Christmas Festivities

Today has been a great day. Really, the whole Christmas season has been pretty exceptional. Thought I would highlight some of our activities.....

- Aunt Jane played hooky and came over to spend her birthday with us and Julia. How sweet for her to want to spend her day off with the baby girl?

This is an example of a pretty perfect Sunday afternoon. All of us curled up on the couch by the fire watching 60 Minutes. Doesn't get much better than that!

Julia and Daddy playing Magic Carpet Ride in the laundry basket. Now that's better than a carnival ride any day!

- I got to celebrate Christmas with my adult friends at the second annual Christmas in Birdeye celebration at Martin and Kara Smith's house. It was a blast and I hope that it is an annual event. John and Julia stayed behind and celebrated by spending some time together in front of the fireplace.

- The CrossRidge Community Hospital Auxiliary (volunteers) hosted an Honor with an Ornament event in the front lobby. People bring ornaments to honor or memorialize a loved one. Julia stole the show this year by yelling "Yay" and clapping anytime anyone spoke. The ladies in the auxiliary are by far my favorite part of my job. It's almost like having 35 Grandma's!

- We had lunch with Tara and Emmy at Colby's. We love that Emmy and especially loved the sushi kit that she gave us for Christmas!

Yep, this is the best picture that I got! This is usually what happens when I set Julia down to "pose" for a picture!

Julia playing sushi

- John, Julia and I got a wild hair and drove to the Blytheville air force base to see the Delta Christmas lights. It was so worth the trip. Julia LOVED the lights and said, "oooh weeee" at least twenty times as we were driving through it. She also got to see Santa and have her picture made with him.

- The second Santa encounter was at Eldridge Court where the neighborhood sponsored some great holiday decorations and free visits with Santa!

- The third Santa encounter was a Miss Melinda's house (Julia's babysitter). Santa and Mrs. Claus made their rounds and had a second to stop by Miss Melinda's. Julia did not love the live Santa at any of their three meetings!

- John and I got a night out and we enjoyed a Christmas program and delicious dinner at the Methodist Church. Thank you so much for inviting us Jake and Leann!

- Shawnie came over to visit and brought Julia a great holiday teddy bear (that she loves!) and two awesome books (that she loves even more!). She also brought John and I some delicious peanut brittle that is made in Arkadelphia which is her new home. Yum...bring on the calories.

- Julia and I went to the Arts Council Festival of Trees this year at the Tech Center. Every year, businesses and volunteer organizations in town decorate a tree to symbolize the work that they do. After the ceremony, Mary Margaret, Maggie Grace, Becca and Sol came over to eat some soup and play. We love our Maggie and Sol!

- Our book club was festive this year too. We played dirty Santa with a book that each member brought. I came home with The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Society which I have already delved into....it's going to be a winner, I can already tell. We discussed The Last Lecture which was an amazing little book as well!

- Christmas Eve was spent quietly at the Shepherd house while John and I were in recovery from our illness. John rolled over and said one thing to me in the midst of our illness. It was, "Do we need to go to the hospital?" I am glad that we can laugh about it now!

- Christmas morning was a blast as we waited on little Julia to wake up. Apparently, she forgot that she was supposed to wake up at the crack of dawn on Christmas and slept in until a little after 9! Wow, I am not complaining and we can enjoy that for another year or two I hope! She was all smiles when she saw her new car. She played hard and John and I loved every minute of it!

- Jessica, Chloe and Jonny came over to hang out for a while. Chloe kept reaching for Julia and Julia kept reaching for us!

Some Santa left some crazy glasses on our truck this morning??? Every light you looked at with these glasses on let you see a snowman, gingerbread man, or some other Christmas guy. Can anyone help us solve this Santa mystery?

- Christmas afternoon was spent at my parents house. We had a good lunch and enjoyed spending time with family. Julia has a new that where she grabs our hands and forces us to walk her around the house. She is very strong willed and won't take no for an answer. We spent most of Christmas Day "walking" Julia around everywhere! Mrs. Pat came over and brought Julia a children's Bible that is really neat! We came home and played with our toys that Santa had left, had a bath and read new books for a LONG time! Julia is such a sweet little cuddle bug when she is tired and wants me to read to her. After I finish a book, she want to hold it and read it to me. Her little voice sounds so sweet...even though she is speaking Chinese! She also spent a lot of time riding in her new car. She pitched a fit when we took her out of it tonight! I think Ole Santa got that one right!

Julia playing with some toys that Santa left.

The most fun that she had all day was probably in the bath tub. I have finally let her get out of her baby seat and have free reign in the tub. Her favorite part is to feel of the water as it comes out of the spout. She crawls back and forth from one end of the tub to the other.

Julia "walking"

Julia "walking" again

Julia's gifts from her Grandparents. BE BA (that would be Big Bird) to those of you who didn't know by now. She only says it at least twenty times a day! Big Bird and Elmo are interchangeable in her mind. They are both named BE BA.

With that, I'll say it again....our Julia has been our shining star! She is such a joy and has made every holiday, especially Christmas, so happy!

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

PS....Oh no you did not John Shepherd....buy me a shop vac for Christmas. Yep.....and I have really been wondering what was in that big package under the tree for me from "Santa". He says I needed it to vacuum up my thread shop. Thanks honey, just what I always wanted.