'Twas Ten Nights Before Christmas

Because I can, and because he's just so cute, here's a few pictures from tonight. Gavin loved this chair we borrowed from Me Me.He would constantly stand up and try to sit back down on his own.

Santa

Santa's elf

And a Who from Whoville?

Conversation with a Candy Cane Cutie

Gavin: Hey Mom.

Me: Yes Gavin.

Gavin: I have a question.

Me: Okay. What is it?

Gavin: How many days until Christmas?

Me: Just eleven. (That was last night.)

Gavin: Oh good!

Gavin: Hey mom. Do you know how to make a Grinch grin?

Me: No. How?

Gavin: You give him a kiss.

Gavin: Is it still too late to hang my favorite blue ornament?

Me: Nope. Go right ahead.

Gavin: But where, oh where, do I put it?

Gavin: Ah, here's the perfect place!

Me: By the way, did you know you sat on a gingerbread man?

Thankfully Joyous Thursday Week #3

Thankfully, I'm still in thankful mode. In this post, I talked about the women in my life and this week I would like to say I am thankfully joyous for all of the men and boys in my family - the fathers, grandfathers, brother, brother-in-law, nephews, cousins and especially these two.

This is an old picture, but I just love it that Gavin will always have a photo of him and his two Papaws together- one from each side of the family.

And I know it was a special Father's Day last year for D. to have Gavin with us.


My brother wasn't there in time for the photo, but here's the cutest picture of when Gavin was about 4 months old. I guess it's okay to be thankful for brothers. Just kidding Case!

These guys are such a blessing to me and to every member of my family. It's awesome to be associated with men of such caliber.

Our Little Helper

Deck the Halls with Bowls of O's. Fa La La La La La La La La La.
That's not easy to type without singing. You try it.

Mr. Man decided our tree needed a little extra trimming when he placed a Cheerio, known as O's around here, on a lower branch.
He understands and listens to us telling him to "just look" when he reaches up for something off the tree. I guess putting ornaments on is a different story.

Like Father Like Son

D. loves his jukebox and apparently Gavin does too.
Happy
Not so happy.
There's only room in this family for one jukebox. Well, if you were asking me about a year ago, there wasn't even room for one then. I guess we've all grown to love it.

Some of us too much.

Baby It's Cold Outside

Yesterday, we broke a record in H-town for having the earliest snow fall ever recorded. The fact that it snowed is probably a record. My mom picked up Gavin for me and I met them for a little fun in the snow. Someone wasn't all too excited about the cold weather, but he did like throwing the "balls" of ice.


I would now like to introduce you to someone - The Claw. Gavin didn't have his mittens over at Nonna's and she found one smallish mitten. Gavin had fun shaking his one hand around.

We went home to meet D., but there wasn't that much snow sticking there.

We did spot Ralphie's brother Randy from the Christmas story.
In all, I think Gavin might be a warm weather creature. He seemed to enjoy watching the fire and snuggling better than anything else.

Thankfully Joyous Thursday Week #2

I actually had something different written for this week's Thankfully Joyous Thursday, but someone, not mentioning full names, D., had an incident with a homeless walrus therefore misplacing the F drive which had most of our pictures on it. His words- not mine. You have to know D. to understand my world. But you know what, these things have a way of working themselves out.

You see, I have always wanted to do an Advent Calendar. I really wanted to make one of my own, but with time constraints I resorted to buying one someone else made from Etsy.
And this leads to what I am joyfully thankful for- old and new traditions. Since the 1st of December, we have been reading a particular scripture relating to the period of Advent and doing some kind of activity. The sad part is the notes haven't exactly made their way into the Advent box, but they will soon. Tonight was extra special because we made a Christingle, meaning Christ Light. And no, that is not a real ice cream cone Gavin is wholeheartedly trying to eat.

Gavin and I have also been counting down the days until Christmas using this chalkboard attached to a Santa bag D.'s boss gave us last year. At this point, Gavin's more interested in taking the toys out of the bag.
D. and I will also continue the tradition of lighting our Christmas wreath we bought when we were newlyweds, which we later found out was an Advent wreath. Driving through the neighborhood looking at Christmas lights is another one of our favorite traditions, but this year that's built into our Advent activities.

But probably one of our most treasured traditions is reading the Christmas story from Luke as well as "Twas the Night Before Christmas," on Christmas Eve. Those things are carried over from my family and I'm pretty sure D.'s family as well.

If you have any traditions you would like to share, please feel free to comment. They could even make their way into our new traditions.