Wow~ Christmas has come and gone

Well, another Christmas is officially over- well, with exception of leftovers that have to be transformed into other mystery dishes, putting away all of the boxes/bags, etc., and all the decorations- both inside and out. A turkey casserole is on tonight's menu, and later a ham/mac'n cheese dish will make an appearance, followed, at some point, by navy beans with ham. :)

I always get a little melancholy when I take it all down because everything looks so drab after having lived with all of the colorful decor for a month or more. Not to mention the inevitably cold weather that will follow for the next ten, or more, weeks.  I am definitely NOT a fan of the cold, bone chilling weather.

I received a new camera, and though I found I missed many photo opportunities during the two nights of celebrating Christmas, I also have yet to learn all the ins and outs of this camera. I also received a new wireless printer, and a badly needed (okay- desired) shredder. I went out and purchased a cordless phone for the living room so I would not be held hostage to my desk when someone calls anymore, oh, and lest I forget, there will be no more fighting with the curled up cord that keeps you fighting with it, or six inches from the base because you can't unravel it before someone hangs up.

Family drama, thankfully, was at a minimum this year. We have all learned to ignore the culprits of most of the drama for the most part, and fatigue crept in and made some of us a little cranky by the end of the night, but it was reasonably held at bay. Sleep was a welcome friend for many of us.

Madison, though basically oblivious to the events of the two days and nights, was not feeling as happy a little camper - probably a combination of over stimulation, fatigue, teething, hunger, and the ever annoying constipation. Bless her little heart.  London, on the other hand, was full of energy, witty comments (as only a 2-3 yr. old can do), and enjoyed her surroundings immensely.

So, there are only a few pictures to share at this point. I had wanted to get a group picture of the 7 of us, but it never came to fruition. I was blessed with a photo of my own two children. An event that has not happened since the youngest of the two was about 14.  So it was nice that they took the time to do that for me. I can't wait to make a larger copy as well. :)

this has to  be my favorite..lol...all those cute little Christmas outfits- but so darned cute just playing wiht her toes. LOL.

So, for now, I am removing the Christmas items slowly but surely, leaving a few "winter" items, so that it is not a totally shock to the system, and the tree will come down after the new year celebration. Though generally not much celebrating occurs on this end of it. More like hunkering down in the house and sleeping only to be awakened by some nut shooting off a gun or fireworks at the midnight tolling.

Photo Fun

Madison,
You turned 3 months old this week. Amazing how fast that went by! So you have had your first Halloween, Thanksgiving, and are coming up quickly on your first Christmas. Whew! Although none of this you will remember, we will all try to do our best to take lots of photos to make sure you can see what you won't remember. :)

I snuck you off to take photos for your Mommy for a surprise Christmas gift on Monday. They turned out great, but sadly Grammy had to be very restrained and only purchase a few. :) This photo was one of the ones I chose to keep. There were only about ..oh, another dozen I would love to have had, but I have to be frugal- you are only 3 months old after all and I cannot owe my soul to the photo machine at Walmart, or to Shooting Stars, or Michael Odle Photography. :)

So, since Grammy was trying to be frugal, we took lots of photos at home with our makeshift photo studio...yeah,..okay. :) But, yes, lots of photos I did take. Look how big you are getting, Missy. :)

Well, they may not be the best pictures, but some of them turned out really cute. Love you, you little Munchkin. :)
Love,
Grammy (thinking the G-mama thing is going to only work for London..lol)

Loving this little face and her sister's, too

THE LITTLE FAMILY

Sisterly love

INNOCENCE OF A CHILD AT CHRISTMAS

JUST ADORABLE

SO PRETTY

THE WONDER OF IT ALL

FAMILY - #2

MOMMY LOVES HER GIRL

THE PARENTS

:)

The Saturday after Thanksgiving Rachel and her little family had their Christmas pictures taken with friends of ours. Though I have not seen them all yet, the few I have seen are just precious. So today, my post will just be a composite of some of those photos.

I can hardly wait to see the CD, or the rest of the pictures, and I certainly hope I do a better job of taking pictures around here for Christmas than I did for Thanksgiving. LOL.

Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving was at our house for the first time in years. Many, many years. Mitch's mom even came. I bet she actually enjoyed not having the responsibilty and all that work that comes with it for a change.

Sadly, I failed to take more than three photos of the entire day. Two were the tables, and one was of Rach pretending to eat a huge glob of butter, and none of them seem important enough to include on a blog. LOL.
Kind of a bummer since it was Madison's first Thanksgiving, though, obviously, she is too young to even know what was going on, nor will she be for several more years, no doubt. But it would have been nice to have remembere to take a picture of her in her Duke polo dress. Too cute, she was, indeed.

Madison spent the night with me after a group of us made our way through the throngs of people at Walmart to acquire a particular item for Christmas. Thankfully, though it made for a long day, it was acquired this year. However, not sure I would like to tackle that ever again. Madness, with the Walmartians was not my idea of fun.

Thanksgiving I was grateful for having my family all together and for having a roof over my head, food on our table, and took the time to remember the things we generally take for granted.

This year has been full of challenges, no doubt. Hoping the Lord will be bountiful in His provision and blessings next year. We could really use both.