Kris-uh-mus!*

What a fabulous *Christmas we had!  We were able to spend lots of time with family, the gifts and thankfulness were aplenty, and the food was delicious.

We started the festivities on Christmas Eve as we headed to church in the icy-snow mix that gave us Texans our first white Christmas since 1926.  Nana, Jaja, and Gigi joined us (Pawpaw wasn't feeling so hot) and the service was great.  And a bit of a challenge.  The crackers, juice, lovey and passing between the adults were no match for the feisty 16 month old that is my daughter. All I can say is thank God for the camera roll on my phone.  It saved us there at the end when I thought she could last no longer.  I think hearing a toddler say "bay-bee" over and over again is preferred over the shrieking and fussing of her expressing her distaste at the containment.

After the service, we headed over to Saltgrass for an early dinner, and being the fantastic blogger/documenter that I am, I managed to get two photos.  And only of the men.  Sigh. 

(and yes, that's my son playing with an Equal packet and the wooden stand that advertises the specials, minus the sheet with the specials.  Hey, whatever works, my friends, whatever works.)

After dinner, Nana & Jaja headed back home but not before they dropped off some loot, err... gifts at our house along with the kids Christmas pajamas that Nana buys every year.  We bathed the kiddos and dressed them in their new jammies so that Carter and I could get busy making Santa's cookies.  And by making, I mean, breaking the dough into it's pre-cut squares and popping them into the oven for 10-12 minutes.  Because I'm true homemaker like that.

After the first break, Carter declared that the dough was icky and proceeded to help me by resting his hand on my arm while I did all the work.  Olivia "helped" too.

All done!  While the cookies were baking in the oven, we attempted to get a cute picture of the kids in their new duds.  Attempted is the keyword here.

Not quite the Kodak moment I was hoping for.

Carter thought dancing was more fun than posing, which, I suppose, it is.

Almost there...

They're both looking forward and smiling, right?

Perfect. 

Apparently, according to Daddy, you have to leave Santa a note with his milk and cookies.  It started out with me writing while Carter dictated, then he decided to take matters into his own hands.

Not sure what he wrote, but I'd like to think that it came straight from the heart.  Word on the street is that Santa will leave presents no matter what your letter says or how good your cookies are.

Once we were certain that Carter had been snoring long enough to be declared asleep, Santa brought in the gifts.  Nana & Jaja's presents and Santa's unwrapped gifts (thanks for backing me on this, friends) combined with the presents that were already under the tree took up half our living room (which isn't saying much in our small house, but still).

Olivia was the first one into the living room on Christmas morning, and I'm pretty sure she was still half asleep in this photo.  Carter woke up at 6:10, but since the grandparents weren't scheduled to arrive until 6:30, we held him off with a Barney episode in our bedroom until it was time.  Last year I'll be able to do that, I'm sure.

Who would have thought that a simple Jack-in-the-Box would be such a treasured toy?  There's a story there but I'll spare you since this is already the longest post ever in the history of posts.

Definitely her favorite present, by far.  There's another story here too, but again, I'll spare you.

Carter's new wheels.

It was at this point in the morning that I reliquinshed control of the camera to my dear, sweet husband, which basically means that the picture taking came to a halt.  Which is fine.. my mother-in-law took a ton, which I've posted to my facebook profile, if you're really that interested.  But trust me, it's just a whole bunch of paper flying, show-us-what-you-got poses and uber-UN-flattering images of myself.  Which will come in handy when I'm reminding myself why I asked for and received a Wii Fit this year.

Hope everyone else's Christmas was merry & bright!