Magical Moments

We were able to gather with family and friends and celebrate the birth of our Savior. We enjoyed timed with each other and time to rest and reflect upon the year that was coming to a close.

Cam has always been my deep thinker, my over- thinker at times. He enjoyed counting down the days until vacation and then to Christmas.He never waivered in his faith. He knew what he had asked Santa for and didn't bat an eye that his wish would be granted. He wrote a simple letter to Santa the night we went to see the lights: "Dear Santa,

I love you. I would like a go cart. Think you. Love, Cam" 

So when he woke up Christmas morning, he was excited to grab his sleepy sister and rush downstairs. They were both amazed at the expansive doll house he had left in the living room for her. It was hard to focus on anything more than the monstrosity of it. He found a small pile for him: his Wimpy Kid books, a few more Disney Infinity figures, some cool things in his stocking. He didn't say a word about, "Where are my toys?" He didn't lash out at Santa in protest, "Where is my go-cart? Seriously, Santa, nothing to play with." Finally he found a tiny box for him that said "open last." He waited patiently and said, "Can I open this one now?" Inside were a pair of keys, and he didn't hesitate a moment to know what the keys were to: "My go cart! These are keys to my go cart!" He checked out the front door- nothing. He ran to the garage door as we scrambled to grab coats and cameras. He scanned the garage and couldn't find anything so we raised the garage door, and there it sat in the driveway adorned with a red bow and some frost from the North Pole. At that moment all was right with the world as we witnessed a little boy's Christmas wish come true.

Maeve loved every part of the Christmas season. She was our decoration elf, helping with anyone who needed to do a little decorating. The night we got out our nativity scene, she played and played with its characters, reciting the story to herself. She was thrilled when I got the addition of the wise men to our scene. She knew just where to arrange them. I loved hearing her sing along to Christmas music and marveled at how many songs she already has remembered in her five Christmases. She was also the cookie decorating extraordinaire when we went to our cookie bake hosted by our friend. She rolled out the gingerbread just right and had fun picking out just the right cookie cutter for her liking. When it was time to decorate them, she picked out her chair and seriously decorated for a straight hour. 

She was thrilled to get her light up pillow and blanket from CG on Christmas Eve and her treasured Easy Bake Oven from Santa. Those were the only two items on her list each time anyone would ask her what she wanted. She was dead-set on those two things, and since she had already made her own theory about the naughty/nice list, she probably was only counting on two gifts. (She assumed she was on both lists, so she would be getting a little bit of toys- not a lot or none at all, but somewhere right in the middle). That girl! We made a spot in her room for the dollhouse as we said goodbye to the cutest kitchen set ever. We have mastered the art of the easy  bake oven with our diet cookie recipe- break-n-bake mini cookies cut in half and baked for 9 minutes. 

With each new year of family Christmas memories, I marvel at how much my babies have grown up right before my eyes throughout the year. I am convinced that these surely are the days.

Birthday Bean

Our beloved first child, CoCo Bean, celebrated his 14th birthday. In dog years that is two years shy of 100! Wow!

The birthday boy rolling on his back - Maeve was copying him.

Bean and Nonna

We love him (even Tony does deep down). We are thankful for all of our days with him as our pet, our companion, our fifth family member.

Parade

A first - watching a Christmas parade and not being bundled up.

The downtown lights in the night set the scene for our annual Christmas parade viewing. It was, by far, the warmest parade I ever remember as we only had wind- breakers because of the looming rain. We saw the famed Girls Corp, enough jeeps to stretch app the way through town, and even some goats and a wild-eyed horse.  Some Hometown traditions never grow old.

Holiday Travels

Since all of our family is within a 10 mile radius of us, we don't have to travel too far. No hours in the car or packing for a flight, just at-home gatherings of those we love best.

Now that our Barnes family is in Tennessee, we decided to do a little traveling this year to see them during this special season. 

Loved seeing Baby Brinkley who is not nearly as big as her pictures portray. Our Brenna Boo is as lively as ever and is definitely a little girl now, no more baby.

We took in a local attraction- Rock City decked in lights. It was beautiful in in the fog and drizzle. Now we will have to go back to appreciate the beauty of it in the daytime.

We didn't get to spend nearly as much time as we wanted, but a quick trip was better than no trip at all. Looking forward to our next meet up.

Lights and Letters

We stopped at a place we have only adored from the car in years past. Boy were we missing out! These two trapsed through the lights with pure joy and delight. They didn't let any display go unnoticed. They even wrote letters to Santa while we were there.

Magical moments!

Tea Time

The plates with the flowers in the center and trimmed in gold. The silverware that was never opened but stashed away in the kitchen cabinets. The fruit bowl that held fruit and just about anything else you can think of. The lacy tablecloth only used for special occasions. The dish filled with mints.

So many things we have to remember you. Thank you you for your love and your legacy.

Christmas PJs

I really wanted these this year and almost let them pass us by, but I splurged in the nick of time. All of the sudden I feel like I don't have many years left that they will be into monogramed, matching pajamas.

So, splurge I must! 

Starting the Season

Maeve and her four year old friends at preschool helped to hang the greens at the church. She asked all day if she was singing, but I just told her they needed her help to decorate. She was all about that. And, once she was there, she did exactly what she was supposed to. They sang a couple of songs including "Go Tell It on the Mountain" and a cute one about giving baby Jesus what he didn't have.

