Christmas Collage 2013

 Here are a few extra pictures from Christmas this year.

Christmas 2013

 We had a fun celebrating the birth of Jesus and spending time with family this Christmas.  We followed the usual tradition of having supper at my parents' house on Christmas Eve and then going to my Granny and Papa Buie's for Christmas lunch.  We were so happy for Granny Mel to spend Christmas with us.  Cassie's boyfriend Nick also came down, and we were glad to spend time with him as well.

 Olivia and Owen have really been getting into Star Wars lately, so Owen was thrilled to receive a lightsaber from Uncle Sam.  Olivia also got a lightsaber, so there have been a few epic battles going on around our house here lately.

 Olivia has been asking for a trash can to go in her room for months now, so she was happy to finally get one.

 Before going to bed, the kids laid out cookies and milk for Santa.

 The cookies and milk must have put Santa in a good mood because he came bearing gifts.  When the kids woke up (at 4 a.m.!) they discovered that good ole' St. Nick had left many nice things for them- including Skylanders Swap-force.  Brian helped them set this up and they played it happily until this tired old mama woke up around 7.  

 Naturally, after I was awake and Granny Mel arrived, the kids wanted to unwrap the gifts under the tree.  They were excited to see the gifts from Brian and I- a Nintendo 2DS.  This was the gift that they had been asking for all season long, so they were thrilled to get it.

After another round of gift-opening at Granny Buie's house, we were all tuckered out.  Poor Owen fell asleep on the couch.  It was certainly a fun day, and we were so happy to spend it with loved ones.

Caroling

 It is a tradition for the members of our church to go Christmas caroling every year.  Even though I have known about the caroling, we have never attended in the past.  This year, though, the kids put in to go- so we did.  Before the caroling, we had a nice chili dinner to get us fueled up for our journey.  After we ate, we climbed onto the back of a large flat-bed trailer.  The trailer pulled us around the neighborhood where we stopped at the houses of some of our older church members.  There were a lot of people caroling, so it would be to much for us to unload / reload at each house.  Therefore when we stopped at a house, we all just stood up on the trailer and sang from there.  It was really cold that night, and we were all doing our best to stay warm.  The kids got a little squirmy toward the end and wanted to go back. When we finally made it back to the church, we had hot chocolate and cookies waiting on us.  That was a nice treat.

Christmas Parade

 The town Christmas Parade is one of the kids' favorite annual events.  This year it did not disappoint.  Among our favorite participants were the marching band, the float with the light up angel, and Santa on the fire truck.  The kids really enjoyed the parade (and  getting candy at the parade).

Christmas Musical

 The kids did a great job at the church Christmas musical this year.  They sang familiar carols and read some inspirational holiday messages.  Olivia and Natalie both had speaking parts- which they pulled off flawlessly.  Olivia read the M&M Christmas story and Owen turned the letter of a cut out M&M to go with what Olivia was reading.  Following the performance, we had finger foods and visited with a very special guest- Santa.

Signs of the Season

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas at the Sanders' house.  The Christmas tree has been assembled, lit, and decorated.  As is our tradition, the kids added new ornaments from various places that we visited during the year.  The new pieces this year come from Cape May NJ, Stone Mountain GA, New Orleans, and Sesame Place.  

 

The kids have also created numerous holiday crafts- including these gingerbread houses that they made with their friends.  

And of course, with December comes the return of our elf Pickles.  Pickles has been quite the character this year.  One morning he was even picking a fight with Owen's Darth Vader doll.  Use the force, Pickles, use the force.

Reindeer Run

The kids and I participated in the YMCA's Reindeer Run 5k and 1 mile fun run this year.  The proceeds from this race benefit a summer camp for youth in our area.  Olivia and Owen were thrilled to learn that Ava and Claire were participating in the race with them.  Prior to the race some of the Y fitness instructors led the kids in a group stretching exercise.  Once everyone was good and loose, the race began.  The fun run consisted of four laps around a track.  Since there was no running on the road, the kids were allowed to complete the race without an adult running beside them.  I stood with Quincy, Mama, and Daddy at the start/finish line and cheered for each kid as they completed a lap.  Ava came in pretty quickly- followed by Claire.  Olivia was a little behind Claire, and Owen brought up the rear.  The kids each received a ribbon at the finish line.  The 5k followed the fun run.  Quincy and I both participated, and we both placed in our age groups.  My time was 25.08, which was better than I thought I'd do seeing as how humid the weather was.  The best news of all (for me) was that I won a door prize- a $25 gas card!

Owen's PTO Performance

The Kindergarten class at the kids' school gave a Thanksgiving performance at the last PTO meeting.  The kids sang four Thanksgiving songs.  Owen was so excited about the performance, and he did a good job of singing.  Above is a video of one of the songs.

Savannah Rock and Roll

 Quincy, Maura, and I ran the Savannah Rock and Roll Half Marathon in early November.  Race numbers could only be picked up the day before, so this had to be an overnight trip.  [Made possible by my  awesome mother-in-law who came and took care of the kids (much to their delight).]  We had such a good time in Savannah.  I met up with Q and Maura at the expo where we picked up our numbers and walked around a bit.  I always like looking around at the runner's expo because it's about the only place where you can find lots of really good running gear in one place.  After a delicious dinner at Macaroni Grill, we checked into our hotel room.  This may be dorky, but one of my favorite parts of racing is getting everything ready the night before.  It's kind of like Christmas.  I love this picture of all our gear.  We woke up really early the next morning (think 4:15) because we had to have our car parked at the start line by 5:30.  We made it to the start line in plenty of time to warm up, visit the restroom, etc.  Once the race actually began, everyone was pumped.  The course was great, and we all had good runs.  I finished in 1:58:04 - which is good for me.  I'm thrilled with anything under two hours.  This race is a keeper, and I'm glad that I had my running buddies with me this year.