Georgia On Our Minds

Merry Christmas to Grandmother, Papa Jim, Aunt Judy, Uncle Bruce, Granny, Pop, and Grandma! We miss you very much, but as you can see, Caroline has been busy "helping" her family here prepare for Christmas. We can't wait to see you all next week!

Oh, you better watch out.

You better not cry...

You better not pout...

I'm telling you why--Santa Claus is coming TO-MORROW!

As soon as she finishes her bottle.
Good night, everyone We'll let you know what Santa brings in the morning!

A White Christmas

Our annual White Elephant Gift Exchange party with our friends from church was at our house on Saturday night, and it was quite a different party than it was a few years ago before we had kids! I think there was a total of 15 kids here at some point during the evening. Caroline was thrilled to have so much action in her playroom!Tabitha stuck right with Caroline the whole time she was here, and that couldn't have made Caroline any happier.
And, of course, she loved playing with her buddy, Carson.Could anything be sweeter than these little sugarplums?
The grown ups had a good time too--some of the best treasures at the White Elephant gift exchange were John's light up, cat themed Christmas tree,
Spencer's three pairs of underwear...only one pair has been worn, but the gifter didn't specifiy which pair,
Merrit's very large remote control (I actually bought this as a real gift last year for my grandfather.), and Carson's shiny new PCI adapter.

But bad gifts or not, we loved celebrating Christmas with these great friends.

Christmas Trees, Candy Canes, and Carriage Rides

Last weekend, we met some of our nearby friends to welcome Santa Claus to town at the lighting of the Historic Norcross Christmas tree. I underestimated the cold and didn't have Caroline (or myself) properly bundled so everyone chipped in with extra blankets, gloves, and handwarmers to keep us warm!
It was still pretty frigid, though, so as soon as we had our pictures snapped with Santa, we made our way to the coffee house to warm up with hot chocolate and Cheerios.
There were some high school kids playing music, and Will was a big fan. He rushed the "stage" and was the center of attention on the "dance floor".
The next morning Will was still dancing (this time to the children's choir with Megan joining him) at our church's Candy Cane Breakfast.

After our family pictures,
we decided to get a picture of all the kids in our Sunday School class.
Hmm.
We finally decided we better include the adults for restraint purposes.
That evening we headed back to Historic Norcross for dinner and carriage rides with the Braley family. Once again, we ended up escaping the cold with hot chocolate at the coffee house.

Dear Santa,

Did you lose an elf? Cause I think I found her.Only this one unwraps presents instead of wrapping them.

This Little Piggy Went...

crazy with our pink pig themed day. Caroline woke up this morning and took a bath with her favorite pink pig squirties...

and we read her pink pig bath book. Then, after naptime, we headed to Lenox Square to ride
Some of our friends rode too!
Tressa and Will

Julie and Madeline

Valerie and Megan

Katherine, Alexander, and Abigail

Leslie, Riley, and Colter

Amy and Bryce

Alexander and Shelby (I think Shelby and her mom, Missy, and her brother, Jackson, were taking a potty break when I was taking pictures of the mamas and their kids!)

Caroline watched as the pig headed her way...

and then we were on our way! She looked like such a big girl sitting in her seat by herself. I wish I could have gotten a picture from outside the train!

Right down to her snack container,

it was a pink pig kind of day!

The Lighting of the Trices' Great Tree

Caroline and Daddy examine the tree before Caroline heads to bed and the "real" fun begins...two tries at stringing the lights, one trip to Target, one tipping over of the entire decorated tree, a few broken ornaments, and many hours later, Caroline got to examine our handiwork...

Merry Christmas, Everyone!