Christmas is over...

I took down all of the decorations, stripped our tree down to the bare needles, and put all of the decorations away in their boxes. Melody stared at the boxes spilling over with red and green fun, put her hands on top of them, looked at me very sadly and said, "Please don't take them away, I love Christmas Eve".
I know the feeling sweetheart... I know. Christmas is over.

Poor Daddy

Rob was holding Melody and she said something funny to him. He looked at her and laughed, which showed his crows feet around his eyes. Melody put her hands near his eyes and said, "Daddy, you cracked."

That's not Santa!

The weekend after Christmas our church held a potluck dinner for those in the community that could not celebrate with family. Most were from nursing homes, some just don't have family around. There were a lot of people there that Melody isn't used to seeing in church. There was one elderly woman that had white hair, and she was wearing a red sweater. Melody saw her and yelled across the church, "Hi Santa!!"

Christmas 2008

We got the official kick off of the Christmas Holiday from the Fire Department coming around our neighborhood with Santa Clause on the engine handing out candy canes. Every year they come around, and this year Melody was old enough to be excited and go outside to get her treat. She kept talking about that for a few days, just in time for Christmas Eve. Rob sadly had to work, so I went to my Mom & Dad's for dinner. Carol & Alex and their clan were over, as were Uncle Kevin & Aunt Kate, and GG & Papa Tony. Wow, what a full house! We ate dinner, played, then Melly & I were off to meet Rob at church. Melody hadn't stayed with us for a service in a long time (she usually goes to Sunday School), so it was challenging to keep her with us the whole time. She doesn't do anything naughty, she just really can't keep quiet. She needs to talk every second of the day. If there isn't anyone to talk with, she will talk to her toys, have them talk back, etc. But the point is, her mouth is constantly moving. Most times it's no big deal, but on Christmas Eve in church, people begin to stare. So we got through it, and she actually fell asleep in the car on the way home so it was an easy time getting ready for Santa. I did miss a little bit all the excitement of reminding her that when she woke up all her gifts would be under the tree.
The morning didn't start off too well. She was really sad for some reason, so I spent a good 1/2 an hour in her room rocking with her and talking with her. Something really upset her, but she couldn't tell us what. Then after she was calmed down, out to see what Santa brought! This year was really fun because it all made sense. We sent a letter to Santa a few years back asking that he not wrap the presents he leaves for Melody, so when she goes out to the living room, she sees all of her toys there and it's a high level of excitement. Then she went through one by one opening up the boxes and playing with each toy for a bit before moving to the next one.
After a nice Christmas morning, on to Carol's house! The whole family was there for yet another feast and even more presents. My side did a grab bag system this year. On Thanksgiving we each picked a name and that's who we shopped for (excluding the kids.... they still get what they usually would). This not only made shopping easier, but it also helped with all of the Christmas Chaos. So overall a fantastic holiday, yet again. Here are some of the highlights:


Baby Emilie's first Christmas



Yup, that's Emilie buried under her gifts!




Melody hugging her current gift to unwrap. Every gift she opened she would hug it and say, "I love it, it's my favorite!"




She loves Christmas!




Mmmmmmm..... new tag that Santa brought!

For the Grandparents and Great Grandparents

What do you give them for Christmas? Pictures of the kids of course! How cute is it to get all the cousins together for one group shot? Luckily it wasn't that hard to get them all looking happy.



Here's my side.....




And here's Rob's side....

Drew Church Christmas Pageant

Sunday was a big day! Melody was in her first Xmas Pageant at church. She had to learn a song and sing it with all the other kids. She actually did real well and learned the words quickly. We were not sure how she would like having to go up front with her drum and sing it to everyone but she seemed to enjoy it.

There's a hole in the bucket....

Have I mentioned how much I LOVE my new wood stove? As it gets colder and colder outside, it just gets warmer and warmer for us inside. We had a fireplace insert put in our never used fireplace so that we could "assist" our heating budget this year. Let me just tell you how great it is to be 75* inside in the middle of winter! And not really us our heat! Granted, there is some smell of smoke, and we notice when we go to others houses we can smell a hint of a campfire, but I'll take it for the warmth it gives.
With that, there is some maintenance. The never ending ash that scatters in front of the fireplace as well as inside. So, every couple of days we need to empty it out and clean it all up. Rob has on his Christmas list to get a metal ash holder bucket type thing. But, in the meantime, we have been using a regular old bucket. We put some water in the bottom of it, put the ash in after the stove hasn't been burning for a while, and then outside in the yard. Not a great solution, but a temporary fix.
There was one morning when I was emptying out the fireplace I noticed a spot in the middle of the fireplace that still had some red embers. So, being the fire conscious woman that I am, I left that spot in the fire, and put the rest of the ash (that I had mixed around and found no red spots), in the bucket and outside. I get the new fire going, warm as can be. A few hours later, Melly and I have to run out to the store. So I leave the house, and actually say out loud, "I wonder why it smells like burning plastic out here?" I look at my Sanford & Son ash bucket in the yard and see a big hole in the bottom, with ash pouring out, and smoke coming out. OOPS!!!
So realizing the hose has been turned off, I grab the only other thing I can think of... my watering can! I fill it up with water, and pour it on the ash pile. Only to find out that when you pour water on ash, it sizzles, smokes more, and blows more ash all over the place. So 3 trips to the kitchen sink, and a few gallons of water later, the smoke and sizzle have stopped. The whole bottom of my bucket is completely melted, Melly and I are covered in grey ash dust, and all I can say to Melly is, "Daddy's going to be so mad at me!"
I'm not cleaning out the fireplace again until after Christmas in a metal bucket!