Christmas 2009... in pictures

This Christmas was great.  We did the usual house hopping, but Christmas is so much more relaxed than Thanksgiving, where we have to cram it all in to one day.  This Christmas, we started off on Christmas Eve afternoon at Joey's dads house.

Taylor's Christmas went a lot like this picture:

 

... TONS of Star Wars.  Which is great, because he loves it so much.  He got Lego Star Wars, action figures, spaceships, light sabers...  He can never have have too much Star Wars!

Grandpa and Lynda gave Ashton one of her favorite presents - a super soft bear, who she named Frosty.

 

 

After Grandpa's house, we went to my parents.  We always spend Christmas Eve night with my family.

 

Ashton's Christmas went mostly like this picture - TONS of Littlest Pet Shop.  She loves LPS (as they call it) and that's all she asked for.

 

I got Joey a new watch for work, but when he opened the box, the watch didn't work.  Evidently I packed it too well and smashed the Indiglo light so it stayed on the whole time it was packed.  Oops.

 

Joey, the best husband in the world, got me this:

It's absolutely my favorite thing in the world.  I'm just so proud of him!

Then there's Ashton, just being silly.  Love her!

Christmas morning, I was awakened from a dead sleep by Taylor bursting into our room yelling, "It's Christmas!  It's Christmas!"  Although I was nice and snugly and WAY asleep, I won't lie, I loved the excitement in his voice.

I also got Joey a gun safe.  He had been wanting one for a while and finally found the right one.  He doesn't look all that excited, but that's only because it was ridiculously early.  He loves it.  Trust me.

 

Christmas day, we always go to Joey's grandparents for lunch.  More of Memaw's yummy stuffing!  Why is it that we only eat turkey and stuffing twice a year?  Such a travesty!

And as you can see, more LPS for Ashton...

And Taylor has Mimi to thank for his new Heelys.  He wears his Heelys all the time and just in the last week, he started to complain that they were too small, so these came at just the right time!

 

Later that afternoon, on Christmas Day, we took the kids to see the new Alvin & The Chipmunks movie.  It was really cute!  This is something that my family always did growing up and I'm glad that the kids are old enough now that we can start doing the same.  I just love going to the movies on Christmas!

We had such a wonderful Christmas!  And this year, I truly felt less stress, more love, and the true reason why we celebrate.  I hope you all did as well.

Love Jesus. Spend less. Give more.

Christmas traditions

I've seen this around, so I'm joing in.  I LOVE Christmas!!

1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? I love wrapping paper, but I hate having to make all the pretty bows.  I'm no good at it. :(
   
2. Real tree or artificial? artificial
3. When do you put up the tree? The day after Thanksgiving.  No exceptions.  No earlier, no later.  I'm pretty hard core about my decor.
   
4. When do you take the tree down? The day after Christmas. No exceptions.  No earlier (well, of course), no later.  I'm pretty hard core about my decor.
5. Do you like eggnog? Never had it, so I'm not sure.
   
6. Favorite gift received as a child? The gift that always comes to mind is the keyboard that Santa brought one year.  I LOVED it!!
   
7. Hardest person to buy for? Hmmm....
8. Easiest person to buy for? the kids
   
9. Do you have a nativity scene? No
10. Mail or email Christmas cards? Mail.  I love to mail out Christmas cards and I love to get them as well.  It one of my favorite things about the holidays
    
11. Worst Christmas gift you ever received? No comment.
    
12. Favorite Christmas Movie? National Lampoons Christmas Vacation ("I pledge allegiance to the flag..."  I seriously almost dies when I first saw this!!)
    
13. When do you start shopping for Christmas? Way too late.
    
14. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present? No.
    
15. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas? Memaw's stuffing, sausage balls, tamales, Christmas cookies, buttermilk pie... I could go on, but it's just making me hungry.
    
16. Lights on the tree? Of course.  All white.
    
17. Favorite Christmas song? Oh Holy Night.
    
18. Travel at Christmas or stay home? Nope. All of our immediate family is here so we house hop.  Sometimes it feels like we've traveled though. LOL
    
19. Can you name all of Santas' reindeer? Of course!  Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Doner, Blitzen, Rudolph.
    
20. Angel on the tree top or a star? A bow.
    
21. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning? Both.  Christmas Eve is with my family and Christmas Day is with Joey's mom and grandparents.  We also get a bonus in there somewhere with Joey's dad :)
    
22. Most annoying thing about this time of the year? The commercialization and the stress of buying presents for people who have everything they need (including me!).  Love. Jesus. Spend less. Give more.
    
23. Favorite ornament, theme, or color? I always wanted to have a really pretty tree with a theme, but my favorite ornaments are the ones my children have made.  I love pulling them out every year and seeing how much they've changed over the years.
    
