It's Beginning to Look A LOT Like Christmas

I know it's a little late to be changing up the blog for the holidays, but just go with it, please. That's kind of how things are going around here. Lots of last minute Christmas decorations, but I will have them up, even if only for Christmas day. It's looking festive around here, though, I have to say.

We are rapidly checking things off our list and adding a few things that definitely weren't on the list. And by that I mean another trip to the emergency room last night. Not for Andrew, but for Ellie. She fell down my parents hardwood stairs from close to the top, and landed (more like thrown) into a table at the bottom. With her head. So hard that it knocked the leg crooked. I was in the kitchen and heard it and knew immediately what I was hearing. There is no sound like it. I just wasn't sure if it was Ellie or Luke. Luke was at the top and was the only one who saw the entire thing. He was crying with his hands over his ears. I felt like doing the same thing, but obviously that wasn't what Ellie needed from her mom at that point. Her mouth was bleeding terribly. Really busted up lip. She was doing okay and acting fairly normal, except that about 15 min. after the fall, she curled up on my lap and fell asleep. Extremely unusual. So Steven called a doctor in our church and he said to be on the safe side, we should probably take her in. So we ended up at the ER having a CT scan. She was a brave girl. I think the whole thing really shook her up, though. She told me quite a bit throughout the night, "I love you so, so much, mom" It almost makes me cry to type it. So you just never know. An hour before we were eating pizza and enjoying a fire my dad had just made. Okay, that was last night.

Back to Christmas stuff. I will go in the order of the events.

Happy Birthday to Jesus at church last Sunday.

The children sang a precious song and did sign language for the chorus. You should have seen the parents (and the grandparents) and the camcorders.

This was just one day last week at mom's house. If mom's camera is around and Andrew is too, I'm probably going to be snapping pictures. Especially with this outfit. His shirt says
"snow cool".

These are some teacher gifts. This just about did me in. But I have recovered and am now ready to bake and make some more! This is peanut butter fudge from my friend Esther (thanks, Esther!) and it is the best and easiest to make. You don't have to use a candy thermometer. With three children, who in the world has time for that? I certainly did not have time for the peppermint cookies. You have to make the dough, then half it and add a lot of red food coloring to one half. Then roll it into a rectangle. The invert one on top of the other. Then roll that up. Then freeze for 4 hours. Then slice them and bake. Then make the icing to go in between. Then find celophane (sp?)-good luck with that-(my mom had some). And tie them up (which takes two people). See what I mean? Not worth it.

Now we're at Ellie and Luke's Christmas program at school. This brought out cameras and camcorders like never before. See Luke? See the little girl next to him? She is sobbing and running to her mom. So funny! You can't win 'em all.

Ellie is the angel on the far left. Have I mentioned that I went to this same school? We had a Christmas program then too-complete with Mary and Joseph, of course. I remember wanting to be Mary so badly. Then the next year, my sister, Laura Beth, got to be Mary. I thought she was so lucky. I think Ellie shared the same feelings about the role of Mary.
Can you spot Luke?

After the program with some of our best buddies from church.

These two are hilarious. Ella Rose came over to play the other night. I wish you could hear some of their conversations.

Okay, this next part should probably be its own post, but I am just going to keep right on going. Sarah's graduation was on Friday and I had been planning on going for awhile. She decided not to walk, but I so still wanted the trip to Auburn. Steven hung out with the boys for a night (woohoo for his first night with Andrew-even though he did call me after midnight to ask what to do with Andrew because he woke up) And Ellie and I went to visit Sarah. I didn't get a very good Auburn fix at all. (We got there late, and it was raining the next day). I did however, get to visit with some dear friends who I have known since childhood. The Baldwins moved to town when I was little (not really sure-feels like forever). Hope was a year older than me (in school) and Joy was a year younger than LB. We pretty much all shared our childhood (and all childhood toys). We have many of the same fond memories-especially at Christmas. So now we are grown with little girls of our own (and some little boys :) On Friday it seemed Ellie and Anna Beth picked up right where Hope and I left off.

Busy, busy.

I love, love, love Hope's house. She lives out on a country road right down the hill from her mom's house (which I love equally as much). There are animals, a pond, swings on all the porches, a garden every summer. I think Ellie and Anna Beth hit it off because they are both girl through and through. Here is Anna Beth's pink room with pink ribbon on her tree. (Can you see the white picket fence and the porch through the window?)

I think Hope is about to go crazy in her kitchen. (It's a temporary living situation) No dishwasher, not much cabinet space or counter space. And I completely feel her pain. But isn't it adorable?

And speaking of adorable...this is Charlie. His eyes are way bluer in person. The picture doesn't do them justice.

We sat inside and chatted and ate and baked cookies while it rained and poured outside. Then I went to her mom's house and took a nap with Ellie. When I woke up she had made a fresh pot of coffee and sat me down on the couch while we waited for Ellie to wake up. The day was heavenly and food for my soul. Thank you both, if you are reading this. Let's do it again!

And finally...our tree. The more I look at it, the more I realize how tilted it is. Oh well.

And the mantle. I decided to display our Christmas cards this way rather than the normal stack on the counter. So much better, don't you think? (I used decorative ornament hooks I found at Wal-Mart). See Ellie's pink stocking? Luke's is on the other end. I need to get a better picture of it. And I added one in the middle for Andrew, even though it will be empty on Christmas morning. Bless him.

It is almost midnight!!! I usually go to bed at about 9:30. I am feeling a little panicked. We have friends coming over tomorrow to decorate sugar cookies. Gotta go!!