Frazier's First Christmas...

...wasn't quite what I'd dreamed it would be. I shopped and planned and packed for days and it seemed that everything (with the exception of my parents and Ross's absence) was playing right into my Frazier's First Christmas Fantasy right down to the gingerbread men and fruitcake.

We had our little family Christmas at home on the 23rd then loaded up the car and drove to Ruston and had Christmas dinner at the Anderson's where Josh's grandparents, Nama and Papa, got to meet Frazier for the first time! Christmas Eve was a full day of visiting with family and friends, two Christmas Eve services and the annual soup supper courtesy of Jim and Debbie.

Then Christmas morning dawned sniffly...and only got worse. By Christmas night Frazier was just plain sick. The sickest he's ever been- coughing, sneezing, runny nose, congestion. Up all night. We finally got him to sleep about 4 in the morning by driving him down Hwy 167 and let him sleep the next couple of hours in his carseat in the bedroom. He's been sick ever since, but he is better every day. And really, Frazier's a pretty pleasant baby even sick.

So, naturally, the rest of our visit and most of our time home since has been spent tending to our sick baby...nursing him every chance I can to ensure he gets plenty of fluids, wiping his nose and wiping his nose and wiping his nose again. Running the humidifier, sucking out snot...all that stuff. Many thanks to Helen and Mark Boersma for checking him out to ensure his lungs were clear, etc. before we left Ruston. We were lucky to have a doctor who loved us enough to come over Christmas weekend. :)

Sick kid aside, however, we did have a really wonderful Christmas. Everyone was so good to us it was overwhelming as always. We're so very grateful. I have so many thank yous to write!

One of my favorite gifts was from Frazier (by way of his Dad)- a set of jewelry (two bracelets and a necklace) from Smart Mom Jewelry. It's called Teething Bling and it's jewelry made for your kid to chew on! We both love it. Bracelet shown in pic below.

And I don't know if you can tell but in the next picture he has both bracelets and the necklace all at once!

Here's a picture I took of my poor sick little buddy on Saturday, his worst sick day. :(

I can't say enough thank yous for all we received this Christmas.

We are so loved...and so blessed.

Christmas Morning A Couple Of Mornings Early

First things first: Us as gingerbread people. :)

Second: I made fruitcake! Not Collins Street...but not half bad.

And finally, we had a little Christmas morning here brcause I really wanted to do so just us at our house. We only opened a few gifts, which meant we had less to pack which was very helpful as our car is FULL!! Frazier did better "opening" gifts than I'd expected...it was really cute to watch. I took about a zillion pictures, but I'm just posting a few.*

Most exciting gift of all? My stand mixer!!! I've been wanting one for...well, a really long time and here it finally is! I was on my second hand mixer- so I'm really excited! Isn't she lovely? I also got the matching blender...because our other blender recently died. :( I can't wait to cook something!

Pictures might be a but out of order :/

Oh- And we all got passport covers in our stockings!! They're just one of several travel-related gifts I bought this year in preparation for visiting Mom and Dad! (We're missing you guys!)

And now we're off to Ruston! Josh's grandparents arrived yesterday and we're anxious to see them!

Merry Christmas Eve Eve! :)

'Tis The Season- A Blogpost in 4 Parts

Part I- Let Them Eat Cookies

I was invited to a cookie exchange/tacky sweater party at my friend, Lindsey's house Saturday afternoon. I threw together this tacky sweater the morning of the party. Lindsey made hers too. We had a really great time...we didn't just have cookies we had an ornament exchange and played pictionary and of course there was the tackiest sweater contest! I baked chocolate peanut butter oatmeal cookies. Frazier hung out in the kitchen with me and had a great time with my 1/4c. measuring cup!

Part II- iChatting and other activities

We get to iChat with my parents quite often, which is really nice and Frazier really seems to like it. I took these pictures on Sunday. He sits and plays with the keyboard and watches the screen like he really knows what he's doing. He mutes the voices, makes the video screen big and small and moves it around...you may call it accidental; I call it genius. ;)

Excuse the piles of laundry. :)

I decided early in the Christmas season the my go-to for holiday treats was going to be almond bark. Every time I had to take goodies somewhere, I covered something in white chocolate. Ritz cracker and peanut butter sandwiches, pretzels, pretzels cranberries and cashews. I even made some peppermint bark. It's served me well. :)

Frazier spends a LOT of time playing on this Christmas blanket in the middle of the living room these days.

Part III- Yuletide Carols Being Sung By A Choir...

Josh joined the Christmas choir at church that did three songs for our Sunday-before-Christmas-Service. I thought they did a wonderful job! I tried to get a clip that showcased the male voices...and I tried to zoom in so you could see Josh, but it's kind of hard to do either while holding Frazier and a diaper bag! You can just imagine how harmonic they were in person. I was so proud. :)

Part IV- Santa

Well, I did it. I took Frazier to the mall this morning and paid $20 bucks for a picture of him in Santa's lap with his hat askew. He was perfect, of course. He slept the few minutes we had to wait in line and then woke up happy and smiled for the picture. I really must say...I'm pretty sure the Longview Mall has the actual Santa. Real beard, awesome suit, super nice. Worth a 20? Maybe.