Georgia Christmas

Just a bit more of our Christmas pictures and I will leave you alone.  Rainman worked a day shift on Christmas Eve and an evening shift on Christmas Day, so we carved out our family time in between...

The kids and I headed to church for the candlelight Christmas Eve service.  There was no nursery at the service because, as our pastor says, "Christmas is family time".  I agree whole-heartedly, but, I think I have gotten a little too dependent on putting V-Girl in the nursery.  I really wasn't worried about it at all.  At all.  However, I wasn't counting on the only seats available for my party of 7 were waaaaaaaay up front on the center aisle.  V-Girl took it as a personal afront that D-Man wouldn't let her crawl under his leg tunnel and make a break for it.  The 6 of us spent the first half of the service trying to keep her happy, distract her, show her the pretty lights, have her people watch and all she wanted to do was to conquer Mount D-Man and escape!!!  And she didn't mind letting the whole world know that she was upset.  So, I spent the last half of the service in the back of the sanctuary with her...hoping that the rest of the children that were waaaaay up front, without me or Rainman, weren't doing anything that they shouldn't be.  V-Girl spent the time in the back of the church trying to escape and run back down the aisle....to the seat we had just abandoned for all the world to see.  We were quite a distraction for everyone in the back 5 rows or so, because she is quick and sneaky, I sometimes wouldn't notice that she was heading out until she was already 5 rows up.  She is at that stage where she will run while looking behind her and giggling the whole way.  I had to laugh because everytime I would catch her, she would giggle, wiggle to get back down and do it all over again!  This is close to the little face she would give me as I would chase her....

I was able to sneak back to my seat for the candlelighting portion of the service.  We successfully navigated that too with only one hot wax burn amongst us!  It just wasn't the relaxed Christmas Eve service I had mentally prepared for.

We came home and waited for Rainman to arrive and then had our family Christmas.

V-Girl got a baby and a Teletubby.  Do you remember Teletubby's?  We chanced upon them again when we checked out a movie from the library.  She was enchanted from the first baby giggle as the sun rises on Teletubby land!  Not sure why she loves it so much, but she does.  Well,  Teletubby's are not exactly the toy dejour these days, so I didn't find anything.  I sent out an e-mail to the ladies in my Sunday School class and low and behold one of them had one that their grandchild used to play with that she would love to get rid of....in her words "it's kind of creepy".  I agree.  But, you should have seen her little face when she opened and it and she still hauls it everywhere with her, saying, "Tub-tobah".

S-Girl is into everything pretend.  She plays house, restaurant, Barbies.  I found her a little baby carrier, similar to the ones I have used to carry all of the kids around.

She is in heaven.  Now she walks around with one baby in her carrier and another in the stroller with her little purse hanging off her arm.  She was recently playing pretend grocery shopping with her little cart we have.  She proceeded to put her purse in the cart and V-Girl walked by and took it.  S-Girl was really mad.  I told her that you shouldn't leave your purse in the cart anyway, because it is easy for people to steal it.  She looked me in the eye and said, "You always put your purse in there."  I just find it funny the little details that they pay attention to.  She is correct, but, I don't put in the up front part where the kids sit, I put it in the bottom so it can get buried by the stuff I am buying.  So there!

Okay, A-Man and D-Man sort of go together - so here they are with their gifts...

The big girls got quieter items to enjoy...

Overall, it was a good Christmas.  Even though it was our 2nd Christmas in Georgia, I still feel like I am sort of making up new traditions as we go along to see which ones will stick.  But, God was watching over my homesick heart and gave this gift to the kids and I on Christmas night....

Enough snow for a 12 inch snow man!!!

 And even a slighter larger 18 inch version!!!

Hope you had a very Merry Christmas!