Christmas at home/ 28 months

We made the decision this year to stay home until Christmas day. It was a very good decision... we didn't travel once the whole month of December until the 25th. It was so nice to sit back and enjoy the goodness of the Christmas season.

This Little Man turned 28 months on Christmas Eve. He's grown and grown this month. Sometimes I'll be in mid-conversation with him and say outloud, "Are you really only two?" I know I can be a braggy mama, but this kid is smart. He has an incredible memory, an endless vocabulary, and is great at problem solving (like puzzles). He is funny and sweet. He has a very, very short temper and can go into inconsolable mode with the blink of an eye. He loves Baby Bear, anything with wheels and, of course, his mama.

Some fun December happenings in Hattiesburg...

Our annual staff Christmas party. We joked that this was the kids' table...


Carolers came by our house! I was so teary-eyed at the whole thing... I couldn't believe that people still did this. I was going to request them to sing Little Drummer Boy and they did it without me asking. It was so perfect. I love Hattiesburg and I LOVE our neighborhood.


Our church had a movie night where we watched Narnia (and were up way past W's bed time). We all spread out on blankets on the floor and ate popcorn and chili dogs... I forgot about some of the scary parts and W fought our hands as we tried to cover his eyes.

And just hanging around our house and being a family. If we can help it, I think we will always do it this way. This pic was what I wanted to use for our Christmas cards but then I got too scared that it kind of looked like a pregnancy announcement.

Andrew's parents came in on the 22nd. This was really special for us because we had never spent a Christmas Eve or day with them since we've been married (and Andrew had not for 8 years because of his years overseas). They stayed until Christmas day. Little Man came down with RSV... being sick is his Christmas tradition.

We treated the 23rd like our Christmas Eve and made a big dinner to celebrate.

Afterwards we made some cookies for us...

And then set a few aside for Santa. (We've decided to do Santa, but we tell Wilson that we are pretending... this might be really silly and confusing in the future, but for now it's fun.)


We treated the 24th like Christmas morning and woke up to stockings filled and presents under the tree.

W had been begging for this wooden snake at Books a Million every time we went. He was pretty excited.

I think Mack and Lightening McQueen were the biggest hits.

It was so fun to have Grandan and Baba there with us!

"Mommy can he go in there? Can he ride in Mack?"

My future spelling bee champ!

 Wilson and Andrew's dad spent the rest of the morning at the doctor, where Mr. James was checking up on a pre-existing condition and W was diagnosed with RSV and sent home with antibiotics and a breathing treatment. This was really the first time that Wilson has been very sick since last Christmas.

Andrew's parents were so sweet to offer to stay home with him while Andrew and I went to our church's Christmas Eve service. I was bummed to not have Wilson there (even though he would have been in the nursery), but it meant the world to me to get to anticipate Christmas day with our church family.

And then on Christmas morning, we were up at 5 to pack up and head to Kentucky! With tornado warnings behind us, blizzard warnings ahead of us, and a flat tire in between... we had an eventful trip that I will continue in the next post!