24. Favorite for Christmas Dinner? We used to always eat out with my family on Christmas Eve, but now with all the grand kids, we just go to my parents and have lots of finger foods.  I LOVE IT!  On Christmas Day, we have the standard - turkey, dressing, and everything that goes with it - Memaw style.  YUM!
    
25. What do you want to do for Christmas this year? Love Jesus. Spend less. Give more.
    
26. Favorite Christmas tradition growing up? My brother and I would usually sleep in the same room when we smaller.  I can always remember not being able to go to sleep and then waking up at the crack of dawn and we would sneak out to the living room to see what Santa had delivered.
    
27. Favorite tradition now? We don't really have any traditions.  Kind of sad, I guess...
28. Favorite Christmas Memory? We always used to drive around with my family and look at Christmas lights after dinner, but before we back to the house to open gifts.  I love looking at Christmas lights...

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas!  And remember...

Love Jesus. Spend less. Give more.

Toy packaging

This is absolutely hilarious!  I heard this song on my way to work and it could not be MORE TRUE!!


Toy Packaging (by Sara Groves)
Nothing makes me lose my cool like
Toy packaging
Ask the kids to leave the room for
Toy packaging
I have no choice the money's spent
I've worked for hours to make a dent
I guess it's anger management
Toy packaging

Nothing makes me lose my cool like
Toy packaging
Ask the kids please leave the room it's time for
Toy packaging
I'm drawing up a battle plan
To extricate this robot man
My self-esteem is in the can
Toy packaging

In the old days you could hold a box and shake it
And hear the pieces rattling around
My eyes tear up with these grommets, tape and twisty ties
Remembering their beautiful sound

Toy Packaging
I love Toy Packaging
(Mom! Honey!)

Nothing makes me lose my cool like
Toy packaging
Kids you really need to leave the room, mom's opening
Toy packaging
I'm sorry you have to see this sight
You must be brave, no please don't cry
I promise it will be alright
I hope to have it by tonight
Nevermind this dynamite
Toy packaging

You didn't think I'd forget, did you?

I love my 'Boys, but I'll admit, I didn't think for one second that we would win that game.  I was literally on the edge of vomiting the entire time!

It was an amazing game - Miles Austin with that huge touchdown reception.  Demarcus Ware with two sacks and two forced fumbles!!  Barber for two rushing TDs!  It was pretty amazing, and not to mention...

The biggest upset of the Century!!

Go Cowboys!!

Now, they just need to fire Folk, bench Roy Williams and pull it off the next two weeks.  Really, is that too much to ask??

Christmas Party FAIL

I plan the annual Christmas party for my office every year.  For the last three years, the parties have been fabulous.  Everyone has loved them.  They have gone off without a hitch.  A fabulous Mexican dinner downtown, a casino night, a cozy dinner at a quaint restaurant outside of town...

I knew it was only a matter of time.  I just wish that it wasn't this time.

Let me give you some background. I work for an international company and I'm the Executive Assistant to the President of the North American branch.  His boss (the big boss) work in the main office in Germany.  He is retiring at the end of December so he and his replacement decided to attend our Christmas party at the last minute.

Can you say pressure?

I had planned a nice dinner cruise on the Riverwalk, which would have been great until our numbers started to rise and the temperatures started to plummet.  We ran out of room on the boats and had to go to plan B.  No problem. We switched to a cocktail cruise giving more room on the boats, which killed two birds with one stone - we would now only be on the boats for 45 minutes max, thus enduring the frigid South Texas temps (45 degrees!) for a much shorter time, then we'd be in a nicely heated room, all together, for dinner.

Sounds great!  Crisis averted!  YAY ME!

Until we actually got on the boats.  And they began a much longer than 45 minute tour.  In the frigid South Texas temps.

People.  It was awful.

But this is what I was trying to focus on:

 

 

The Riverwalk is absolutely gorgeous at Christmas.  So yes, it was beautiful.  But at one point, I actually thought there might be a connection between the San Antonio river and the Gulf of Mexico and that our boat driver was in the process of a mass kidnapping.  She had no intention of taking us back the restaurant so our grumbling tummies could eat.

And speaking of eating? We were eating at the best Mexican restaurant on the Riverwalk.  And the food was horrible.  Barely edible.

I'm tempted to just close my office door this morning.  I thought about sending out an apology email to all the attendees, but no one likes a martyr.  UGH!  It was awful.

It should have been great, but it wasn't.

Christmas party FAIL!

Christmas Card Carousel

So I'm a day late, but I didn't have a pic of our Christmas cards yesterday to participate.

Don't hate.

Just love my Christmas cards.

A good friend of mine took the pics and I LOVE them!  I think they turned out great!

I mean, other than the fact that my 10 year old daughter looks like she's 15 and is almost as tall as I am.  But hey, what can you do?

