Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!!!!

Dear Abigail,
It is time!!!!  It is time!!!!  It is Christmas, Christmas, Christmas time!!!!
We woke up at Mimi's house early Sunday morning and headed back to Franklin, but first you had to give Mimi and Pic-pic their Christmas presents from you.  Mimi received a beautiful, sparkly pink necklace that clapped when you shook it and Pic-pic received these beautiful glasses.  He was very thrilled to have them, as you were to give them!  Well done little girl, well done.

 We packed the car and off we went, and surprisingly you and Ellie were both back asleep within an hour!  You two were absolutely exhausted!!!!  

Since we don't get to have a private family Christmas moment with just the four of us (we are either at Mimi's house on Christmas morning, or with the Clark family), we started a Christmas tradition where just the four of us go out to eat somewhere nice, or unique or just whatever we feel like doing as a family.  This year we went to Stoney River, a nice steakhouse, and you were told to be on your bestest behavior!

 

Both you and Sister did really good, considering and I was most proud of you for trying so many different things, AND, for loving some of them!  First you tried the spinach artichoke dip and L-O-V-E-D it! You and Mommy were fighting for the last bite!  And then when our salads came, you wanted more of Mommy's blue cheese wedge salad!  I LOVE me some blue cheese and it's a very hard taste to like, so when you asked for more, I was tickled pink, or blue!  And Kate loved eating it, too!  I ordered fish to eat and when it came you said "Mom did someone shoot that fish?"  I explained that fish were caught and things like deer and bears were shot.  You said "Bears??!!! Who shoots bears?" and when I told you Pic-pic shot a bear and ate it you thought that was hilarious!!!  You couldn't stop talking about Pic-pic eating a bear.  You said "I'll have to ask him about that..." 

After dinner, we went home to open presents between us.  You did a great job of opening yours and Katie Bugs and were thrilled to receive some fun gifts!  

You were even more excited to have us open our presents from you!!   

 You got Daddy a play football and wanted to start throwing it immediately.  

 You opened Kate's pajamas and said "Oh man, I wish I had some pajamas like these."

Low and behold, you got some!

 Here's the zebra you got Kate.  I think she loved it.  

 And you are trying to take the tag off the puppy you got me, which I have slept with many nights now.  You remind me each night to sleep with him.  

 Oh, and a basketball!  You loved that and we've had to set some ground rules with no dribbling in the house!!!

The only thing that I didn't like about our family Christmas is I did not get a family photo of all four of us!  Boo.  And, as a matter of fact, I didn't get a family shot the whole Christmas season!!!  Of all the things we did, I totally forgot to get one.  Double boo!   Oh well... 

So after presents, we got snuggled in the bed and got lots of good rest because Christmas Eve was the next day!  

Now, when we do Christmas with the Clarks, Christmas Eve is our big night.  And this year, we got to have Christmas Eve at our house for the first time EVER!  Mommy was super thrilled for this long awaited event and what a treat it was! Everyone (all the Clark family) came over on around 4 and we just had tons and tons and tons of fun laughing, eating, playing, laughing more, eating more, and playing more!  We ate a lovely ham that Daddy cooked along with a couple side dishes and Mommy loved her table setting.  So much that I did NOT get a picture of that either.  Things are a little calmer when you are not having events at your house, I have concluded :)

Anyway, we had a kids table and an adults table so it was perfect.  You kiddos loved being by yourself, and well, the adults kind of liked the separation, too!  Of course, I didn't like how you somehow knocked over my scentsy candle and got wax ALL over the wall, but no worries, Daddy already spent an hour or so with the hair dryer fixing it all up.  Destructive.  It's just part of being you.  So after dinner, you girls played for a bit upstairs, along with Harrison and Spencer, and then it was time for presents!!!! Woo-hoo!!!  You got some lovely gifts including new pink sparkly Toms and the American Girl doll pajamas for you - now only if you can get the doll and her pjs....

 Caro and Ellie got some lovely things, too...

 And the boys were thrilled with their gifts, well, except Harrison who had to solve the puzzle in order to get his gift card!! (thanks to yours truly, Me!)

 Loved Alexis mirror - like LOVED

 And Carly's necklace, which Aunt Jill actually decided she liked better so she just wore it all night :)

 You gave Ellie the annual book with a picture of the two of you.  This year it was Where the SideWalk Ends - a bunch of goofy goofy poems.  Perfect for a set of goofy goofy girls!

 

 

 And Papa Larry is back to giving those wonderful baskets full of, well, stuff...

 Aunt Steph finally got a cheese grater that won't destroy your knuckles

  And Uncle Martin struggled with his fancy wine barrel lazy susan...

 Alexis had no troubles with Harrison's maze, and although I thought she should have been able to keep at least half of it, she gave it all back to him!

