McChat: Christmas Day 2012

We had the priviledge of hosting Christmas Day at our house this year. We decided the year that Brinley was born that we would spend Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in our own home. But we have always wanted any and everyone to come that wants to. Well this year we had a housefull! Our morning started bright and early with stockings with just the 4 of us. Brinley once again stepped in and showed Cason everything that was in his stocking...which wasn't much. Sorry buddy- a sippy cup, some aquaphor, and key rattle was it this year. You didn't seem to mind.

Brinley was thrilled with the Stompees that Santa put in her stocking.

Here's the backstory on this Christmas wish...Brinley vary rarely watches any programs on tv that have commercials because we normally just watch pre recorded shows on netflix or dvd. When she is with her grandparents, they record shows for her from other stations that we normally don't watch and there are commercials. Some of the most popular are for Stompees, Dreamlites, and Cuddleuppets. Well, guess what Brinley asked for from Santa? Stompees, a Dreamlite, and a Cuddleuppet. If that doesn't illustrate the power of advertising, I don't know what does! So, needless to say Brinley was happy with the Stompees but she was wondering where her Cuddleuppet and Dreamlite was. Luckily Mimi came through with the Dreamlite but we decided that Santa felt like she needed to wait to get the Cuddleuppet at another holiday. Oh me oh my.

Brin also got a LaLoopsy doll, a sippy cup, a jumprope, nail polish, and stickers in her stocking. She had fun playing. Daddy got his usual set of Legos, this year a Batmobile, and they had fun putting it together before all the guests arrived.

Our first guests were Dad and Granny ready to make good on their promise of a round of Candyland with Brinley. Dad also brought us some logs to build our very first fire in the fireplace!

He and Rocky worked together to get the perfect fire. I was so happy. It was my Christmas miracle because Rocky claimed he would never build a fire for me because he didn't want to deal with the mess. What a fabulous Christmas gift it was to me! And I might actually get another one some day because we learned that a shop vac does a fabulous job of sucking up the ashes and soot when you are all done! Win Win!

Lets jump forward a few hours...Nonna is sitting on the hearth holding Cason and all the sudden she jumps up becuase a FLAMING LOG has ROLLED OUT of the FIREPLACE! Our grate wasn't quite big enough for the size logs we had so as they burned and moved around it came tumbling out.

Dad and Rocky quickly used the one random fire poker we had and a knife to get it back into the fireplace. What a scare! I am so impressed by Donna's quick moves. I probably wouldn't have responded with such cat like reflexes. :0) Definitely one for the memory books!

The rest of our guests started arriving mid morning. Memo and Pop, Mom, and Bubba all drove in from Ft. Worth. John and Kalyn were in from OKC and David was in from Chicago. Ree and Nonna stopped by from Baird to complete the crowd. It was so fun to have so many different family members all together in our home. Our kids loved all the attention!

I didn't take very many pictures once brunch started because I was busy in hostess mode, but here are a few of the guest mingling and visiting. There is Pop, and I am so glad he was able to spend the day with all of us one last time before he passed away. I will always cherish that memory.

You might notice everyone wearing party hats because we had a birthday party for Jesus! One of the many perks of spending Christmas Day in the home of a 3 year old.