Let it Snow, Let it Snow, Let it Snow

When Adair woke up the day after Christmas, the first thing she said was that she wanted to go play in the snow. So, after breakfast, Adair, Ben, Kate and Lucy bundled up and headed out to play. They only lasted about 20 minutes, but they had a blast! They sledded, threw snow balls and stomped in the snow to their hearts content. Adair's only disappointment was that their wasn't enough snow on the ground to build a snowman.

Happy Birthday to Jesus

On Christmas night, we had a birthday party for Jesus with all of the kids. We gathered around the cake and candles and Gabby, Adair, Kate, Max, Kyle, Ben and Lucy sang at the top of their lungs.

"Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to you.
Happy birthday to Jesus,
Happy birthday to you!"

So, this is Christmas!

This Christmas was so much fun and so special. Adair was really excited to celebrate Jesus's birthday and for a week leading up to Christmas day she would ask, "Is today Jesus's birthday?" I am so happy that the first thing she thinks of when someone mentions Christmas is Jesus.

Anyway, we had to wake Adair up at 8:30 am to open gifts. (I am sure this will be the last or next to last year for that.) As soon as she got up, we sat in the floor of her room and read the Christmas story. Once we finished, she asked to hold baby Jesus (from our nativity), so we gave him to her and she quietly whispered, "happy birthday, baby Jesus". You'll see in the pictures below that she carried him around for a while.

We snapped a picture of her sitting at the top of the stairs and then let her come down to see her new toys. The first thing she saw was the filled stockings, then as she rounded the corner she spotted the dollhouse, cradle and wrapped gifts. She was so excited about each gift that we had to open and play with each new toy. She got food, pots and pans, and dishes for her kitchen, Hi Ho Cheerio, and rain gear (boots, coat, umbrella).

After we finished opening the gifts, we had breakfast together and then headed to Atlanta to spend the weekend Hank's family. As we were packing the car it started to snow! We left before it started to stick, but as we drove the grass on the side of the road started turning white. The "experts" in the newspaper said it didn't constitute a white Christmas because the amount of snowfall was immeasurable, but it's going down as a white Christmas in my book and the first I can remember!

Twas the Night Before Christmas

This Christmas Eve we celebrated the coming of our Lord and Savior at a wonderful service at our church followed by dinner at home with Nona (my mom), Joe-pa (my dad) and Mama Alice (my grandmother).





After dinner we opened gifts and then it was time to get ready for Santa, well sort of. Originally, Adair had asked Santa (via letter) to take her gifts to Nona and Joe-pa's house and let them bring them to her. Well, a week or so before Christmas, she decided that she had a new plan...Santa should send Aubie with her gifts. I have no idea how she concocted this plan, but we went with it. She was freightened by Santa coming into her house while we slept, but not Aubie (man vs. animal maybe?). So, Adair left a handmade finger print card addressed to Santa and Aubie, an orange for Aubie (fitting, right?), a cookie and a cupcake (in honor of Jesus's birthday) for Aubie to take to Santa, and grapes and a carrot for the reindeer (I guess Aubie was borrowing Santa's sleigh in Adair's mind).




After the treats were ready it was off to bed for our little one for dreams of sugarplum fairies and Aubie in a sleigh with jinglebells.

Merry Christmas (and War Eagle)!

A Favorite Family Tradition

A couple of days before Christmas, Adair, Nona (my mom) and I made Christmas cookies together. This is something we used to do together every Christmas when I was a little girl. Fortunately, Nona invited us to her house for this project and boy was I glad when I saw the mess we made! Perhaps this is a grandmother thing, but Nona is much better at letting Adair do things by herself, regardless of the mess she knows will follow, than I am. Adair had the best time measuring, dumping, stirring and using the cookie cutters, but her favorite part was eating them, which is no surprise. We iced the trees with green icing and sprinkled them with little disc sprinkles that looked like ornaments. Unfortunately, my camera battery died before I could get a picture of the final product, but they were adorable and delicious. I think this will definitely become a favorite family tradition.

Cookies, Icing and Sprinkles-On My!

Right before Christmas, Adair and I held our second annual Gingerbread Man Decorating Party. This has become a fun tradition at our house, so the Monday of Christmas week 15 two-year-olds converged on our house to decorate gingerbread men and celebrate Jesus's birthday with cupcakes and candles. We had a blast piling on the icing and sprinkles and making a mess! Some of the kiddos ate more of the toppings than they put on their cookie and others piled their cookies so high with toppings they wouldn't stick, either way, as you can see, we ALL had fun!