 Every loved their presents and, even more, loved seeing the others love their presents.  Before too much longer, everyone (or, well, the kiddos) got their Christmas pajamas on and got snuggled in Daddy's lap for the reading of the Night Before Christmas.  This is a special book that Daddy's mommy used to read from and Daddy was thrilled to finally be able to read it at his house on Christmas eve!

 Even Spencarooni was focused on the story!

And I just had to include a picture of your socks.  Mimi bought these for you and you thought they were the coolest things ever because they have a spot for 'every single toe'!

 After the lovely story, we passed hugs all around and a few kisses...

 And you and Ellie went upstairs to bed.  Now.  I'd like to say that you two went right to bed.  Like being the key word.  But since it was Christmas, and since Mommy and Aunt Steph were having so much fun with the family downstairs, we just let you two play or do whatever it is y'all were doing.  We were having a grand time downstairs playing pictionary with the family and could hear you two every now and then, but just shrugged it off thinking you were just having fun up there while we were having fun down here.  Huh.  If only that were the case.  When it was finally time for Aunt Steph and Uncle Jaybee and Ellie and Christopher to head home (everyone else spent the night at our house!) we found the two of you wide awake with rolls and rolls of toilet paper in the bathroom sinks AND toilets and to the point where we had to get the plunger.  I thought I was going to kill you on Christmas eve!!!!!  You two had toothpaste everywhere and water was everywhere and your room was completely destroyed.  Why you two couldn't find something in the playroom to play with just blows my mind, but anyway, it was Christmas so I let you live.  Ellie left and you were made to go straight to sleep.  Thankfully Princess Alexis is too sweet (as all princesses should be) and stayed in the room with you and Caroline until both of you were asleep.  Sooner than later, we all headed off to bed eagerly awaiting gifts from Santa!!!!
And he did NOT disappoint!!!

 What's that you got???? A doll that looks like you?!!! Ahhhhh, do you love it??? I'd say so...

And look at that, she came with matching pjs!!!

 Everyone eventually rolled out of bed and Ellie and her crew came back over for Christmas morning breakfast.  It was superb and we had full full bellies.  We all played with our new toys and you got to open even more presents - gifts from Mimi and Ash-ash and Aunt G (and family!).  You were thrilled with your Easy Bake Oven from Mimi and insisted we make something!

 You did a great job cleaning up, too.  Santa gets tons of props from Mom for this really cool "baking chair" thing that you and Kate can both stand in and not fall out of.  It's the bestest thing ever and perfect height for both of you.

 Eventually we all needed naps and/or to rest a bit so we either napped (little ones) or watched Christmas Vacation in the media room.  We had lunch at some point, but I"m pretty sure it wasn't the appropriate lunch time, which makes it all the better that we just chilled all day long.  And later that afternoon, the adults (and Harrison and Spencer) decided we needed to head out to see a movie, so we asked Miss Lauren to watch you and Kate and Caroline while we caught the late showing of The Hobbit.  But before that, Ellie and her crew popped back over for some yummy ham and beans!  A wonderful Christmas day!!!! Oh, did I mention you got drums and a dream light??  Two other gifts you were thrilled about.  I will post about those drums later, as they deserve their own post.
On Wednesday, the day after Christmas, we hung out most of the day doing nothing other than straightening up and resting.  The Ing crew stuck around another night and left around lunch time on Wednesday, so after they were out of there, we were absolutely pooped!!!  I am pretty sure I was sound asleep by 7:30 on Wednesday night, which is funny because you were tapping on my shoulder at 8:30 saying you were too scared to go to sleep, so I went upstairs with you and slept ALL NIGHT LONG in your twin bed with you and didn't even wake up!  I was that tired!!
Thursday probably goes down as one of the the worst days ever for Mommy.  It started off with me waking up in a twin bed, so that didn't feel too good.  You, Kate and I were trying to head out of town (back to Munford for more family Christmas events!!!) and were trying to leave by 12:30 because we needed to be leaving Mimi's at 5 for dinner reservations with the entire family.  Well, Katie Bug was not feeling it that morning, to say the least.  Daddy had to go to work, so he left that morning and Mommy scrambled around trying to pack bags and bathe everyone.  Kate, in the mean time, just screamed.  A lot.  I tried as fast as I could to get us in the car, and, alas, we made it but you and Kate were still in your pajamas, no teeth brushed and I had wet hair that had not been brushed.  And it was 12:30.  Kate immediately fell asleep, thankfully, and I just prayed that I packed what I needed.  Well, we weren't even half way and you said you had to potty and I noticed we were low on gas.  Kate was waking up already (boo!) so I went ahead and stopped at the truck stop.  Well, sometimes things work out for a reason, sort of.  We walked in the truck stop and before I could look up you were taking off running towards the corn dogs (it was the same place Daddy bought you a corn dog one time and you loved it!!) and about that same time Kate decided to throw up all over herself and Mommy.  In the middle of the gas station.  With nothing but my keys in one hand and my credit card in the other.  I'll save all the details for Kate's blog, but after about 15 minutes we were back in the car, and smelling worse than when we started.  I was iffy on coming in, but Mimi insisted it was just something sour in her stomach (what is with you two throwing up when we are supposed to go to Mimis??!!  And Mimi insisting everything is fine!!!) so we kept on driving that way.  I was a bit nervous (and nerves were shot, to say the least) that it might happen again, but we made it to Mimi's just in time for her to bathe both of you while I quickly showered, again.  We made it to dinner reservations at exactly the right time and everyone seemed healthy for the time being.  No one would have known otherwise except you needed to tell EVERYONE!  And by everyone I mean our ENTIRE family (well, with just a couple exceptions) at Rendezvous, the famous rib place in downtown Memphis.