Want to play along?  Head over HERE to see the other cute holiday cards.

Slumber party. It's a four letter word.

Ashton's birthday started out like most. A family dinner (this year it was Pei Wei), then back to the house for cake and presents. It was as if Target threw up in the house and had partaken in way too many Littlest Pet Shops the night before. That's ok, though, because Ashton was more than happy to be on the raw end of that deal.

Taylor got her a Bop-it.  Would you like to know who holds the current record?  That would be me.  95, baby!  Joey's bitter because he held the record for several days at 62.  He had to know it was only a matter of time.

Friday night is when the four-letter word happened.  Ashton had a slumber party.

Oh sure, they look innocent.  But don't let them fool you.  There was much screaming, running, slamming of doors, and laughing.  OH THE LAUGHING!!!

And I can't forget the ghost stories.  There was the donkey lady, bloody Mary, blue-eyed baby (?).... one girl was so scared she had to call her mom at 12:30 to come get her.  I tried to calm her down.  I even ruined every one else's fun by informing them that none of their little stories were true!  But alas, they did not believe me. 

It was horrible.



Oh, they look all cute.  After pancakes and bacon.  But at this point I still had 3 hours of fun.  And by fun, I mean running, and screaming, and slamming doors, and laughing.  OH THE LAUGHING!!!!

Happy birthday baby

Today, my baby girl hit double digits.

The big 1-0.

I woke up in the middle of the night and couldn't go back to sleep.  I started thinking of what I was doing at that time 10 years ago.  Laying in a hospital bed, getting a pitocin drip, about to ring my husbands neck for attempting to leave my side to go to McDonalds with some friends.  Sure, he hadn't had breakfast, but I was about to push our first born into the world.  He had no right to breakfast.

Ashton was the most perfect baby ever.  She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen and I was so blessed to have her in my life.  Although it was not at all how Joey and I thought our first year of marriage would go, we wouldn't change it for the world.

Ashton, you have brought us more joy, more laughter, more sass, and more love than we ever knew was possible.  We love you more than life itself.

You change a little bit everyday.  And although it's hard for us to see you grow so fast, our prayer is that as you grow, you will not let the world change you, but you will change the world.

We love you more than all the stars in the heavens.

Love,
Mommy & Daddy

Merry FREAKIN' Christmas!

That's exactly what I was thinking on Friday night as I was standing in the kitchen listening to my children scream at each other.  They were arguing about who would get to lay on which couch, who would get which blanket, which movie they would watch, and on and on and on.

In fact, I even told Joey that maybe I should cancel our Christmas card order and reorder with that headline.  "Merry FREAKIN' Christmas!"  Doesn't it seem like that sometimes?  I mean, all the pretty lights on the tree, the stockings hanging on the bar, the garland over the TV, but none of the Christmas spirit was seeping into my sweet children.

I know it happens to all of us, and believe it or not, most of the time, the kids are walking around the house singing Christmas carols (this morning, it was "Frosty the Snowman"), but this year, I'm determined to make things just a little different.

LOVE JESUS.

This year, I'm determined to help my family remember exactly why we celebrate Christmas.  It's not about the gifts, the lights, and the parties.  It's about the birth of our Savior.  That is why we celebrate.  Sure, the gifts are fun and I love the lights, but that's not what Christmas is about.

SPEND LESS.

This year, I'm also determined not to spend so much money on needless gifts for people who already have more than they could ever want or need.  When Joey and I finished up our shopping on Saturday evening and I realized that everyone's gift had been purchased and we'd spent less than $200, I can't tell you the satisfaction I felt.  (Ok, that doesn't include mine & Joey's gift exchange, but other than that, it does include the kids and close to 10 other people!  YAY!)  I'm not doing this simply for the sake of being cheap, but rather so we can focus less on us and more on others who have less.

GIVE MORE.

Our church has been teaching the Advent Conspiracy for the last month or so.  I can't tell you how hard this has hit me.  The core of the "conspiracy" is to get back to the true meaning of Christmas (Love Jesus) by focusing less on the material things during the season (Spend Less) so you have more to give away to those in need (Give More).  This seriously touches a deep place in my heart and I'm determined to make a difference.  I don't want to get to the end of my life and look back only to realize that the world is no different than it was the day I was born. I want to leave a mark.

Want to join me?  Love Jesus. Spend Less. Give More.

South Texas Cold

This is what happens when it gets cold in South Texas.

Your son eats his cereal in his mittens and coat.  And backpack.  And fuzzy head.  And cute smile.

How could you not love him?

(In case you're wondering what happens with Ashton when it's 38 degrees outside?  She comes downstairs in capri pants and a tank top.  Why? Because she's clearly related to my brother and never gets cold.  It's a never ending battle.)