Twas the Night Before Christmas....

and..... everything is different. Yet different in a bittersweet way. Different in a sad way, yet different in a good way...in a way that is the best for my family. Although it has taken me years to be comfortable with the idea,(Michael has been trying to get me to do it for years) I am now actually really excited about it. See, this is the first time in my almost 32 years of life that I have not spent Christmas Eve and Christmas morning at my parents house. Although I will be super sad to not be with my parents, siblings, and nieces and nephew, I am still thankful that I do get to see them and spend time with them. I am finally understanding that it is not about the actual day that the holiday is celebrated, but that it is about the fact that we get to be together no matter the date. I will be honest...this is the first time in a long time that I am a little giddy about Christmas. I get to spend it here in my home with my husband and children. I get to relish in the joy of Christmas morn on my children's faces. This is the year for our family to begin many new traditions, and I couldnt be more excited!
What a great Christmas Season we are having! Christmas Eve was super fun, as daddy got up and made us pancakes and we spent the day playing. We then met up with some great friends whose church does a beautiful candle light service. This service has always been one of my favorite things when we are visiting our parents, so I was excited to find one here since our church doesn't do one.

Dinner was in the crock pot and the house was clean so we could sit and enjoy our evening together. We did have a few meltdowns, but that is to be expected!


We made MORE cookies for Santa! Let's hope Santa LOVES sprinkles because Lila sure loaded him up! No doubt he will be on a sugar high when he leaves our house. I am sure that he will definitely make it to all the houses now. :)




We snapped a few pictures in our dress-up clothes. Again, G wanted to be held and wasn't into getting his picture made with his sister.









We can't forget to include #3 in our pictures either. Here I am at almost 15 weeks.

WOW! This pregnancy has FLOWN by. We also made and put out some reindeer food for rudolph and his crew.
We then called Grandmother and had her read Twas the Night Before Christmas on speaker phone. Her and Aunt Karen amazingly know most of this by heart. IT IS A LONG POEM!! I think Karen had to memorize it in her 8th grade English class. Quite impressive I must say. We then gathered in the living room and sang a few Christmas carols while I pecked them out on the piano. We then read the TRUE christmas story from Luke 2.

The kids and I have actually read this quite often over the past month and we have been sure to talk about the reason for the season. I struggled with whether or not to "do Santa", but decided that as long as we always talk about the birth of our Savior, our children will know what Christmas is really about. As noted in a previous post, some of Lila and Graham's favorite play items have been baby Jesus from our nativity's. Lila even put a dish towel from the kitchen over her head and looked at me and said, "I look like Mary, Mommy." She also exclaimed when we were driving up the road and she saw a horse who had it's "coat" on, "That is what Mary rode." I guess several of her books have Mary riding a donkey with a blanket over it's back. She knows every word to Christmas Carols I didn't even know existed. I must say I am quite impressed with her lyrics to Joy to the World and Hark the Harold Angles sing. They are not easy songs and she does them quite well. My only fear is that we will never be able to sing normal songs again. I have a feeling that these are now in our song line-up for the whole year!:) We had a very fun, quality time evening together. I wish every day was like this!
Now....the cookies and letter are set out so it is time for Mr. and Mrs. Claus to get to work!

Santa, we've been looking for you!

We decided to venture up to Opry Mills/Opryland to finish up some shopping and see the lights spectacular. We did this last year and had lots of fun. Ok, more like a little fun. I spent most of the night in a chair at a spinning resturant nursing Graham, while Michael took Lila around. Still, it was a first for our family and a tradition I think we will keep.










This year, I was kicking myself that I STILL had shopping, especially since I started before Thanksgiving. To give ourselves a shopping break we thought we would take the kids over to the Bass Pro Shop and let them see Santa.
A few weeks prior, daddy's friend from work put in a special phone call to his elf friend and asked Santa stop by while he was out collecting letters before Christmas.
Here he is reading Lila and Graham's letter.

Yes, Santa came to Mason's house! Both Lila and Graham were not so sure about this. Lila did end up giving him a pound when he arrived and a hug when he left. She did not, however want to sit on his lap. Surprisingly, neither did Graham. They both clung to their daddy like no other. Even after mommy took a turn on Santa's lap, they still didn't want to.



He even bribed them with some candy canes and gummy life-savors, but it didn't work. (Although everytime Lila sees them she is sure to say that that is what Santa gave her.)

This actually helped me make up my mind that I would not stand in line for hours to see Santa to only have them not participate. However, since we there and the line wasn't too long, we thought we would give it a shot. Well, soon before it was our turn, Santa had to take a break to go check on his reindeer. Boo! I guess we do want to make sure they are feeling ok. :) Anyway, we went back by after a little more shopping and the line was even longer. I had come to terms with the fact that I would not be getting official Santa pictures, so I was ok with that. We went to grab some dinner before heading over to see the lights. While we were at dinner, Lila kept asking where Santa was and even told me she wanted to sit on his lap. Michael and I looked at each other with that, "Yeah right, not in a million years" look. However, after dinner we went out of the food court and Lo and Behold, guess who was there with not a soul in line?!?! SANTA! After riding the "up and down horsey" I asked Lila is she wanted to go over and see Santa.





When I pointed him out, she took off running saying the words this post is titled..."Santa, we've been looking for you." She sprinted up to the ropes and tried to climb under them. We eventually led her in the right direction around to see him. Hearing those words and watching her run up to Santa to give him a hug made the whole trip worth it! It totally melted my heart. I think she blurted out she wanted a Dora Backpack and babydoll before she made it to his lap. I am not sure he even heard her, but he gave her a big blue sucker anyway, which I am quite positive was her favorite part of the whole experience.

Even Graham sat on Santa's lap without crying, but by golly he sure was checking him out. Although for some reason, I did not get a picture of either one of them smiling, they were happy and I, well, I was standing there with my mouth wide open in disbelief. Yet I too, was very very happy!