The Last of Christmas Past

With the end of January quickly approaching, I have to say that I’m not really into sorting through Christmas photos.  But I promised you more pics, so here they are.  (And when I say “few” that’s exactly what I mean.  Sometimes I get so caught up in all the Christmas activity, that I forget to take pictures, so the pickings were slim this year.)

First are a few pictures from Christmas night with my parents.  In recent years, we’ve tried to take a family picture on Christmas night.  Next year we’ll have one more person in our picture.  Ty and Lucy are getting their first baby cousin on my side of the family.  Lucy is some kind of excited.  Almost everyday she wants to know if the baby is ready to come.  Patience, Lucy.  We still have four and a half months to go.

And now, may I present to you, what I like to call the Whitehouse Christmas Tree!  I call it that because that is where a tree this size belongs.  Last year, my mom decided it would be a good idea to purchase a 12 ft. tall tree on clearance after Christmas. Oh, I’m sure she got a really good deal and all, but it’s freakishly big!

B. I. G.

Even the roughly half-million Santa ornaments that my mom owns were barely enough to fill the tree.  She’s having second thoughts about putting the tree up again next year, but it does make for a nice conversation piece, don’t ya think?

Once Ty got all his packages arranged just right and so, it took him approximately 2.3 seconds to tear through them all.  This year Ty made several requests for Legos, and he received a few different sets which he thoroughly enjoyed assembling.

My little baby girl is as girlie as they come.  There’s no doll she doesn’t love, no princess dress she doesn’t try on, and no fingernail left unpainted.  But of all things, she is super excited at the possibility of playing softball one day.  Uncle Jude seized the opportunity and bought Lucy an SEC themed ball and bat combo.  We had a little batting practice right there in the living room that night, and Lucy really surprised everyone with her mad skills.  She’s got a pretty accurate arm, and she even made contact with the bat a time or two.  Lucy will only be 3 at the time of baseball season this year, so I’m not sure if she will be allowed to sign up.  Boy, am I going to have one disappointed little girl on my hands if she has to wait one more year to play!

I always have a hard time deciding what to get my dad for Christmas.  I usually rely on the Tool Man to fill me in on what kind of hunting or fishing gadget my dad “needs.”  But this year was different.  By some miracle I remembered him mentioning several months back that he wanted a panini press.  You know, a sandwich maker.  So I took a chance and bought one for him, and I think he really liked it.  I have since been blessed with a panini maker of my own, and the Tool Man and I have enjoyed using it.  About once a week we pull it out, stack up some amazing sandwiches, and press away!  Yummy.  I will have to share some of our creations with you someday.

On to some Christmas pictures with the Allen’s.

Did y’all see the Elf Yourself app that was popular this Christmas?  Well, the Tool Man had quite a blast entertaining himself this season at others’ expense.  Christmas day he took some photos of his grand mother and great uncle and elfed them.  Then he played it on the big screen TV for all to enjoy.  You can tell by the look on everyone’s faces that it was pretty funny.

And speaking of elves, here’s another pretty cute one!

It was like pulling teeth, but I finally got my monkeys to pose in front of Grammie’s tree.  Not nearly as big as that other tree, is it?

Y’all remember the Mario costume Santa brought Ty, don’t you?  Well I told you that he wore it a good part of the day, and here’s some proof.  Ha ha.  These two cousins are nuts!

So that’s all of the Christmas pictures I have to share.  I’m really hoping to get back into blogging on a regular schedule this year.  I just killed my Facebook account which should free up some time, and I’ve decided not to take as many cake orders.  The cakes were really becoming too much for me to handle, especially since the Tool Man is working more hours.  Cake is not worth my sanity, right?  So check back in soon to see what exciting adventures we’re up to!

Lindsey