"MERRY" CHRISTMAS

Most of Christmas day was fun and relaxing (opening presents, cooking and eating lots of yummy food, talking with family, playing with the kids' new toys, and going to a friends' house for a short visit), but the end of the day (and the following day) were far from "merry". So please forgive my lateness in posting this, I just wasn't in the mood. However, since James and Cora are thankfully too young to remember and didn't understand what was going on anyway (though I don't doubt that they picked up on the negative energy), I'm not going to write about it. They don't need to read about it when they're older and I'd rather not remember Cora's first Christmas that way. Instead, let's just enjoy some cute pictures of my adorable kids playing with the many generous gifts they received from our family and friends this year. They were quite spoiled. Thank you to everyone who made the day so special for them!

We started the morning by opening our Christmas stockings in bed, as the tradition goes with Jay's family:

Next we ate some of Jean's famous sausage balls while opening presents. James ate a TON of sausage balls, and was so cute handing them out to all of us and "sharing". Cora received a chair just like her big brother's:

We had to break mid-gifting to start the turkey. Once we finished up under the tree, we presented James (and Cora) with their final "gift" of the day: the revamped sunroom, now a real playroom complete with safety mats, a slide, and a picnic table. James LOVED the slide! He went straight for it as soon as we opened the door, and went down alone a couple of times, though mostly he sat at the top and reached out for Jay's hand to guide him down safely - such a cautious little man, eh?

Cora may not have expended energy on the slide, but all the new toys took a lot out of her, and she took a bunch of little princess naps throughout the day while being held (read: spoiled). She even fell asleep while Jean was "exercising" her legs:

All-in-all it WAS a good day, and we are so thankful to have each other. We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas holiday!