December

World's worst blogger. I have been so terrible! Our computer is not in the best of health these days, and so pictures stay on the camera forever and I cant easily get the ones on the computer uploaded because the screen is sort of shifted... yeah, its a mess. And then of course there is the issue of time, of which I have none. My only free time lately has been consumed by The Bachlor and Modern Family. And I couldn't possibly give either of those up, now could I???

Where to begin, where to begin...

So, on Thursday night, the week before Christmas, John Dickson made his debut in his first Christmas program. Adam and I almost got into a knock out brawl, as I wanted to get there super early and, despite our best efforts, we may have been even a few minutes late, and yes, we were on the back row, and yes, I may have been slightly testy about it. (I know that doesn't sound like me, but just take my word for it).
But then that little man came out, wearing his Christmas outfit with a Santa hat, shaking his jingle bell, and hopping up and down. All was right in the world. The pictures didn't turn out too well because we were in the back of a dimly lit room, but we got some pretty good video. (Can you still call it video? I do.)

The next night, Nana and Grumps came to so generously babysit the munchkins while Adam and I went to my office Christmas party. Adam Kelley cleans up nice. A good time was had by all.

I lured my mom up to Greenville with the promise that I would go shopping with her ALL DAY Saturday. And let me tell you, we shopped til we dropped. Henry came along and was remarkably good. John Dickson "choke up" that morning, so he stayed home with Daddy and Grumps, watched The Lion King and shot birds on the Wii. That night we made the annual trip to Hollywild. I'm pretty sure my dad enjoyed it the most out of anybody - he was pretty thrilled with touching a bison. I cant say I blame him, I was the same way last year, but now I'm a seasoned vet. I've got new goals now, and they may or may not involve riding a giraffe.

So when I was in high school, my mom would occassionally take me out of school for a day in December and let me go shopping with her. I always loved it, and so I have vowed to give each of my boys a day in December where we will just go do fun things and not be at school/work. Henry is still a little too young, but John Dickson and I had a day, and we lived it up. We started off by playing putt putt (the kid got a legitimate hole in 3 and hole in 4 - he is amazing at putt putt), had a lunch date at McAlisters, went to see his very first movie (Yogi Bear - where about an hour into it he said "I gont wanna watch this tv anymore), went to Barnes & Noble to play with the trains, went to Trader Joes to buy carrots for the reindeer, and then went home and made Christmas cookies. Then John Dickson "choke up." You will find that this will be a recurring theme in our Christmas festivities. As a side note, John Dickson insisted that we get bananas for the reindeer in addition to carrots. Then he insisted on eating one, so I let him have one while we finished getting our groceries. The next day, John Dickson had another banana. Then he told Adam that Adam couldn't have a banana because they were for the reindeer. Then John Dickson had his 2nd banana of the day. Either the child thinks he is a reindeer, or he just knows how to get what he wants. So that was John Dickson/Mommy day 2010.

So that about brings you up to Christmas Eve.

To be continued...