Christmas Festivities

As I attempt to organize the hundreds of pictures we've taken during our Christmas celebration, I keep thinking that I need to finish this post before:

A) The New Year begins, and I lose my motivation to chronicle our holiday memories... and/or:

B) Sprout arrives and I no longer have time to leisurely create blog entries.

Regarding the latter, I am scheduled to be induced next Wednesday, January 5, (at 39 weeks) due to Sprout's large size. We keep hoping she might make an appearance before then, but it's looking more and more like she may need some encouragement to vacate the warm, cozy, and very tight quarters in Mommy's tummy. I'll post any breaking news if it happens before our scheduled induction (begin the 7 day count-down!), but in the meantime, we hope you enjoy these pictures of our Christmas fun.


Luke, Mimi, and Grandpa in front of the tree on Christmas Eve:



I love this one, because we have similar pictures of Luke holding a present in his lap from each of his past 2 Christmas years, and he seems like such a big boy now:



Last week, Luke and I decorated Christmas cookies. He was a big helper, and took his job of choosing which sprinkles to place on each cookie very seriously:



Of course, the best part about making our cookies was the taste test:



Here are some of other favorite Christmas photos:

"It's Winter Time!"

Luke woke up this morning, looked out his window at all of the snow that fell overnight, and excitedly exclaimed, "It's WINTER TIME!" How incredibly thrilling to have Christmas on one day and wake up the next to find a giant winter wonderland of fun! Luke's new Mickey Mouse hat and "glubs" are a huge hit, and he played outside with Daddy and Winnie for over an hour, throwing snowballs, running around, and building a snowman. We finally decided that Luke might turn into a Popsicle if he stayed out in the cold much longer, so we came in, much to his dismay, as he cried, "I want to play in the snow more!" It's already melting and quickly disappearing (much to my delight as a non-winter lover), but we're hoping that we're able to enjoy the snow one more time this afternoon before "winter time" is over! Here are a few cute pics of our snow bunny:





Daddy teaches the kids how to begin building a snowman.



My boys roll the snow balls for Frosty's head and body.



Winnie and Luke "supervise" Daddy as Frosty comes to life.



Putting on the finishing touches...



Luke proudly poses with his snowman.



Apparently, everyone needed a little nap this afternoon, even Frosty!

Merry Christmas!

A few of my favorite parts of our magical Christmas this year:


Luke watched all the guys put on their ties last night before church and asked Daddy if he could wear one, too. He donned his ankle-length fashion statement through the entire Christmas Eve service, and received many chuckles and smiles from parishoners in return.



Experiencing Christmas with 2 1/2 year-old was quite humorous and adorable. As I put Luke to bed last night and told him the Christmas story, he wanted to sing a song for Baby Jesus. I asked him which song and he replied: "Jingle Bell Rock". I had to stifle my giggle, as I was expecting "Silent Night" or "Away in a Manger". Luke's other Christmas Eve request was to have a birthday cake for Baby Jesus today, which resulted in Mommy baking a banana bread "birthday cake" at 5:30 a.m. in time for breakfast this morning.



As we attempted to make a cookie plate for Santa last night, Luke stuffed cookies into his mouth as quickly as possible, double-fisting them, and leaving Ho-Ho with mere crumbs...



However, I don't think that Santa held a grudge, because Luke woke up this morning to find piles of presents under the tree, as well as his very own piano! He entertained us all day with his "music", singing into the microphone, etc. I'm not sure it was a joyful noise in Winnie's opinion- I love her expression in this picture!



We had a white Christmas in Greenville (the first in over 50 years)!



The only thing better than watching snow fall on Christmas Day was to go outside and play in it!!



Winnie celebrated one of her favorite days all year by helping everyone open their presents. Besides the excitement of tearing the tissue paper, she received her own giant personalized plush bone. It's a dog's life!



Sprout remained quietly gestating all day, allowing us to fully enjoy the day with Luke and avoid being in the hospital and in labor on Christmas. Thank you, sweet girl, for this special gift.

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Dear Sprout,

Hello there, little girl! This is your Mommy writing. We've reached a momentous milestone together, as you have managed to stay in my tummy for 37 weeks! This is 2+ weeks longer than your big brother, which means that every evening for the past 14 days, your daddy has heard me say: "I really think we're going to have the baby tonight!" (Somehow, I don't think he takes me seriously anymore). Today at my doctor's appointment, you measured at 8 pounds, 5 ounces in the ultrasound growth scan! Well, Big Girl, you seem to be outgrowing your nickname of "Sprout" and instead we may have to begin calling you "Sequoia" after the giant redwoods. The doctor said you could come any day!

