Happy Holidays!

Saying Happy Holidays doesn't necessarily mean you are forgetting Jesus! I hate that it's been hijacked by the "world." I really am trying to tell you to Happy New Year, Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah all at the same time. It was just shorter. "Happy Hanukkah?!" you may ask. Well, call me crazy. Call me a weirdo. It's okay. We celebrated this year. I was looking for something that would become a tradition for our new little family that would also be un-commercialized and not at all about gifts. I did some research on Hanukkah. Part of what it is about is celebrating the oil lasting longer than it should have in the temple. It's also a time of re dedication. I decided our family would celebrate how God has stretched our dollars farther than they should have gone this year as I've drastically cut back at work. (This coming year, I'm cutting back even further). Traditionally, Jewish moms cook some sort of potato cake in oil for the food. I get the oil symbolism, but I'm not in to potato cakes really so.... I just fried chicken. It worked for us because our actual Christmas Day/Eve were so busy we didn't have a chance for a celebration of our own but I was okay with that as we'd already done this. Hope and I got this from my boss at work. She is learning to spell her name. (Hope is pretty easy). So cute. It sounds like this: "hey ho, hee, ee hop!" But, she does recognize it in this red Hope and the letters above her changing table.

Let the celebrations begin: First stop, Christmas Eve lunch in Hartford with Granny. Hope got this baby doll. She is learning to love it. She helps it suck it's fingers like she does and sucks it's nose with the aspirator. The hat...it's nowhere to be found anymore.

Then, we went to Christmas Eve service at FBC. One of my favorite parts of Christmas. Then, we were off to Mamaw's house with the Maglingers. Speaking of the Maglinger's: Earlier that day, we'd gone to the hospital to visit our new nephew, Arthur Christian who was born early that morning. Here's Hope, Papaw and Susanna on the organ.

Hope was glad to get some organ time to herself. She went to town! Woody and I think she is quite musical. She loves dancing, hears the beat in anything and has just started to sing some to her animals and to us if we're really lucky.

Just a picture with dad by Mamaw's tree in her pretty dress:

And Christmas morning with mom at our house:

Then we're off to Papaw's. No perfect picture, but this one shows well how tired the girls were by this time in the celebrations. Still more to go, don't stop now!...

Finally, last stop: Grammy and Big Pappy's! We stayed the night here and finally started to get some rest. Hope is opening her stocking where her favorite gift of all was found: a toothbrush. Shhh, don't say the word around her. She wants it badly and screams for what seems like forever when tooth brushing time is over.

So, that was Christmas. If you're tired reading the post, imagine how a 13 month old would feel. Next year, we've got to slow down the pace!

And, in staying true to my early New Year's resolution to find the fun in winter: Here's "The Carpet Monster" He comes to play when we're bored and couped up in the house.

Ever wonder what the Maglinger's are up to on Saturdays? Well, now you know.