You were VERY excited to see Clara Lee but was a little disappointed that Nacho wasn't with her.  But you were easily distracted once Mimi's ribs came out!!!

After a delicious dinner, we ALL headed over to the Peabody to have an after dinner drink/run around. You kiddos loved the fountain and you even decided to start eating the snacks at someone else's table.  They were nice enough to share until you were about to eat their wasabi pea things, which were super hot - that's about the time we noticed you were a little muncher!  PS - Ash-ash was in charge of you that night, not Mommy :)  AND, since we're blaming Ash-ash for a couple things, she also made you cry.  You came up to me crying at The Peabody and I asked what was wrong and you said "Ash-ash is making me ride on the roof."  Apparently Ash-ash was talking about needing a car seat for you (you were staying the night with her) and said since they didn't have one that you'd have to ride on the roof of the car.  She said you laughed when she told you, but then it must have sunk in because you were boo hooing!! Or it could be that it was getting past your bed time :)  With that, we wrapped things up and headed home, or well, you to Ash-ash's and Mommy to Mimis!  And good news is your sister did not get sick anymore and was happy as a clam roaming The Peabody!
On Friday, all the older woman in the family went to see Les Mis at the movies (PS - WONDERFUL!!!) and the bestest babysitter in the whole wide world came over to watch you, Kate and Clara Lee at Mimi's house - that is, Bebe came over!  Now last time she just had to play with you for a bit then send you to bed, but this time, it was from 11 to 5!! So lunch, snacks, naps, and LOTS of playtime was on the agenda and man alive, did she ever pull it off.  Before we were leaving she asked if she could give you 3 a snack and I said I'd show her the snacks and she informed me that no, SHE had brought the snack, that it was this edible art project thing with yogurt and she had everything she needed.  Uh, yeah!  Awesome.  THEN, when we got home we found out that A) you three kiddos ate TONS of pizza (which it's hard to get you and especially Clara Lee to eat anything with each other around) AND B) Clara Lee ate tons of fruit (again, unusual for CL) AND C) you BOTH (and kate,too) napped D) in the same bed E) without tv!!!! I mean seriously Bebe!  Ash-ash said CL hasn't napped since she was 2, so we've officially decided Bebe needs to just come live with us.  Too bad she just turned 14 and needs to finish up that school stuff...Oh, and she even was smart enough to send us a picture!

Told ya she was awesome!  We got home that night and called it in early, as we were all a bit tired.  Saturday morning, you and Pic-pic decided to walk to the bank, which was great and all, except that it was FREEZING, and snowing, actually.  But you got bundled up and off you went.  And, on your way, the fire station you pass opened it's doors and let you come in and check out all the trucks.  You got to climb up all in the trucks and on the ladders and everything.  Super cool, huh!
That afternoon, we headed down to Mammaws for the big "Christmas" dinner.  It really was a whole bunch of soups, but delicious all the same, and everyone, again, was there!  And, believe it or not, so were more presents!!  The most exciting thing for you was that you got the Baby Alive that you kept seeing Clara Lee with.  You told me early that day "I sure wish I had a Baby Alive" and low and behold, Mammaw got you one.  CL wasn't too happy though.  I think she liked being the only one with  her!  Ha!! Everyone enjoyed the family company and after a couple tears shed and a few negotiations, Mommy let you spend the night with Clara Lee (and Emily) one last time, although it was so late that you should have just come home with Mommy.  And unfortunately, the next morning came too early and getting you to leave Ash-ash so we could go home, well, was not too pleasant.  You REALLY wanted to go to church, but we had to drive back home!  Mommy did not do a good job at pictures this Christmas, including at Mammaws, but things are always crazy at Mammaw house!  Here's a couple of shots I got though...

 So that wraps up our fourth and final week of Christmas girly!  What a wonderful holiday season we had this year, huh!  I love love love this time of year and love love love the memories we constantly make as a family.  Your spirit is so infectious and just magnified at Christmas!  Love you sweet girl!!!  Hope you had a great Christmas!!!!