Four Christmases, Make that Five

Well, I just got all of our decorations put away and I am thinking back to what a wonderful holiday we had this year. I really can't believe how busy we were. It really is unbelievable, all that we did in one short day. I will give you a rundown....

It all started at 12:30 am Christmas morning when Evelyn genuinely thought it was morning. We were woken up very sweetly, but had to tell her to go back to bed. Ian spent the next 30 minutes comforting her because she was so upset that she did that. She is so tenderhearted. Well, we were able to sleep until 6:30 am.

Start - Christmas 1. The kids got their gifts from Santa and we opened our gifts as a family. It was wonderful.

Start - Christmas 2. We arrived at Ian's Grandmother's house for brunch at 10:00 am for the big Ruff Christmas. There was a very nice mimosa waiting there for me. Mmmm. We exchanged gifts between all the Great Grandkids and then did the adult gift exchange. Very much fun. We actually did not bring the lemon gifts this year! We headed back to Ian's mom's house around 1:00.

Start - Christmas 3. Back at Kim's house, we exchanged gifts between Mama, Ian's sister and her family, and us. It was lots of fun. Mama got a new TV so after that was set up, we got to play the new Wii that Mama got from Santa. She must have been very good this year. Then, the boys had to fry a turkey for Christmas number 4.

Start - Christmas 4. At 4:00 we had to drive to Irmo to arrive at 5:00 for the Boyd family Christmas. This is when the kids finally conked out in the car for a nice hour nap. We had a delicious dinner, and dessert. The kids played themselves silly and the adults had a gift exchange. We left Irmo and headed back to Saluda, arriving at 10pm. Oh what a day.

Sunday marked the start of Christmas 5 in which we celebrated with my family at our house. We had lots of fun with the cousins playing. It was Durham's first Christmas, although he slept thru most of it. I don't blame him. If I was only 2 weeks old, I would be sleeping too.

Next year, we are staying at home.

And finally....my family

Well, we finally made our family picture this last weekend with a trip to the Merry Christmas Tree farm. This is our tradition and the kids LOVE it! First it was a long game of hide and seek. Then, Owen helped cut the tree down while Ev and I sipped on our hot chocolate. Thanks to my new tripod, and the self timer, we were able to get our photo. Merry Christmas!!!

Happy Birthday Durham!!

I was lucky enough to be able to visit last night for a couple hours. These pictures were taken when he was about 7 hours old. He really is perfect in every way. Congrats Sheri and Keith!

Mmm, cookies!

Thank goodness for Oreo's! It was a beautiful, yet perfectly cloudy day to take pictures of this wonderful family. Thanks so much for taking the time out of your busy day to capture some sweet moments. I am really enjoying getting everyone's Christmas cards with their pictures on them:)

Ralph the Elf

So, we had a little elf show up on the shelf this morning. They named him Ralph - short for Red Elf. I have to admit he is a cutie patootie. Evelyn was a true believer from the start, but Owen is quite the skeptic. For a solid hour he asked every question imaginable about elves. I was about to go crazy. I finally had to tell him I don't have all the answers. In fact, he is still asking me questions as I write this. I warned his teacher this morning, and sure enough, he continued with the inquiries all thru school. The cutest part happened this morning when both kids stood on the chairs with their christmas lists and held them in front of Ralph. Evelyn read her list very clearly. She is convinced he is looking at her wherever she goes. Owen thinks he is an old toy that Daddy got out of the attic. I guess we will see their reaction when they find him tomorrow morning!