So, I know I've been really particular in my requests for you: "Please don't come too early... Can you stay in there til mid-December?... How about waiting until Thursday when Mimi and Grandpa arrive for Christmas and can take care of Luke?...". But now I'm asking just one more favor, please: Let's not go for a full 40 weeks, because I'm afraid you will be HUGE!! I already anticipate that your daddy will have me running laps around the house on December 31 to encourage labor if you have not arrived (just so we get a nice tax deduction for 2010 and because our insurance deductible starts all over again on January 1). He's a finance guy, you know, so these details are exciting to him. A bigger deal to me is that you won't fit into your sweet, pink newborn clothes and we may have to jump right into the 3-month sized outfits if you get much bigger. But I guess you're in charge and are already showing us who's the boss.

However, by writing this blog post, I may be setting myself up to go into labor imminently, by commenting how I've never been pregnant this long, and that maybe detecting my gestational diabetes and giving myself those awful weekly progesterone injections (to delay preterm labor) have all been worth it in order for you to be a healthy, full term baby when you come out. So, any day, little one. We can't wait to meet you and we're finally ready .... I'm sure you'll let us know when you are!

Love, Mommy


Sprout at 36.5 weeks (This is the last prego picture that I plan to post, b/c there are no words to describe my tummy now that I have clearly surpassed a "basketball" belly.)

P.S. Here are 2 funny anecdotes about how people have chosen to comment on my belly lately:

1) I went to see a patient last week and was wearing a baggy fleece, which apparently made it difficult to tell that I am pregnant (Really? Reference above picture again, please...) Anyway, I mentioned to the patient that I was expecting a baby in 4 weeks or less and she was shocked, and said, "Well, honey, that baby ain't gonna be no bigger than a cake of soap... you so Little!" I wasn't sure how to respond as I waddled back to my car, but thought maybe I should have checked her vision/eyesight a little more closely when I did her therapy evaluation.

2) We went out to a nice restaurant with friends a few weeks ago for Date Night. I was wearing high heels (for the first time in months), a dressy maternity top, make-up on, and felt as "cute" as you can be at 9 months pregnant. As I stopped in the restroom to wash my hands, a woman at the sink beside mine looked at me and said, "Oh gosh, I ate waaaaayyy too much. I feel as big as you look... THHHHIIIISSSS BIG!" (as she made a gesture of a hula-hoop sized beach ball around her mid-section). I left the restroom feeling a bit more like a hippopotamus than the saucy, pregnant diva that I had previously imagined in my head...

"And the 'stockings' were hung...

...by the chimney with care
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there."



Today, I found Luke hanging his socks on the Christmas tree. I'm not sure where he got this idea, but he happily entertained himself for 10 minutes, placing the socks on a branch, taking them off, and repeating this process over and over again. It made me smile, and reflect upon what must go on inside that busy 2 1/2 year-old little head.



The pair of socks is still hanging where Luke last left them, adding a unique touch to our tree, along with our other ornaments:


Luke is obsessed with our Christmas tree this year. When anyone asks him about it, he says, "I put the star way up high on the tree. I climbed a ladder!" I have to shake my head in the background, assuring each adult that this is Luke's vivid imagination, and in fact, we did NOT allow him to climb a ladder to place the star on top of the tree. Luke did have control of decorating the bottom 1/3 of our tree, with mostly non-breakable ornaments, and has participated in the entire process of searching for the perfect tree, admiring it, and decorating it.


Luke hangs his special ornament this year (Elmo holding a choo-choo train = 2 of Luke's favorite things!)


Taking his job of decorating very seriously...

We got our Christmas tree this weekend, and it was in the house for all of 30 seconds when Luke decided to deliberately push it over, to see what would happen. I was across the room, and heard Mark shout loudly, "NO, BUDDY!", just as I saw the tree come crashing down into the mantle and our tv, knocking over stockings, garland, etc. Luckily, we were able to salvage the moment, decorations, and our television (with no injuries to report), but "Christmas" began with a bang, and Luke now says, "I pushed the tree and Daddy yelled." Happy times... So, we've since established some "rules" which include no pushing the tree, no walking around the tree, etc.


Daddy helps "supervise" the decorating process...


Luke also loves to impersonate Santa Claus, and lowers his voice when we ask him what Ho Ho says. Click here for a video of Luke wishing everyone a merry Christmas in his best Ho Ho voice.


And just for our blog followers, a preview of the theme of our Christmas card this year:

Luke insisted on wearing a hat ("like Ho Ho!") once he saw Winnie decked out in her Santa outfit, and then he asked for a mustache. You may wonder why we had one lying around, but it was in a box of Christmas decorations, and provided just the right comical tone for our kids' annual pose in front of the tree.