Santa Sighting in Homewood

Tonight we took Adair to visit with Santa at thE (long E, as she says) mall. As soon as we started talking about going to see him, she began to insist that she sit in Mommy's lap next to Santa. Having tried once already to get her to sit directly in Santa's lap when we went to Painting with Santa at Do It Yourself Crafts, I knew she was going to cling to me for dear life and scream the minute I leaned to put her in his lap. Knowing this, I decided to give in and succumb to being in the picture and she did great. She told Santa she was going to bake him cupcakes for his snack, leave carrots and raisens for the reindeer, and that she wanted a Veggie Tales toy for Christmas (this is the first I have heard of that and is not something her "Santa" has purchased).


After our visit, she talked nonstop about seeing Santa at thE mall. "Is Santa still at thE mall?" she asked. In the car "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" came on the radio and she emphatically responded, "Santa's not coming to town he's at thE mall." She was more-than-convinced that he was still at thE mall.

Well, after dinner, we drove over to see the coolest Christmas lights in Homewood. (It's a must see and the details are below.) We drive up and guess who is standing in front of the house? Santa Claus...Adair's response, "Santa's not at thE mall anymore...he's right there." She was completely mesmerized! Mesmerized by Santa and mesmerized by the lights. She would have stayed all night and watched the lights with Santa...as long as Mommy and Daddy didn't try to hand her over to him! It was such a fun surprise Santa sighting!



Now, about the lights. They are amazing! The homeowner, Larry, puts it all together simply for the joy of children and to see their little faces light up. If you live in Birmingham and you have small children, it's a Christmas must...and free! Visit 1648 Barry Avenue in Homewood and tune your radio to FM 100.9 (you have to turn it up pretty loud to hear the music) and enjoy! It's really neat and I think Hank and I enjoy going as much as Adair does. We will probably stop by every night this week.

Dear Santa

This is the first year that Adair has started to "get" the whole Santa thing. She is still not interested in sitting in his lap and telling him what she wants for Christmas or having him come down her chimney to leave her gifts, but she did "write" him a letter.

Last weekend, I was out of town for a wedding and I came home to find that she and Hank had written a letter to Santa. I can't help sharing it and hope you will be as amused by it as I was. I know you can just picture them sitting at the table drafting this letter.

Dear Santa,

I am looking forward to Christmas. I would like to ask that you take my gifts to my Nona and Joe-pa's house then they can bring them to me at my house on Christmas Day (before we go to Atlanta, please). I would like to have the following gifts:

1) Cupcakes
2) A bathtub for my little baby and big baby
3) A house for my dolls
4) Some pretend food for my kitchen

I have been a very good girl this year. I have gone poppy and tee-tee in the potty, I have been good at school, and I continue to try to obey Mommy and Daddy better.

Thank you,
Adair (2 years)

A few funny sidenotes:

Adair has been saying that she wanted Santa to take her gifts to Nona and Joe-pa's house for weeks now and she is always very specific. She came up with this idea all on her own.

When you ask her what she wants for Christmas she always says cupcakes or candy corn, so Santa has it pretty easy this year.

The other items on her wishlist were obviously prompted by her Daddy who knows what is wrapped up under the tree.

Lastly, she is very emphatic about her age right now. Any time someone asks me how old she is and we respond with "two and a half", she quickly corrects us with, "no, mommy, I two years". So, I am sure she insisted Hank include her age in her letter.

I wish I could have been a fly on the wall to observe the conversation that produced this letter. It truly warms my heart to imagine such a special moment between a daddy and his little girl. Maybe this will be his Christmas tradition...helping write letters to Santa.

Adair's Gingerbread House

I am all about creating traditions for our family, especially at Christmas time. This weekend we started what I know will be a fun tradition that we will look forward to every year...decorating a gingerbread house. With the ready-to-decorate kits available now, it's an easy project and not too terribly messy. Adair looked forward to it from the second we mentioned it to her and couldn't wait to get started. She loved bounding the pepperints to crush them, putting the "raindrops" (aka gumdrops), candy balls, and peppermints in the icing, and licking her fingers. She was very proud of the finished project, which is now displayed front and center in our kitchen.