A hard, long day . . .

For such a small family, we really know how to make a full day out of Christmas. Grace took a good early morning nap, but then was wide awake from about 10:30 AM to 9:30 PM. She crashed hard on the way home and slept in her car seat for about an hour and a half before waking up and being put down for the night.

Christmas Night

We enjoyed presents back at the Taliaferro house, along with a light dinner. Boy do we know how to make a day of it.

Grace enjoyed sweet potatoes as part of her Christmas meal.

Christmas Day

After having lunch at Kristie's parents' house with my parents and my grandparents, we enjoyed opening gifts with the Gibson-Adams family back at our house. Grace's favorite part was ripping up tissue paper.

Grace especially enjoyed spending some extra time with her great-grandparents.

Christmas morning - Santa made it!

Santa made it to our house and we enjoyed a Christmas morning where Grace opened her stocking gifts and found a present or two from Santa.

Christmas Eve

We were happy to have our parents join us at our church for Christmas Eve worship. We attended the family service, in which there is a birth story and procession, complete with donkey. It was a fun service and Grace enjoyed seeing all the lights and colors in the sanctuary.

How to make a baby angry - Part 2

Many of you may remember the much earlier post, "How to make a baby angry" (available at http://gracegibson.blogspot.com/2007/05/how-to-make-baby-angry.html).

Well, let's just say going to see Santa Clause was not too dissimilar an experience. Actually, Grace was very happy the 40 minutes we stood in line, but it didn't take long once situated in Santa's lap for the crying and screaming to commence. It was so bad that a small crowd was gathering at the exit from Santa's "work shop" to see what was the matter. Luckily, the photographer did snap one very quick picture right at the beginning before the actual wailing started. We even tried holding her while Kristie and I sat next to Santa . . . no luck. So, this is all we have to show for our $30 and almost an hour of time.

Busy at play!

This holiday season seemed extra busy. Between the shopping, work, chores, and Kristie and I fighting our way through colds, the time between Thanksgiving and Christmas went fast. It didn't keep Grace from having time to play, however.

Holiday photos

Grace had her holiday photos taken the week after Thanksgiving. Many of you saw the family photo as our Christmas card this year.

Thanksgiving

We were so glad to share Thanksgiving with both of our sets of parents and Brian's grandparents. We enjoyed a great meal at Ridglea Country Club. Grace wore her "Grandma's Little Gobbler" Thanksgiving bib.