the week before Christmas

The week before Christmas was a busy one for us. With all the travelling I did for funerals and the end-of-the-semester-hub-bub, we had yet to put up any decorations ... {yikes! he says sarcastically) ...

We began by doing our very memorable family tradition of getting the tree out of the attic ...

The most fun part was seeing E put the ornaments on ... the tree was a little bottom heavy so we helped her by getting out the stool and lifting her up.

I guess there was something wrong with one of the ornaments ...

Next, it was the nativity scene ... which is not really one to play with, though telling that to a 2.5 year old does not mean she'll listen. Eden learned about the Christmas story at PDO and came home to tell us who everyone was including the angel Gabriel. When the PDO director came to E's class for chapel, she began to tell the children the Christmas story. When she got to the part about the angel but neglected to say the angel's name, Eden leaned over and whispered to her, "It's Gabriel!"

A few days later, Eden's FeeFee and CC came to visit!

They played around the house and went to the mall where E finally rode on the merry-go-round!

She has asked to ride on it for a while but would always chicken out at the last minute and end up on one of the benches instead an animal.

And another addition ... ice cream! She has not really taken to the cone yet - I guess collard greens are next?

On Friday night Ashley and I got ready to go to our Sunday School Christmas Party ... and Whitney and E helped Ashley with her hair ...

... close your eyes when using hair spray!

Very nice to have family come to visit!

After they left we even had a few days to relax at home before the big travel week ...