Christmas 2008

Ok- I've SO been procrastinating... I even joined Face book in an effort to feel "updated" but have yet to post on the blog about Christmas... almost a MONTH ago!! :) So- I'll spare you every little detail- and hope that the pics tell the story!! :)

Ruthie's favorite pre-Christmas toy- Reindeer antlers!! She loved to wear them on her eyes-like sunglasses- and then crawl all around the house. Amazingly enough- she never bumped into any furniture!! :) It was really cute!!



Our family after Christmas Eve candle light service. One of my favorite traditions!! After the service we went to Carrabbas to eat- it was YUMMY!!!



Santa's gifts Christmas morning!! She loved her play food and tea set!! (I loved her cute Christmas PJ's!!)


After seeing what Santa brought, opening stockings, and eating homemade cinnamon rolls and scrambled eggs for breakfast- we ripped into the presents under the tree! This magna-doodle was a gift from Mommy and Daddy!



She loves to draw!


And this stroller was is so much fun!! Her baby loves to go for walks and eat in this stroller. Ruthie is such a good little mommy!


After a wonderful morning at home, we went to Grandma and Paw-Paw's house for dinner (around 3 pm). She thought the musical decorations were so much FUN!! I don't have many pictures of this part of our day- I must have been pooped by then!! :) But, my mom was with us as was Tony's sister Mardi and her family! We had a lot of fun and eat wonderful yummy food- again!


The next day Uncle Matt and Aunt Rachel (Sa-chel as Ruthie says) came from Orlando to have "Christmas" again! On Sat. morning we eat monkey bread (do you see a theme with our Christmas... eat-eat-eat!) and opened presents!!



Ruthie playing peek-a-boo with Uncle Matt while the girls were helping to get dinner on the table!!


We forgot to get a full family pic before Matt and Rachel went back to Orlando- so here is half the family- next to the Christmas tree!! :)

Back to Christmas- Progressive Dinner

Just when everyone's put away their Christmas decorations, taken down the tree, and moved on to the New Year... I'm bringing ya' all back like an old 1980's song... to Christmas!!

Our Couple's Bible study that meets at our house got together for Christmas for a progressive dinner. It was SO MUCH FUN!!! We invited a few "invaders" to join us and we all had a blast. What's a progressive dinner? you ask... it is where each course of the meal is eaten at someone else's house. So... it's about 4 - 5 hours of eating, talking, oohing, and ahhing over each other's beautifully decorated homes!!

We started off at Bill and Stephanie's house for appetizers... yummo!


Then we progressed to Ed and Donna's for Soup and Salad (it was supposed to be OR but she did both... and two of each... I'm telling you- you have to work up to being able to eat this much. But, I was eating for 2 so it was easy!!)




Next we came to our house for the main course- lasagna and garlic bread. Each place setting had a Christmas themed hat to wear... don't they look cute?













And finally we ended up at Josh and Kristy's for dessert. If you thought you were going to pop before... after her Chocolate turtle cheesecake you knew you would pop!!


We had so much fun and ended up starting a new tradition. We all can't wait until next year!! :)

Away in the Manger

Merry Christmas... can you believe it is only about a week away? CRAZY!!

Things are getting very busy, but we are loving every minute!! Sunday, Ruthie was in our church's Christmas Play/Contata... she stared as the Cow- at the manger scene. Very important part. However, if you remember her role in last year's Christmas play you'll think she may have been demoted!! :)

However she was the absolute cutest cow on earth!! :) Tony "released" her at the end of the aisle and said, "go find mommy". I was sitting at the front of the church in the aisle saying, "Ruthie, come see mommy" and she was going in a zig-zag fashion asking, "mommy?' "mommy?" and then when she saw me at the front she excitedly and exuberantly said, "MOMMY!!" And quickly took off for me. She turned the corner and crawled up the stairs to worship the baby Jesus!

They (the nativity people/animals) were supposed to sit there for an HOUR!! However, our little cow sat for exactly 30 seconds before she crawled down the steps and we took her off the stage!

The reaction from the audience was priceless! They all laughed and cooed as she crawled up the aisle. Which was good, because that meant no-one heard Tony and I coaxing her to go the right way!

I do have to say, that I wanted to eat her up in that costume!! She actually really liked having it on. I think we are developing a little drama diva!

Ruthie and the others worshiping Baby Jesus- amazingly captured during one of her very serious 30 seconds of on-stage appearance!