Christmas Safari

We had a one-of-a-kind experience last weekend when we visited Hollywild Animal Park's Holiday Lights. Hollywild is a nearby wild animal park that is home to hundreds of aspiring and retired "animal actors". These animals have/will be featured in movies, commercials, etc. but need a home when they are not living the high Hollywood life. We had heard from friends that Hollywild has a great annual Christmas Safari, where you drive your car through the huge animal park, which is decked out in miles of lights for the holidays. There is also an area where you can get out of your car and walk around, visiting the bonfire, nativity scene, Santa Claus, and many baby animals in a petting zoo. However, the absolute highlight of the attraction for us was the "Enchanted Deer Forest", a large open area with wild animals that come up to your car and eat crackers right out of your hand. The funniest part about this is that there is no "road" or structure, so literally cars are just chasing animals around a giant field in the dark, kids bundled up in blankets in the back of SUVs, bouncing around with tailgates open, animal food in hand... The entire thing is VERY rural, down home South Carolina, and Mark and I commented how this would NEVER be allowed in the litigious and more uptight north. But it was AWESOME! Luke was thrilled to be unbuckled from his car seat, with the top half of his body outside the back window while we parked and took in the entire crazy scene. He held out his crackers, summoning each animal: "Here ya go zebra, I have a cracker for ya!" It was adorable, hilarious, and very bizarre to see all of the Christmas lights in the background while we shrieked in fear/delight as GIANT cows, horses, deer, ostriches, zebras, etc. surrounded the car in search of snacks. At one point, Mark and Luke were feeding a zebra out the passenger window, and we all had our attention turned to that side of the car. When we turned around, we all jumped as we realized that a horse had placed its head completely in our car through the open driver's side window! Anyway, it was certainly a fun excursion, and Luke is still talking about all of the fun animal friends that he fed! Here are some pictures from our evening:


First we enticed the animals with our yummy crackers...



The zebra and horse approached our car and ate our snacks, much to Luke's delight!



Herd of wild deer (Luke thought they were HoHo's reindeer).



GIANT cow visiting the Suburban next to our car.


Outdoor nativity scene (Apparently, this gig doesn't pay well enough for the animal actors, b/c the donkey is not real).



Driving through the Christmas Safari!

Tis the Season...

... for our annual post which chronicles our evening at the Roper Mountain Holiday Lights. For the third year in a row, we proudly share pictures of our family posed with the same enormous, holiday-themed painted wooden cut-outs (there's just something about putting your child's head through those pre-cut holes that screams, "Take this picture!"). This year was really fun, as Luke was very excited to see "Ho-Ho". I wasn't sure how Luke would react to sitting on Santa's lap (reference to 2009 screaming episodes every time we attempted to approach the jolly guy), but Luke climbed right up into the sleigh with Ho-Ho, and stood very sweetly beside him while the photographer snapped a picture. I was absolutely elated that it was the "same" Santa that Luke has met and been photographed with every year since he was a baby. However, now that it has become such a tradition, if we ever move during Luke's childhood, we may need to return to Greenville during each Christmas season in order to maintain consistency with Luke's annual Santa picture. And this guy is GOOD: extremely authentic with the twinkling eyes, rosy cheeks, laugh that makes his belly shake like a bowl full of jelly... the whole works. Mark and I do speculate every year if Santa hides a flask in his suit somewhere, because his speech is rather slurred, Southern accent pretty thick, and he seems awfully amused by his own jokes, but I think that I'm willing to overlook that possibility for the sake of a good picture (oh yes, and a fun experience for my son!).



Daddy and Luke stand in front of the holiday lights in the same place every year. Mark always looks remarkably unchanged. Luke keeps getting bigger, and looks like he is about 6 years old in this picture.



Toy Soldier



Outdoor Sleigh Ride



Bashful Snowman



Mommy and Luke in Santa's Village



Adorable dimples


And this morning, we all visited what Luke referred to as "Winnie's Ho-Ho", at a nearby pet store. Although the dog-friendly Santa may not have been as chubby and plump as Luke's Ho-Ho, the free cookies for our canine and human kids were enough of a draw to convince them to have a family picture taken. However, we did cause a bit of a scene with our comical chaos of attempting to get everyone positioned and facing the camera:


Oh, and as for Santa (with apologies to Clement C. Moore):

"And we heard him exclaim, ere we drove out of sight,
'What a crazy, happy family; Let's hope their picture's alright!'"