Christmas in Atlanta

We spent Alan's first Christmas in Atlanta with all of Mike's family. It was wonderful! A.T. had a great Christmas and made ours so much richer and sweeter than ever before.

We gave him two Dr. Seuss board books, a Teddy bear, and a wooden doughnut stacker. He likes to chew on the rings and books, the Teddy he's not quite sure of yet.

Mike gave me an awesome book on identifying antique furniture and a universal double boiler. I really wanted the double boiler so I could make a bourbon chocolate sauce which we really like.

I love that Christmas lasts for 12 days following Christmas eve, it's wonderful to soak up the graces and joy of Christ's birth for more than one day!

Alan and snakes

Apparently Alan, as friendly as he is, does not like snakes.

We were looking at one but Alan got upset, so I pulled back.

Santa came to the park!

We took Alan to meet Santa on Saturday! Being such a friendly little guy he loved it!

He did get distracted by the tree lights though!

The luckiest mama!

I love this kid!

The tree was not themed on purpose

I'm not one to theme a tree!

Wreaths On the windows

Alan and I got the wreaths on the front windows--finally!

We started this morning but couldn't finish until Mike got home from work this evening. We have these huge shrubs in front and I couldn't access one of the windows without Mike to hold the ladder (which was in a precarious position).

I'm glad we got it done before Christmas. It is very pretty.

No power

Some one must have sneezed in south Georgia cause we have been out of power for the last 4 hours. Any time the wind blows down here the power normally goes out. On the plus side it is only going to get into the fiftys tonight so we should stay nice and warm.

Success!

The Christmas Tea was a blast! We had 14 ladies total and the cutest young man in the world, he truly was a distraction to every lady in the room ;)

Unfortunately I did not get any pictures, I've been so good about getting pics with this new iPhone but this time I dropped the ball. So a written description will have to do. I used all my china-fine and day ware. The table had the extra wreath to accommodate all the desserts and tea cups. The sidebar had several trays of savory items--cheese balls, cheese biscuits, sausage biscuits, chicken nibblers and more. Tea was on the kitchen counter. I can't even name all the desserts but here are a few: shortbread cookies, chocolate covered pretzels, pralines, and many other goodies whose name I don't know.

Alan was in entertainment mode (as usual :) and enjoyed hanging out with every lady, bringing them fat and jolly cheer!

I love our parish, the families there and the ladies' group!

Getting Ready for the Christmas Tea

Alan and I are hosting a Christmas tea for the ladies' group today. Here we are mobied-up to work!

A Themed Christmas!

This year Margot decided to go for a Themed Xmas tree. I think it came out well.

St Lucy Day Feast

This morning for the feast of St Lucy Margaret made a large supply of sweet rolls. We enjoyed some cinnamon buns and poppy seed rolls over a nice cup of mystic monk coffee.

This Moment

So many days I wish this time in our lives could last forever (except that we'd have to figure out a way to add more to the brood while keeping them all at their cutest stages ;)

I'm sitting here watching Alan play on the floor and Mike is catching up on Zzz's after a 7 day week. The house is silent except for A.T.'s sweet baby babble and I'm just enamored with his sweetness.

How could anyone not love babies? They are just so sweet and perfect!

Best use of $0.58 ever!

I like to go to Good Will to peruse their $1.00 record pile. I got a Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney Christmas album there and I have been enjoying listening to it. So last Saturday I went to see if they had any "new" records and while I found some good ones my favorite purchase was a light switch cover.

Not only was it an absolute steal at $0.58, it was the cutest thing ever for the nursery. I just love little details like this in a room.

Fires

There is nothing like sitting down and enjoying a nice glass of good bourbon and a fire on a cool Sunday night.

I was able to buy a half a cord of fire wood for $65 that was delivered to our house. While we do not have a fire place I think this stack of wood will last us long enough in our fire pit. I am thinking of making a proper fire pit when my back gets better, but for now this will have to do.

-mike

Coffee on the Deck

Alan loves being outside, he always has. I don't think he ever cries when he's outside (well, not if he's in the position he wants :), the fresh air just calms him. I remember when he was a teeny tiny 3 week old and having a very fussy day (he had very bad gas then). Anyway, as soon as I popped outside the door he was calm. But it was in the 90's and gnats were everywhere so I didn't last long.

Well today A.T. just wanted to be on my hip all day and at one point I just wanted to sit down and drink coffee. So I got s great idea: step outside with him and the coffee. Sure enough, he was content as can be and I got my afternoon coffee pick me up.

Little Pouter

A.T. has the cutest pouting cheeks. Look at those things!