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Some of you may know that we put up our Christmas decorations late, according to today’s standard, but also take them down late.  We wait until the Epiphany, or the 12th day of Christmas to take everything down.  It falls on January 6.  This year, we took down our Christmas stuff last weekend.

Both Brian and I took down ornaments off the tree, then he moved on to taking the lights off as I was boxing up the ornaments.  (Sadly, we did lose 2 glass ornaments when taking down our tree.)  This was the scene about half way through taking the lights off.

Oh my goodness.  I swept the floor after all was said and done.  Then vacuumed several times.  The vacuum got clogged and had to be cleaned out twice.  Poor tree.

I feel like everyone has moved beyond Christmas.  I am running a little behind, so I’m just getting around to posting our Christmas pictures.

Christmas started with brunch at the Betbezes on Christmas Eve.  I really like this tradition.  We enjoyed brunch then the kids began opening presents.  Samantha got lots of great gifts, but the #1 score (in her eyes) was a new shopping cart from Great Aunt Mary.  She barely had the patience for her daddy to put it together.  Goodness.

After naptime, we headed to mass.  It wasn’t as crowded as usual, so we actually had a whole pew to ourselves.  Our friend Kris took this family shot after mass.  It’s one of the few times that Samantha has actually smiled for the camera.  Thanks, guys!

We came home, had Chicken Tortilla Soup (yum) then nestled all snug in our beds.

On Christmas morning, we got up and opened presents.  Samantha got a few books and some hand glove puppets from Santa.  The hit was the Abby Cadabby magic wand book she got.  I like this shot because it shows Sam in her Christmas PJs and slippers, inspecting her new book.

As we were packing the car and getting ready to drive to Huntsville, I went to feed the cats.  We didn’t arrange for anyone to stop by because we were only going to be gone for a few days.  However, I discovered that we were almost out of cat food.  As in, we didn’t have enough to last a few days.  Uh oh.  It was Christmas morning, and I was sure that no store was open that carried our cat food.  Luckily, the Grissoms came to the rescue.  Thanks for buying our cats’ food and taking it by the house to feed them!!

We drove to Huntsville in time for lunch.  The kids were getting ready for their naps so we hurriedly opened presents.  Wow, what craziness.  If I had to guess a favorite from that bunch, it would be the keyboard from MamaLinda and Pop.  Now Samantha can play the piano and push lots of buttons while her daddy is playing too.  She loves dancing to the beat.

On Boxing Day, my mom and I went out shopping while the boys and kids went to the Train Exhibit at the Botanical Gardens.  I think it was a hit.  Of course, anything involving Jackson is sure to be lots of fun.  See a previous post.

On Sunday, we traveled over to Florence to spend some time with Brian’s family.  We enjoyed getting to see everyone.  We opened presents that night then spent a few days relaxing and playing games.  Samantha’s favorite gift was the rocking chair from Nana and Papa.  She loves it!  She also loved Chloe’s skirt and playing with wrapping paper, tissue paper and boxes!

We had a great Christmas!  Whew.  We were glad to spend a few days at home relaxing before beginning the new year!  Here’s one final picture of us in front of our tree at home.  (And you can see my new curtain in the background, and Samantha’s new white dot outfit from MamaLinda!)

What a treat for us today! We went to the McWane Science Center and had lunch at Newk’s afterwards. I’ll post pictures soon. When we first walked in, there were lots of big kids, so we weren’t quite sure how Samantha would do. However, we quickly found the toddler area, and she had a blast. She got to practice climbing stairs, went down a slide, played in some water, went aboard a space ship. Then, as she was getting hungry we took a short break for a snack then quickly strolled through the remainder of the museum. We saw a water exhibit with lots of fish and aquatic life, a train exhibit (Jackson would have been in heaven), dinosaurs and fossils, and lots of hands-on science experiment stuff. I think Samantha will enjoy it for many years.

We are ready to get back to normal life after our extended Christmas vacation. I think Samantha really enjoyed seeing all of her family. She seemed happy at each new place we visited and didn’t seem to mind that she was constantly surrounded by new people. She isn’t used to all her new toys just yet. She seems to be uninterested in most of them. If we play with one new toy, she is slowly getting used to it. I guess too many new things just throw her off balance. Life is full of change, little girl!

I was just thinking that we hadn’t posted any news in a while. Thanks for updating us, Brian. I must say, however, that the TiVo might have been on its last leg, but if our power didn’t keep going out, maybe it would’ve lasted longer. Does anyone else’s power go out all the time? Ugh – I don’t like Alabama Power. End rant.

Merry Christmas! I’m looking forward to spending some quality time with our family this year. Hopefully, we’ll get to see everyone at some point. I’m not looking forward to being gone for a week, but we should have a good trip and have some time to recover at home too.

In other news, dare I say something? I think Samantha is finally better. I know it’s just in time to be exposed to a whole new set of germs at Christmas. But, for now, we’re enjoying our happy Sam again.

And lastly, Happy Birthday Patrick!!