Stockings, christmas trees, and more...

Uh, well, haven't had a lot of time to update lately which makes for longer posts when I do. Sorry about that. Here's what we've been up to and more than enough pics to prove it. Hope you are all enjoying this holiday season...we are!

Fender has THE BEST MEMAW in all the land. I started this Christmas stocking for Fender the year he was born and made very little progress the past two years. And this year, with my eye acting up I knew I had little chance of getting anything done on it again so I called on Memaw who whipped this beautiful stocking together in a jif...which was no easy task!! So super thanks to Memaw for getting the job done. The stocking looks pefect!
 

Coloring with feet on the wall.
 

Last Saturday we had a FULL day of Christmas fun. First up was "Breakfast with Santa" hosted by the local Methodist Church. We did this last year and Fender did not care to have his picture taken with Santa. This year you can see how his enthusiasm changed...
 

He did enjoy the pancakes and sausage for breakfast that morning and he loved playing with all the kids. It was really the first time I've taken him anywhere and just let him play with all the kids and stepped back and watched. He played well whether he was alone or in a crowd of kids. He colored at the table and he played cars on the floor with all the boys. Later he tossed bean bags through the big Christmas tree cut out and had a really great time. Being a small town, we saw plenty of "folks" we knew from church, daycare, and relatives too.

We left from the breakfast to go directly to the DOK (Daughters of the King...a group of women from the Episcopal Church) Cookie Swap which my cousin was hosting. Earlier in the week, Aunt Pauline (my 85 year old Greek Aunt) and I made rum balls just for the occasion. Fender enjoyed the party, especially the part where he got to pick what cookie he wanted to eat and he went for a big one.
 

Fender had a quick nap after the busy morning then we loaded up the truck, this time with Daddy and Sebastian too, and headed out to Walls Family Tree Farm to pick out our Christmas Tree.

Along the way, Fender found a fun hole to play in.


Daddy and Fender thought this tree might work, but I thought it needed to be just a wee bit larger.



So Fender started measuring them and thought..."how about this one?"


...or this one?


...Ah...Daddy and I can fit underneath the branches...now we're talking...let's start cutting.


Momma helped out when Daddy needed a brief break.


On Sunday, I spent 6 hours getting the lights on and ornaments all up and then it was "The Fall of 2008." The tree fell over...apparently too big for the stand...which was a huge heavy duty stand to begin with. Bulbs shattered, two strands of lights were lost. It wasn't until Monday that I was able to go out and buy a new stand (this one holds up to 10 ft tall trees and ours is 9) and it held fine overnight. Tuesday I got nerve enough to put lights back on and it kept standing overnight again. Wednesday I put all the ornaments back on but most of our prettier, breakable bulbs and all our heavier bulbs are now on the back side of the tree because I don't trust it that much. So far so good, but I still think we should tie something around it and nail it to the wall or the base of the windows for extra support. Anyway...here's Fender helping decorate the first time around...and then the final product.





Coloring by the fire.