Tag: christmas

Merry Christmas! Part 1

While most of the world has moved beyond Christmas, I’m still behind in posting and packing up. Early on Christmas Eve morning, Samantha woke up crying. She had gotten sick in her bed.
It was the first day of our holiday, and we started it by being sick. She had a bad cough, and when worked up, got sick. Otherwise, she was fine. We still participated in our normal Christmas
activities, like Christmas Eve brunch at my grandparent’s house. (Sorry – no pictures.) Then soup at my house and Christmas Eve mass. Here are some shots of Christmas morning.

Then we rushed slushed off to Brian’s parents’ house to have lunch!

slushy highway 157 at Battleground, AL

Zoolight Safari

It’s Sunday evening.  Sam is asleep and Ellie should be asleep.  It’s dark outside and it’s almost Christmas.  We realized that we had not taken the girls out to see Christmas lights.  Janie had the brilliant idea to go to the zoo.

Right now the Birmingham Zoo has “Zoolight Safari“.  I’ve never seen so many Christmas lights and decorations in one place.  Yes, there even was an entire 12′ by 12′ winter wonderland.  They had two snow-making machines near the entrance and since it was 38º, it stuck.  Most of the animals were not available, but the petting zoo was still open and it’s always a hit with Sam.  We got in free since we’re members so we just had to buy tickets to ride the train and carousel.  Both were quite decked out as well.  There was lots of music going and some of the lights were synchronized to the music.  Janie and I had Shazam going for several of the songs.

You should have seen Samantha.  She RAN everywhere and wanted to do everything.  Well, almost everything.  She wasn’t too keen on seeing Santa Clause (who by the way was sitting on a rather spiffy Zebra fabric chair).

Here Janie and “Baby” are posing as elves.

Ellie was a good sport all night (and never took that nap).  I guess she had plenty to look at.

Some of the decorations.  I was planning on making a panorama with Hugin, but my hands were too shaky.

Jingle Bell Carousel.  Check out the video.  Sam finally spotted me about the fourth time around and from then on yelled “Daddy!  Daddy!”

The Train Ride.  This is a big deal since Sam has been very weary of riding the train lately.

We plan on going back next week.  Anyone else want to come?

Sad Christmas Tree

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.

Christmas 2009

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!)