Christmas Eve & Christmas

We had another awesome Christmas this year. Christmas Eve was spent with Nana, Papa, Ma, Pa and Ralph, Carter, Leigh, and baby James. Brooks and Harrison got to partake in the Children's service at church. Brooks went as an angel fairy and Harrison went as a shepherd. I'll use the term shepherd loosely because I am not detail oriented when it comes to costumes so basically, we put Harrison in a woman's blouse with a belt and called him a shepherd. He looked fantastic. Until we started to take pictures afterwards. Harrison has been displaying some really interesting faces when we ask him to say cheese for the camera. Instead of a sweet, innocent smile, he tends to resemble more of a serial killer (see pictures below). After the service, we headed over to Nana and Papa's for dinner and to discuss the possibility of Santa making a delivery later in the evening. There was talk that he was somewhere in the area. On our way home, Robert and I took the kids to check out some lights but most importantly, to see if we could spot Rudolf's nose in the sky.

And can you believe it? The next morning Santa's gift giving adventure was evident. Apparently, he had too heavy of a load and decided to ditch all the remaining toys in his bag at our house. That's right, Santa went a little nutso this year. So after a morning of presents, we packed into the car and headed to Nana and Papa's for even more Christmas. It was a wonderful afternoon with lots of family and laughter...everything you could ask for in a great Christmas!

Advent Preschool Christmas Program

My little sweet hearts were in their very first play together and it was about the cutest thing I have ever seen. Brooks' class was first to hit the stage since they are the youngest of the lot and wouldn't you know it, Brooks broke right out into front and center. They had the Reindeer Hokey Pokey as their song and it was hilarious. Unfortunately, Robert was not able to be there because of work so I had the task of filming AND capturing photos. Technology and I are not quite friends so the pictures did not come out looking all too good. I did manage to get some pictures so I guess that counts for something. And Harrison actually got upgraded in his performance as the main speaker because he was the only one out of the group that did not shy away from speaking in public. So proud!

Both Brooks and Harrison did a great job in their school performance and it was such a joy to watch all the children celebrate Christmas. I really am going to miss their school when we head to Naples and I know they will too.

Fort Matanzas

Last Sunday we took a random day trip to Fort Matanzas in St. Augustine. It was one of those days where you wake up and say, "let's do something fun and different" and hope that it turns out for the best. I can gladly say that it was worth the trip. We spent an hour or so at the fort where Harrison was able to hammer the reenactment soldiers with questions. His persistence in asking them if they were "sure that they weren't pirates" was pretty remarkable but I think by the end of our visit he was comfortable with the fact that they were only mere Spanish soldiers. After our tour, Harrison and Brooks took some quality time to roll down the hill outside of the fort. And after all of that excitement, we cooled down with ice cream on St. George Street.