Ruthie practicing to crawl up the aisle on Sat.


What a lovely Cow!!

Christmas Firsts!!

We were so excited for this Christmas to come around as it was Ruthie's first Christmas! We were also excited because family was coming. My brother and sister-in-law came in from Maryland, my grandparents (Ruthie's greats) came in from Deerfield Beach and my dad came from Fort Lauderdale (although my dad had to leave before Christmas).

All were very excited to see Ruthie and gave her so much attention... which she soaked up and loved every minute of!

We started out Christmas eve at Dinner over looking the water... It was beautiful. From there we went to our church and had a lovely Christmas eve service. I love this service. I think it is my absolute favorite service at church and probably my favorite part of Christmas. It is such a wonderful time to celebrate the GOOD NEWS by celebrating the baby who brought it to us!



The whole group out by the water after dinner.



Tony, Myself, and Ruthie (yes, completely sacked out!) after dinner by the water.




The three of us at church after the service (for which she was completely awake for!! She didn't even try to eat the candles while we sang!!)

After the Christmas eve service, we came home, fed Ruthie, bathed Ruthie, nursed Ruthie and put her to bed. All before the big guy could even begin to arrive, if you know what I mean! I finally know what Christmas eve is like after children!! (We didn't get to bed until 2:30 am. ) I was also preparing for hosting my first Christmas breakfast- which went very well I must say. We had Bacon, Egg, and Cheese strata and French Toast Souffle (you can find the recipe at southern girls home cookin) Tony was working on a very special Christmas gift a plaster pair of Ruthie's hands. SO CUTE!!!

After breakfast was over and we opened the wrapped Santa presents & her stocking (I don't know how Santa does your presents but for Ruthie some are wrapped and some are left unwrapped!) We all went to my mom's house for presents and dinner! We had so many presents for Ruthie (mostly from grandparents and great grandparents... we tried not to go overboard) That we were opening 2 and 3 presents for every one of everyone else! Ruthie was so over worked by opening presents she had to take a rest right in the middle!! Obviously we did most of the unwrapping!! But, she did like to play with the wrapping paper balls~!




Santa Loot!



4 Generations together for Christmas!



The Christmas tree at my mom's!! (With more loot!!)



Our Family on Christmas



The whole family on Christmas



Resting between presents!


Ready to eat my Christmas dinner!!


All in all, the day was wonderful. Good times, Great family, Yummy food.

Baby Jesus part 1 & 2- updated!

This has been a VERY busy week for our church and Ruthie has been a part of everything!! :) It started on Thursday night with a live nativity. We had a donkey, 2 goats, 2 sheep and some chickens along with Shepherds, Mary, Joseph, and Ruthie as Baby Jesus!! It was so sweet to see all the little kids touching the animals and taking part of the living nativity sceen. I'm sure those children will never forget it. As a mommy, it was such an awesome experience (and Humbling) to see my sweet little one playing the role of our baby Messiah. The Prince of Peace and King of Kings. I thought about what Mary might have been thinking as she tried to get Baby Jesus on a schedule so she could JUST GET SOMETHING FINISHED!!! I thought about how special it probably was to feed the Lord of Lords. And, I wondered if his poopie was stinky, and his spit up not so sweet. I felt very close to Mary and her baby Messiah that night.

Ruthie did an excellent job!!! NOT ONE LITTLE WHIMPER! I think she even had fun!! She LOVED looking at all the people and animals and was quite wide awake for the whole thing!

Then, Sunday night we had our Christmas Cantata and Children's play all wrapped up in one: What God Wants for Christmas. Again, Ruthie was baby Jesus. It was so cute as all the children in our church participated in some way. They were dancing with ribbons and some of the boys played the shepherds and the sheep and cows (SO CUTE!) I was in charge of the dessert bar afterwards, so once I got my little dumpling on and off the stage I headed back to make sure our other sweet treats were ready! My Sweetie was perfect! She was sleeping at first, and woke up on stage when one of the musical numbers got a little loud. After looking around a bit to figure out where in the world she was and what in the world was going on around her, she settled in for the show. Again, not one little whimper or cry. She enjoyed the entire event!

My wonderful husband has captured all of this fun on film (both moving and still) and I'll post a few of the best for you to enjoy!! :)



This is the whole picturesque scene!



A few sheep and goats!



Mary, Joseph, and Baby Jesus ...



Mary & Baby Jesus in the play






A Sweet Little Cow!!!