Love our little performer!

The Best Gifts

The best gifts under our tree this year are these:

Thankful: Past, Present, Future

 A whole week off from school and no more grad school assignments has given me time to reflect on all the blessings we have in our lives. There are so many times when I find myself wishing the clock would stand still so I could revel in the sweet moments that I find myself in- the snaggle-tooth smile of my seven year old, the mispronounced words uttered in innocence by my four year old, the daily routines and rituals of my senior citizen dachshund, and the soothing sounds of my husband who shouts at the college football game on tv and rubs his allergy nose.

I am thankful for the past. As I prepared my side dishes for our Thanksgiving dinner, it brought pure delight to know that my Granny was part of all of it. I have done my best to replicate her famous chocolate pies. They still don't hold a candle to hers, but they are getting better and better. I inherited a decorative platter from her kitchen and thought it was perfect to hold the ham. Then, as I made my traditional grape salad side, I used the last few pecans I had in my freezer that were cracked and shelled by Granny and Grandaddy. As I looked at the finished products, I realized that family is a thread that runs through us and truly lasts forever.

The present gives me constant joy. I never knew how precious it was to pass on the gift of giving until now. After we put up our decorations, I slipped a few presents under the tree. Cam was of course interested in them, but not in the way he usually has been. He didn't want to know when he could open the one with his name on it, but he wanted to know when he would be able go out and purchase some gifts for us. He saved some of his birthday money (all the way from February) and enlisted Nonna to help him take care of his gift-giving mission. They went out on Black Friday (because he couldn't wait any longer) and made the three purchases. He got something for all of us, wrapped them up, and has them waiting under the tree. The love and responsibility her showed by doing this is just tender. I can't wait to see his reaction when we open the presents he picked out for us. 

Never have I seen someone so excited about the season as Maeve. All week long she has been filled with that amazement that little ones have by all the sights and sounds of this time of year. She remembers a lot from last year, like where we put the tree or where a certain decoration should be placed. She helped me put up every part of our Christmas decor. And although I usually leave a few things in the boxes, every piece was special to her and she wanted to find a spot for it. She helped Moo all afternoon with her tree. If anyone needs motivation to get into the fa la la spirit, they should definitely borrow Maeve for a little while. 

She is hilarious mixing up the names for things like an artificial tree as official. She'll ask if you have a real tree or an official one! She also devoured Aunt Laura's boiled, deviled eggs. She bragged about eating three bold eggs. She refers to last night as yesterday night. So big, yet these little things remind me how young and innocent she really is.

Our future blessings are coming trifold- as in triplets! Aunt Kim and Uncle Tommy are expecting three babies next June. We have been with them on their heart wrenching quest to be parents. We know these three little ones that have our hearts already are nothing short of miracles. To have three of them coming at once is just astounding to all of us. They are proof that our God has perfect timing. Through them the power of prayer has been made evident and shown itself to be very powerful! I know our family of four will be blessed by having the triplets in our lives. Tony and I get to be Aunt and Uncle again after having the experience of having our own children. Although Laura and Chris have always trusted us with our now big nephews, Clayton and Carson, we know having a little parenting under our belts may be very beneficial as we help guide and help out Tommy and Kim in their new roles of mom and dad. I am happy Cam and Maeve get to have cousins on the other side too- the other side of the family and the other side of the age spectrum. They will get to be in the role of the big cousins. It will be exciting to see my two in the role-model position as they learn to love and play with their baby cousins. Just wow! (Wow! Wow! Wow!)

Ed.S Complete

Although it was about five years after I had originally planned on perusing my specialist degree, it is finally done. I had applied, been accepted, and even gone to a registration session at Piedmont in 08. When I learned that my scheduled classes would compete with my treasured family beach vacation, I regretfully opted to not begin at that time. I felt bad for not going ahead as scheduled. Little did I know, that it was a huge blessing for me to back out of that program. I would soon learn that I was expecting my second child and the due date would have been right during the whole specialist process. Someone was looking out for me!

I had not given much thought into another specialist degree program until my sister-in-law, Kim, mentioned that she might be joining her sister and some other teachers from her sister's school. I liked the idea of going with a group, eventhough half of it I didn't know yet. I also liked the time frame of one year. The bonus part was also that this was the last date that Georgia educators would be grandfathered in to the automatic pay raise- that was the little extra push I needed to say, "Sign me up!" I knew without the pay incentive, it would likely be something I would never have gone back to do. 

January was our start up date. We found our way to Lincoln Memorial University's satellite campus in Ducktown, TN. Over the river, through the woods, and around the mountain we made it for a total of 15 trips. When we started, it seemed like it was going to be forever before we saw the light at the end of the tunnel. It also seemed unusually cruel to leave our families behind and to have to be in class on our sacred Saturdays, but we grinned and beared it. 

While earning that third degree, we also created friendships and bonds that only come from being on 6 hour roadtrips and completing beastly assignments together.  We were teachers, mothers, daughters, friends, and sisters in Christ. Our stories were endless. Our laughs were deep belly ones. Our experience was priceless.

Thankful for His perfect timing in all things.