Well hello there, 2012. I suppose it's past time for me to do a Christmas post. I have been waiting to share Christmas pics here and on facebook because I have misplaced my camera and kept hoping it would turn up. Sadly, it still hasn't, so I'm just going to recap our holiday and share some pics that I got leading up to Christmas and some that Katie took on Christmas Day, the last day that I can remember seeing my camera. I can't even handle the thought of having absolutely no pictures of Mimi from Christmas! Thank goodness for Aunt Katie.
I am overwhelmed at how behind I am on recording our family' memories, so I will just make this mostly pics and try to do better from now on. I really want to do an update on everthing Amelia is up to these days soon. She is such a mess!
I'll start with a cell phone pic of her decorating her pink tree the day after Thanksgiving. This year was the year of enthusiasm. She was so excited about every little thing to do with Christmas. We had fun decorating her very own tree.
Amelia got to participate in the children's program for the first time this year. We were SO proud of her for standing up in front of the church like such a big girl and singing her songs.
Impossible to get a good pic of that many kiddos!
She was excited that Grammy came to see her. Papa had prior commitments at their church. Aunt Katie, of course, was also there but she was the one taking these pics, so no evidence of her, ha.
She also got to attend a fabulous party with her Mission Friends class.
Mrs. Brenda and Mrs. Bethany did a great job with their party, and the kids had a blast decorating cookies and cupcakes. Have I mentioned how much I adore our church and the preschool department? Amelia LOVES going to church, and I love that she is learning about Jesus and the real Reason for the season at such a young age.
We got to spend a day with Baby Jackson while Mare was in a wedding during the holidays. How cute is he in this onesie I made for him?
We made our annual trip to the Mall of Lousiana with Lindey and Pailyn to see Santa. You may recall that we haven't had a successful photo with Santa since she was 8 weeks old.
Well, my friends, we had success this year! This isn't a great pic. I was trying to sneakily break the rules of no photos, ha. I do have the actual ridiculously overpriced photo that we purchased, and I plan to scan it and include it here for our memories. She had a big ole grin on her face and I loved every second of it.
She was so excited to meet Santa, and although she hesitated just for a second, she hopped on up in his lap and told him that she wanted a princess castle and "a lot of colored lipsticks." Of course, this was after she had requested a dollhouse for the past couple of months. She saw a commercial for the Disney princess castle about a week before Christmas. We had to tell her that Santa had already made her dollhouse, ha.
We had a lot of fun playing at home in the days leading up to Christmas. This was an especially fun day because she got a new teaset in the mail from Uncle Chris and Aunt Kaki. We immediately had to have a goldfish picnic on the living room floor.
We also made some cookies for Santa. She was really pumped about it here, but lost interest while they were baking. Oh, and Grammy and Papa stopped by to play.
I ended up having to finish most of them myself. She did add a few sprinkles though.
And then, the day finally came! Even though she had some sassy and not-so-well-behaved days this year, Santa still thought she had been a very good girl and brought her a dollhouse, a lot of colored lipsticks, some books, some Dora bath toys, some DVDs and her very first basketball goal!
We had to wait forever for her to wake up on Christmas morning. When she finally did, she was a little groggy and didn't go as nuts as I had hoped, but she was still very excited. We have it all on video and I took some photos, but you know, the whole camera being lost thing is preventing me from sharing.
Luckily Katie came over before we got ready for church and snapped a few pics of Mimi and her new stuff.
Last year as a family of three at Christmas! (My face was totally swollen here, I'm sure due to the excessive amount of salty foods I consumed on Christmas Eve, ha.)
On Christmas Eve we went to my grandparents house, as usual. Since my grandfather just passed away in October, it wasn't exactly the cheeriest of days for everyone there, so I didn't take many photos. After church on Christmas Day, we went to Cliff's Aunt Lisa's to have lunch with their side of the family, and then we went to my parents' that evening for supper. Katie came along with us, so that's why I have a few pics from that night.
By this point in all our holiday running around, I am always dragging. These babies looked like I felt that night!
But when they woke up, they were ready to go!
Amelia got a ridiculous amount of gifts from my parents and siblings. She is such a blessed little girl!
Pretending to be a country girl with my brother's grunt call. (At least I think that's what it is called.)
We were so glad to have the Walkers home from Alabama to celebrate our first Christmas with sweet baby Jackson.
I am so crazy about my precious nephew! He is seriously the happiest, sweetest baby ever.
This little girl is pretty crazy about her aunt too.
We are SO incredibly blessed to have great families, a wonderful church and so many wonderful friends. Amelia got an insane amount of gifts this year, but I hope in years to come she will learn more about giving to those less fortunate than us, and all of the other things that go along with Christmas that don't involve getting presents. It's hard to believe that next year we will have a little baby boy crawling around in front of the Christmas tree. I'm pretty sure our fun has only just begun!
