Christmas 2015

I'm finally getting around to posting about Christmas. Better late than never! We started our Christmas morning by opening our stockings:

Sharon decided to get a "DigiBird" for all of her kids (and a DigiChick for Spencer, since he does research on chickens for the USDA). DigiBirds are cute, colorful birds that sing 58 different songs. They can be set to sing in "solo" mode or "choir" mode where they all sing together. These birds were a big hit with the kids, and they spent a long time looking at them before breakfast.

Sharon also gave my mom and me DigiBirds. We weren't expecting that, so we had a good laugh when we opened ours.

After we opened our stockings, we had our breakfast of cinnamon rolls and caramel pecan rolls with maple frosting. They were very good, as always. Then we started opening Christmas presents. Sarah, Rachel and Emily all got dolls for Christmas, along with a few outfits to dress them in:

Rachel is one of the most thoughtful little girls ever, and always gives very unique gifts. She gave her mom a picture she made. She gave her dad a card and a water bottle of acorns, and she made some sock puppets for my mom. She gave me a picture, although I didn't get a photograph of it. It's always interesting to see what Rachel's creative little mind comes up with!

Elizabeth wanted a down vest, and Katie really wanted Shola, an Afghani doll.

Rachel wanted to make Emily a little blanket for her dolls.

I gave Sarah this little stitchery project for her birthday last year, and she gave the completed project to me for Christmas:

Above: Rachel got Fashion Plates, which is perfect for for the little artist/fashionista! Below: Matt made this blue snowman for Grammy. He worked so hard on it! My mom put it on her bedroom door.

Above: My mom and I gave each other books for Christmas. I gave her My Name Used to Be Mohammed (and she gave me Miracles from Heaven). Kate got a 3D globe puzzle.

I gave Sharon a water bottle so that she can try to drink as much water as I do.

Chandra, Joe and Christian came over in the late afternoon for dinner and to hang out. Chandra made these beautiful wreaths for Mom and Sharon.

So glad we could spend another Christmas with the Leighs (our ninth one in a row). It would be fun to have some of my other out-of-town sisters spend Christmas with us, but it would be awfully far for them to travel. I'm just glad Sharon's family lives close enough and that they are willing to make the trip. If not, Christmas would just seem like another ordinary day!

Christian: Four Months Old

Christian is now four months old, and this boy just keeps getting cuter and cuter! At his four month appointment, he was 18 lbs. 13 oz. and 26 inches long. He's a big boy, and growing quickly!

I'll start with the cell phone pictures that Chandra sends me first. Christian likes to be read to. Here he is with two books: Bony Legs and The Little Mouse, the Red Ripe Strawberry, and the Big Hungry Bear. Bony Legs is a book that we first became familiar with when I bought it from a book order when I was in kindergarten or first grade. It's a great book, and one that we loved hearing my mom read when we were kids. The strawberry book was one of Chandra's favorites when she was a little girl, so I bought it for her a couple Christmases ago. I'm glad Christian is getting to know and love these books!

Christian was able to meet some very important people over the holidays… some of his cousins, and boy, were they excited to meet him! They all loved holding him, hugging him and kissing him! Sometimes they gave him a little too much love, but Christian was a good sport! Five-year-old Matt would try to protect Christian by saying, "You're overwhelming him!"

I can't believe with all of the pictures we took, that I didn't get a single shot of Sarah holding Christian! She was there, and she did meet him, although I don't have the photo to prove it!

Christian was asleep when it was time to open presents after dinner on Christmas, so his cousins helped him out. Here is a picture of him waking up, just in time to glance at the camera. I'm sure he'll love his presents.

This was a picture of Christian and his dad, Joe, on Christmas Eve. And to all a good night!