Christmas Collage 2009

Christmas 2009

Christmas this year was every bit as exciting as I imagined it would be. Olivia is at an age where she believes in the magic of Christmas. The morning began around 7am when the kids woke up. Granny Mel and Papa Charlie spent Christmas morning with us, and they didn't even mind that we were starting so early. Olivia was so excited by her gifts. She had asked for only two things: a Barbie and a telescope (I have no clue why she asked for the telescope). Not only did she receive a pink telescope, but she received six Barbies and a Barbie car. She must have been really good all year to get so many nice things. Owen was also a good boy and he got two trucks, a ball, and several books. Although he seemed to like his gifts, he is still too young to get into it like Olivia did. After checking out all of the Santa gifts, we opened our gifts to each other. Brian got a DVD player and a new pair of sunglasses while I received some work-out stuff and a backup drive for my computer.

Once all of the gifts were opened, it was time to give the kids one last gift from Brian and myself: a bouncy house. We actually bought this bouncy house in 2007 when it went clearance at Toys R Us, and have had it in the attic for two and a half years. Needless to say, I was excited to get my attic space back. Anyway, we had to inflate the bouncy house under the carport on Christmas morning because it was raining. Being under the carport didn't bother the kids. They happily went out in their pajamas and bounced around. After bouncing for a bit, it was time to come in and get ready for lunch at Granny Buie's. As always, lunch was fantastic. All-in-all it was a lovely day, and we were all very tired at the end of it. Although we had a blast, I think that Brian and I will both agree that we are glad Christmas only comes once a year.

Christmas Eve 2009

For the past couple of years, we have gone to Gigi and Papa's house on Christmas Eve to eat, visit, and open gifts. This year we continued that tradition, and had a fantastic time. Olivia is at an age where she gets really excited about things, and she has been looking forward to Christmas since early November. So, she was super-excited about going to Gigi's house for Christmas Eve. After a delicious meal of spaghetti, it was time to open gifts. Owen was the first to open his gifts. He participated in the unwrapping to some degree, but was more interested in playing with the toys that were already unwrapped instead of opening the remaining gifts. Olivia, on the other hand, had no problem staying on-task. Not only did she excel at opening her own gifts, but she was also willing to lend a hand to everyone else in opening theirs (even when her help was not desired). Everyone received lots of wonderful things- but there was one gift that was really popular with the three girls. I think that Sam summed it up best with the following statement: "Everything was going fine until the Barbie car came out then all hell broke loose." Ava was the proud recipient of the Barbie car, but all three girls got a Barbie. Having three Barbies and only one car is apparently a recipe for disaster- who knew? Although many of the gifts were nice(including the Barbie car), I think that the true standouts were the suitcases (filled with goodies) that the kids got from Gigi and Papa. Gigi ordered them from the Disney store and we were all impressed by how cute and well-made they were. We left Gigi's house around nine and went home to get ready for Santa and for the fun day that lay ahead.

Let's go to the Movies

Olivia has been wanting to see "The Princess and the Frog" for weeks now (btw- it was fabulous). So today, I took Owen to daycare and Olivia to the movies. This was kind of a big deal for her because it was her first time seeing a movie at the theater. She liked the movie, but I think that she liked eating the popcorn even more. The only minor complaint that I have is that the movie theater seats were too big for her, and so she ended up in my lap for most of the movie. Other than that, things went well and I see more movies in our future.

Christmas in the Swamp

This evening I took the kids out to the Okefenokee Swamp Park to see the Christmas lights. This was the first year that we have visited the park during Christmas time, but I doubt that it will be the last. The kids had so much fun. After being there for an hour and a half, I still had to drag Olivia away. Her words to me as we were leaving the park were "but mom, I didn't get to see everything". We may not have seen everything, but we sure came close. We arrived at 6- right when the park opened for the night. This turned out to be smart because the park was not busy when we got there, but was packed when we left.

Our first stop of the evening was the enchanted train ride through the swamp. Had there not been Christmas lights everywhere, it would have been really spooky- imagine pitch black in the middle of the swamp. The kids started the train ride in a good mood, but got a little restless about 10 minutes into it. Owen started crying because he wanted to get down. Of course he couldn't get down because we were on a ride. I tried to distract him by pointing out the lights, which only seemed to make him more upset. The people sitting about five seats up from us then began singing "you better watch out, you better not cry..." and I started wondering if they were trying to hint something to me. Fortunately, the ride ended quickly and that was the last bit of fussiness that I had from either kid. Once we got off the big train, we walked around the park, saw the lights, listened to the musicians, and visited Santa.

Before we left, I took the kids to the kiddie train to ride it. I think that this was the highlight for both of them. I started off just putting Olivia on the kiddie train by herself. I didn't think that Owen would like it since he had fussed on the big train. Wrong! Owen watched Olivia go around on that little train and started pointing and trying to get down out of my arms. So, I put him on it the next time around, and he did great. I bet they rode that thing ten times or more. We had a great night, and would like to go back again next year.

Waiting for the Parade

Monday night was the annual Christmas parade in Blackshear. Unfortunately, I was unable to attend because I had to go to a school function for the Junior class (I am one of the class advisors). I did have time, however, to take Owen and Olivia downtown to meet up with Gigi so that they could watch the parade. These are a few of the pictures that I snapped before I left- no pictures of the actual parade, only a few of everyone waiting for it to begin. I did get a full report, though. Apparently, the parade was a huge success. Owen slept through most of it, but Olivia had a great time gathering the candy that was thrown to the parade spectators. She must have either been working really hard to get the candy or else she had help because we have a huge bag of candy at our house. After the parade, everyone went to Granny Buie's house for soup and spaghetti. I think that the kids really enjoyed themselves, and I wish I could have been there.