Christmas Parties and "Pre-Christmas"

My parents host a big Christmas party every year and hire the same magician to do tricks for all the kids. We weren't sure if Graham was going to be interested in the magician....and indeed he was not. So, Graham, and two of his little friends, Allie and Jasper, stayed in the back and chased each other around for a while. Once they got too loud, we parents took them all into my dad's office. Graham and Allie particularly enjoyed ringing the bells that Gigi (my mom) keeps on the front door knob....

Graham to his friend Allie - "Hey - have you seen these bells? I bet I can ring them louder than you!"

Graham checking out Jasper while Jasper checks our Graham's lady friend, Allie.



Kyle, our good friend Dean, and my grandmother, Ammi
Cute couple! (The Sabins)

Graham is ON.THE.MOVE these days. And he requires my fingers.
Graham has the cutest nativity set in his room that he enjoys playing with every day. However, now he thinks it makes a funny sound when he throws his nativity participants in the trash can. Guess his trash can is no longer for trash!

Brushing my hair AND a bottle before bed?! It doesn't get better than this!


Kyle put up colored lights all over Graham's play set in the backyard and white lights on the "little house" we have in the back. Every night before bed, Graham peeks out the window with such delight.
Graham's first Christmas! We celebrated Christmas with Kyle's family this past weekend, although we were sad that not everyone could make it to Virginia Beach because of the snow storm.
Graham opening his first Christmas present...

Greg - what lovely placemats you have!

Verne's gag gift - a Hannah Montana calendar that he'll use quite regularly!

Kyle's mom and Stephanie (Greg's wife - our sister in law)

Graham LOVES the tower BeBe and Buddy gave him!

We did have a little snow! I didn't have the guts to venture outside - freezing! This is through our front door -

Christmas!!

We have a few "routines" this holiday season. In the morning, Graham and I eat breakfast together, we read our scripture for the day, we open a door on his advent calendar to great excitement, and then Graham plays with a musical Christmas card my parents gave him. He LOVES LOVES LOVES musical cards. Once Kyle and I are home from work, if the weather is good, we go walking in our neighborhood to look at lights. Graham "oohs" and "ahhs" quite a bit. Kyle put up large, colorful lights on our swing set (I just can't have colored lights in the front yard!), and Graham loves them. In fact as we get ready for bed at night, he periodically pulls back the shade on his window to see if they're still there. And he usually squeals with delight. The cutest thing ever!

We've also figured out a new trick he has...when he is about to do something that he knows he's not supposed to, he will look at us and push his arm toward us. As if to say - go away, don't look. Makes me laugh hysterically!

Nowadays, I can easily find him trying to pull himself up my legs, wanting me to pick him up. He was getting a bit desperate here...

Graham is INCREDIBLY interested in our Christmas tree. Which is why we have a gate at the entrance to our living room. We're not too "scrooge". We do take Graham into the living room to check out the tree. He just has to be carefully supervised.

Last Weekend

This past weekend seemed to be a bit of a blur. I wanted to get in quite a bit of Christmas cookie baking (which I did - YUM!), Kyle and I went on a date, and we did a few Christmas festivities with Graham (FUN!) Kyle and I went to a steakhouse for a long, leisurely dinner while my parents watched Graham. (We had every intention of going to see a movie, and all the movies we wanted to see started at 10:00 or later. Yeah - not happening.) On Saturday we took Graham to Courthouse Galleries in Portsmouth to see their Christmas displays. The old Coleman's nursery set-up is now there. Graham loved the trains - tried to climb over the fence a few times to get closer. And, he went on his first pony ride. (Frankly, I'm not sure what ponies have in common with Christmas celebrations, but we were excited for him to ride nonetheless!) A really great outing. We finished off the weekend by going to see the Christmas lights on the beach. (Don't tell, but we let Graham sit on Papa's lap in the front seat for a better view. We didn't exceed 5 mph.) The lights were much better than I remembered, but not better than the botanical garden lights. They were fabulous. In fact, we may go back to see them this coming Sunday....

(Sorry - the pictures from Portsmouth aren't the best - we only had Kyle's camera.)