a mom. I think this year is going to be the best yet: We are staying home for the first time and Mason is SO excited about Ho Ho and everything Christmas!


This year we started the Elf on the Shelf. Even though Mason doesn't understand the point behind it (that he is watching and reporting behavior to Santa) he absolutely loves looking for him everyday. Matthew named the elf, Roger. It wasn't my favorite and I haven't written down in the book yet (I'm going to wait to see if Mason names it something better next year), but it is pretty cute every morning when Mason wakes up calling out for Roger! He goes up and talks to him throughout the day and tells him goodbye and night night.

Opening up "Roger" and reading the story

One of the places Roger has been.

We also have this advent calender that I put Hershey's kisses in. He knows after dinner each night he gets his candy and loves to look for the correct number. Next year, I am also going to put a little activity in each box for us to do as a family.

If you know Matthew's mom, you know that she loves Christmas more than anyone! She is the only mom of adult children that I know of that still does Santa, and I love that! (Sadly, this is my first year not to have Santa come for me. She sends us all to bed early and stays up late making sure everything is just right. Last year, Matthew was a first time "elf" and helped her, but I thought I needed one more year for Santa to come for me! ha!) Anyways, every year since we have been married she gets me a Christmas book and some sort of Christmas decoration. It is always my favorite gift!

The first Christmas book I received

The basket of books she has given me. I love pulling this out of the attic each year.

This has to be my favorite Christmas decoration she has given me. She and Caroline went to Guatemala one summer and she found this hand-made clay nativity scene. She wrapped up each piece and carried it on the plane and luckily none of them broke! I keep this in my closet during the year because I can't stand the thought of something happening to it in the attic.

Another thing that I am so glad I started was getting a Christmas ornament from every place Matthew and I have been back from us dating until now. I also get special "firsts" and now I have started getting Mason Hallmark ornaments each year and try to find something that describes what he liked throughout the year. (this year it was Mickey and Buzz) This year we went to San Diego and to all the places in Europe so I got to add those to the tree. I love pulling out ornaments each year and being reminded of all the fun places we have been. Here a few new ones from this year:

Mason's first plane ride to San Diego

Our trip to San Diego in May

Our cruise ship. I also got one from each city visited.

I really love this Santa praying over a sleeping child. I have it next to the pictures of Mason with Santa. I can't wait until this cabinet fills up with pictures of all of our kids and Santa!

We have a few other traditions that we do on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day that I am so excited about. I will blog about them as we do them! Only a few more days and Matthew's family will be here to celebrate and then the next weekend my family is coming in. Should be a great holiday!