presents, presents, and more presents!

We spent the day after Christmas with Nana and Pa and Uncle Martin and Aunt Andrea.  The day included lots of new toys, new pajamas, and, once Julia warmed up to her, playing with Clara.

presents, presents!

 Julia opened more presents after church and before lunch (including playing with her playhouse from Grammie and Poppy and slide from Nana and Pa, even though it was raining), then she had lunch with all the grandparents.  After lunch, she took a short nap with Daddy (which he says should be an annual Christmas tradition), and then opened the rest of her presents from Grammie and Poppy.  It was a busy day!  By the end of it, we were enjoying silly time together just the three of us, with Julia proclaiming herself to be an astronaut and pulling her pajama top half over her head for her astronaut uniform (much like they wore under the helmets in Apollo, and like, of course, Buzz Lightyear).

 

 

presents!

Julia opened presents some before church and Nana and Pa came to see. Then we headed off to church where we took up an entire pew in the middle of the right center, and heard Peter give a nice sermon (what I got out of it is that we as humans sometimes don't make or find room for God - the Bible never said the innkeeper showed them to the stable, maybe they just said, well the baby is coming, better duck in here - but that God will make a way sometimes in spite of us, in order to be with us).

Most everybody got a present this year that Julia picked out just for them. Grammie got cookie monster pajamas as you can see in the picture.

We were sad that Uncle Todd was sick and couldn't be with us, but Julia loved all his presents, of course, and we all wished he could have helped unpackage the toys!

Christmas Confession

from the 12/25/2011 service at Bluff Park United Methodist Church

Prayer of Confession
God of love, you came to us so long ago as a helpless baby and come to us again this day. We come to worship on this day bearing your name, yet even as we come our day is so full that we are anticipating what comes next. We ask others to keep Christ in Christmas, yet we do our best to push Christ out from inside by our apathy, by our selfishness, and by our carelessness. Forgive us for making this day a carnival of our vanity, rather than a celebration of your son’s birth. Give us joy and wonder at the birth of our savior, and may this day begin a renewed focus on your presence in our lives; through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.

Words of Assurance
Hear the good news: The word became flesh and dwelt among us; that is proof of God's love toward us. Amen.

Santa Claus

Santa Claus was good to sweet Julia this year.  Her stocking had lots of things including Toy Story gummies, hair clips, a Hulk toothbrush.  She got the Toy Story Tag Jr book and some rocket pajamas, like she asked for.  She also got a Pinkalicious book, a Rex flashlight, a Toy Story puzzle, a big Buzz doll, a Jessie doll, and a slinky dog.

I think she was afraid Santa was still in our house when she woke up.  She ran around and around the den/kitchen/dining room/ living room, and eventually came up and asked me, "Where's Santa?"

Reindeer food

Julia enjoyed putting out 'reindeer food' (someone brought it to Peter's box at the church) on Christmas eve.  She put it in little piles in a straight line leading up to the porch.  We also put out milk and cookies for Santa.

cookie nativity

Julia insisted on adding the angel on top, to be like her Little People nativity I suppose.  Next year, I want to use fruit roll-ups to make 'swaddling clothes.'

Santa's Village

We had a great time visiting Santa's Village in Huntsville with Grammie and Poppy again this year.  When I told Julia we were going just before we left Birmningham, I was listing off the things we had done there last year, like see the elves' toy workshop and dancing with the the penguins and snowman.  She said, "and I can go see the candy cane garden!"  I did not remember any candy cane garden, but of course, when we got to Santa's Village, there was one.  She remembered it over a year later, even though I don't have any pictures of it from last year for her to have seen since then, and we haven't talked about it at all.

She enjoyed the mascot-type characters - this year we saw a soldier bear, a gingerbread boy, a snowman, and a penguin - but she would not touch them.  We wrote a letter to Santa that she gave to an elf to deliver to Santa, and we listened to a story read by Mrs. Claus.  Julia like her, so we got a picture of Julia with Mrs. Claus instead of waiting out the line for Santa, who Julia proclaimed herself to be scared of at the first mention of visiting Santa's Village.  We also visited the toy workshop and decorated a wreath ornament, went to the kitchen to decorate a gingerbread cookie, looked at the elves' areas including their wrapping centers and toy train, and saw real reindeer, some funny snow, and the candy cane gardens.

The only bad part was not having spare batteries for the camera!
(Thank goodness we got the following pictures from Peter's phone)