Christmas 2013

Ok - this one is so funny, right?  Tyndell: "Silas, look what I got you!"  Silas: "Waaaaaaa!"



Wow!  Christmas came and went so fast.  I don't know about you but I tried really hard to savor every moment - we had so much to be thankful for this year and this post has a hodgepodge of seasonal photos from decorating the house (which we never really did before on the exterior, but given the neighborly competition, why not?  Jeff did an awesome job!), putting Tyndell's gingerbread castle from the Tullys together, trying to get a good group kid picture from when the B&B and Declan were visiting, the kids Breakfast with Santa event at school, visiting the Leonard Bearstein singing bears at Founder's Hall, and Christmas Morning.  Please note that the last picture is one that Tyndell took herself - she has taken a great interest in photos lately.  So funny to see her perspective. 

Christmas Day was a relaxing one and maybe we are too laid back, but when the kids woke up, they saw that Santa found our house (Tyndell was worried with the move and all) and they had gotten some fun gifts (Tyndell wanted an Arial Mermaid costume and an Arial watch and We all think Silas wanted some musical instruments since he loves music so much) that they had asked for.  While I made the annual biscuits and meat festival breakfast, the kids enjoyed their Santa gifts and they opened their stockings.  Mom T, Dad T, and Brandon came over for breakfast and afterwards we opened gifts....probably in slow motion compared with most b/c by the time we were done, it was already noon!  Anyway - it was nice to take in every moment and watch some Christmas Story on repeat along the way.  We relaxed all day and tried to clean up the morning mess and redistribute all the toys before going over to our neighborly neighbors for Christmas dinner.  

Some favorite moments from this season:
1.  Seeing my brother get so excited about the gifts he picked out for the kids
2. Hearing the sounds of everyone sharing their morning via Facetime with our family in Delaware - the Tullys and Mom A - while I was making breakfast
3.  Not feeling guilty about taking the kids to school on Christmas Eve and then spending the morning with Jeff having a lazy breakfast and going to a movie (totally recommend "Saving Mr. Banks" - it's incredible!)
4. Seeing the church sanctuary light up with candles during the Christmas Eve service - that with Silent Night always gives me chills
5. Watching my Mom bounce Silas on our new Joggling Board on our porch!  We are so Lowcountry!  Thanks Mom and Dad - what an awesome surprise!
6.Watching everyone try to play BIG piano
7. Sitting on the couch in our new house all decorated with the fire going (should have done more of this!)
8.Tyndell remembering some of our traditions and getting excited about them - Sienna the Elf came back and we did our Advent Calendar/Nativity Scene/Book Unwrapping each night to countdown the month
9.Creating cards and finding all my addresses again (still not done with this one - let's call them New Years cards, shall we? You should all get them soon though - I promise I'll work on them!) and being reminded of all the wonderful peeps out there