'Twas a very Merry Christmas!

I just love the Christmas season... the decorating, the fellowship, the shopping, the baking, the eating, the wish lists, the Christmas programs, the music, the children and Santa Claus, and the list goes on and on... however this Christmas season included much more than the things that I love.

This Christmas season certainly included the wonderful Christmas things that I love, however it also included much illness and an extremely busy schedule. Next year, I will kindly say, "no". : ) I won't be pregnant next year, but instead will have a baby and a two year old... hopefully they will understand! : ) Anyway, our home was hit with many waves of illness during the month of December.

Lawson began the doctor trend on Monday night, November 30, with an evening trip to the Children's after-hours clinic... double ear infection. That Wednesday night, December 2, he got into my anti-seizure meds - we were in the kitchen with him on the other side of the island when we realized he was dropping my medicine, one at a time, into a cup of his, so we were off to the ER for a fun night of "six-hour observation"... the six-hour observation began at 6:30; they finally let us leave at 10:30 when there was obviously nothing wrong, but we were thankful for the kind, yet cautious medical attention. The next week, Lawson began vomiting on Wednesday and Russ stayed home with him. By Thursday night both Russ and I were very sick with the same stomach virus... we weren't sure we were going to make it. The next week we were healthy - I was determined I was going to make the last week of school!!! And then the week of Christmas... Sunday afternoon, Lawson spiked a temp and vomited. Monday morning we are off to the doctor and he had strep throat. By Wednesday morning, Russ had a high fever and was "in the bed". Finally on Christmas Eve morning, he went and got a shot and by Christmas morning, he was much better! And our Merry Christmas began!

This is Lawson's second Christmas and our second year to spend Christmas Eve and Christmas morning here in Evansville at our house. The markets are open until noon on Christmas Eve, so Russ typically works that morning, allowing his employees to be with their families, however this year he was at the doctor and Lawson and I went to the Roache's for their Christmas Eve Open House. It was fun and the food was delicious! They had a full house and it was nice to see many of our friends from church and be able to spend time with them. Lawson LOVES Phoebe and she was so sweet to wag him around even though her friends were also there at her house. We came back home and spent time as a family before going to dinner at Outback and then taking a ride through the Fantasy of Lights. Lawson slept through the lights last year, but truly enjoyed them this year and began to cry for "Santa" as we exited the park. It was beautiful! As nontraditional as it is for us to not be with family on Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, I enjoyed it very much this year... it felt more traditional as it was Lawson's second Christmas and there was more meaning in what we did since he is older and is more aware of what is going on. He was in bed by 8:00 and Russ and I just hung out until bed time. We watched a movie and went to bed feeling very relaxed and ready for Christmas Day!

Christmas morning...





Lawson must have been a good boy!!! This Christmas he got his very own chair, a magna-doodle, an Elmo DVD and bath toy, waffle blocks, puzzles, books, a tractor, a walkman CD player with headphones because he LOVES to wear headphones and listen to music, a musical TV, and pull-along-dog.

Lawson's first peek at what Santa left...

He's pointing at his chair...

Trying out his new chair and looking at his new "big truck" book...

He loves to color and draw and this magna-doodle is lots of fun!

Santa brought a cool tractor...

And I like my new dog, too!

Lawson received many fun things from Santa and was so sweet Christmas morning playing. He also did some Santa shopping himself and did a great job! I received a Mommy-To-Be massage and a new point-and-shoot camera! I was so excited and loved my gifts! Daddy received a new iPod touch with a few accessories from me and Lawson and he was very excited and surprised too! It was such a fun morning and was hard for us to leave, but we headed out around 8:30 and arrived in Martin around 11:30. The Christmas marathon had officially begun.

We arrived at Mr. Richard and Mrs. Jane's and had Christmas with everyone there. We had a lot of fun and received way more than we deserve! Granny was by far the prettiest gift there! I am ashamed to say that as the Christmas celebrating went on, the picture taking became less and less. Next year I will ask someone to take pictures of Lawson and Emmitt because Russ and I would forget about the camera as we were helping Lawson open gifts so the pictures become sparse as the day went on.

His first gift at Grandmother and Granddad's... He knew exactly what to do!

A TRICYCLE!! Thanks Uncle Jim and Aunt Erin!

Here's Granny! Doesn't she look beautiful? She is doing great!

Here's Lawson with Ms. Judy, Erin's mom. He was so interested in "seeing" the pictures that had been taken... "see, see"!

I am ashamed to say that that is all that I have, but it is... there are more from our time there to follow in another posting.

Once we opened gifts there, we went to my grandmother and granddaddy's. It was nice to see them and get to visit with my aunts and a few of my cousins... It was so busy that I didn't even take the camera out! Next year will be better.

After visiting my grandparents, we went back to Russ' parents for mid-afternoon Christmas dinner. We ate around 4:00 and the table was full of family and the food was delicious!

The last part of the day was to be spent at Mama B and Daddy Denton's. We were to be there at 6:30. We loaded up and headed to their house. By this time, Russ and I were tired however Lawson was still very excited. As the night went on, he became tired and then the exhaustion mixed with the excitement made for a tough close to the night, but we made it and we had fun! It was nice to see my cousins and their children. We got to see little Nolan for the first time and we had fun playing a game of Dirty Santa! I got a pretty scarf and Russ got a "charging station" for cell phones.

Pretty Miss Maddie Claire! She gets prettier each time we see her and she loves Lawson!

Maddie Claire and Lawson playing...

Lindsey, McKenzie, Deena, Devin, Lauren, and Lanna...

Daddy Denton got Mama B a new laptop for Christmas!

And that's all for Christmas Day! We arrived back to Russ' parents around 10:30. We had a sleepy baby boy and he had two sleepy parents! We all rested well and were up the next morning for "Christmas morning" with my parents.

My dad had to work, so my mom had breakfast ready and we all met there around 8:30 on Saturday morning. By this time, Lawson knew exactly what to do with his gifts. And once again, the pictures were limited!

His first gift to open was from Daddy Bell...

A TRACTOR!! It makes really cool noises, too!

He also got a tent with 175 balls to play with from Nana! It was really cool, but quite wild once we got it all set up. We haven't yet set it up here at home and I am hopeful that he will be calmer. And you may notice he has no shirt on... undressing is the new game!

And in a nutshell, that was it! It came and went so quickly, but we had so much fun! We stayed in Martin from Friday until Wednesday and truly enjoyed spending time with family! One night, Russ and I went on a date to Jackson while mom, dad, and Julie Anne kept Lawson and then another night we went to see Blindside while Mr. Richard, Mrs. Jane, and Granny kept Lawson. Russ got to duck hunt with his dad and brother. Russ got to help his dad on the farm. I got to be in town for my best friend's baby being born. We got to visit friends... Ben Sinclair and his family, and Ben Moore and his family. We went to church and got to see lots of people there. We were with family... cousins, aunts and uncles, and grandparents. We were together. We made great memories and we had fun. That's what Christmas is about! A huge thank you to Mr. Richard and Mrs. Jane for "keeping us" and all of our STUFF! Your patience with our mess means a great deal to us. And a Thank You to both sets of parents, siblings, and grandparents for your generous giving... thank you for loving us and sharing with us. We had a great Christmas!