Christmas!!- Henry.

Grams had one condition for us to open presents- she wanted a picture of the kids in our Christmas jammies.

Here's a good one of 4 out of 5.

This is the best we got of all 5. Maybe next year. Did I say 5? I meant 6, when you count my best friend, Tigee. I made it 6 years without getting attached to any stuffed animal (I did have my blankie). But in the past month, wherever I go, Tigee goes. So when we all got new red jammies, I insisted Tigee got new jammies too. Luckily for Tigee, a Curious George shirt somehow made it into our suitcase. And it fit perfectly!

After the pictures, the melee began! June loves her new unicorn pillow pet.

Jo opened a Dora backpack and insisted that mama sing her the Dora song. (That's what it means when she points at Dora. She also points at her belly, because mama always points to the Dora on her Dora jammies when she sings the theme song.)

Sadie pulled up a chair to open up her presents.

Legos? I can't believe it!

And the two little ballet girls each got nutcracker girls.

Christmas dinner- Georgie.

We (I mean the grown-ups) pulled out all the stops for a fancy Christmas dinner. The food looks great, Grams!

Mama contributed one thing to supper- this broccoli Christmas tree. The picture is out of focus, but she was still very proud of her creation.

We got all the kids at the one table. Look at June's outfit. She wore that orange skirt (made by Aunt Katie) and her pink ballerina shirt every day of vacation.

All of the other kids bailed, so I horned in a seat at the grownup table. Maybe Unkie and I should be moved back to the kids' table.

There's the mature end of the table.

Christmas up north!- Jo.

We made it into Columbus on the 16th, then mama and papa pawned us off on Grams and PawPaw so they could spend a night with the 601 guys. We didn't even notice they were gone.

I have a whole collection of Christmas dresses to wear.

PawPaw taught Henry how to shoot a gun (on the Wii). Look at this fearsome duo.

And we had plenty of sweets!

I was so excited to play with the big kids-until things got a little crazy.

For your pleasure, here's a video Henry took of June dancing. This is how June spends most of her time.

School program- Georgie.

The last thing to do before Christmas break is always the program at the Day School. This year was June's turn to take part.

The little sisters were sitting in the front row waiting for the program to start. This is my little buddy Ellie. We go running with our moms together. Mama made her hair bow.

Finally! June led her friends Lillie and Coleman in.

Hi!

James' kindergarten class led most of the program. They even played the bells.

Ellie's big brother Paul Carter carried the whole program. He sang the loudest of everyone.

Ellie wasn't impressed.

Finally it was June's turn.

They sang a song about Christmas trees. Papa was taking the video and I kept trying to get the camera.

Again, June picked out her outfit and it included her boots.

Not surprisingly, Santa Claus came. Where ISN'T this guy? (We saw him in a Wendy's in Kentucky. He gave us hand carved Christmas ornaments!)

Mama's favorite girl is Maddie. She and June are going to get in a LOT of trouble together when they are older.

We loaded up on the treats. My Christmas ensemble included my pretty dress and my favorite yellow raincoat.

Lille (with help from her mom) remains the sweetest little girl in the world. (Who knows why she's friends with June?) She brought June a princess book for her birthday. June LOVED it.

After the program, we threw the last few things in the van, pulled Henry out of school early and hit the road. Ohio or bust!

Children's Museum- Junie.

We were supposed to be getting ready to leave for Christmas vacation, so naturally mama decided to take us into Greenville for the morning. And there's no better place to go than the Children's Museum.

Note the boots and watches as armbands.

JoJo even got a cart in the store this time.

I'm making sure all the sales are rung up correctly.

Then Jo would steal the produce off the counter for her cart.

It's windy in here!

We took our buddy Finn and his mom. I think she may have been avoiding her Christmas responsibilities too.

What's better, we saw two more of our friends! How lucky are we that on December 15th, we were running around outside in our bare feet?

Greenville is such an awesome time.

Triple trouble.

Christmas in the Caribbean- Henry.

We finally got around to putting up the outside lights. Not that we had any good excuse not to. It's been consistently 70 degrees in SC.
Miss Leah sent down some awesome Melissa and Doug wooden food sets. The kids have had a great time making supper and throwing birthday parties with cookies.
This is so JoJo. Note the scraps on her cheek and forehead and the bloody nose.

It was so nice out one day after school, mama decided to walk over to papa's office. She forgot that the entire department was out for their Christmas lunch. June was very upset and proceeded to yell "Where's Papa? I DON'T HAVE A DADDY!" all the way through the building. And of course, JoJo was running and bit it as soon as she hit the concrete, getting this awesome bloody nose. Add on top of it mama was all sweaty from wearing a wool sweater (it really was cool that morning!). Maybe papa was lucky her wasn't there.

Nutcracker!- Mama.

Last year, June went to see the Nutcracker at a dance school in Columbus with Grams and Aunt Katie. She loved it.

So when we found out that tickets to the Nutcracker in Greenville were only $5, I decided to treat June to an afternoon out.

Granted, our $5 seats got us the second to last row in the balcony. But the Peace Center is fairly small and every seat in the house was great.

June was sooooooo excited and chose this special ballerina costume to wear out. (I swear, I made her put on a sweater and a coat too. After all it was only 50 degrees today.) June sat still through the whole performance. During intermission she talked non-stop about the ballerinas. Then she was so thrilled that the ballet started back up again, I had to physically restrain her to keep her from clapping the whole second half.

We parked 6 blocks away so we could see the sights on Main Street. They flooded a hotel plaza and set up an ice rink (no small feat when a cold day is still 50 degrees). And as always, downtown Greenville was lovely. And we used the money we saved on parking and got June this little tutu ornament. But I doubt it will every make it to the tree.

Did you know Santa gives rides on his sleigh before Christmas? It's gas powered now.

It's safe to assume June had a good time. She conked out on the ride home and then spent the rest of the evening (even after bedtime) singing the "March of the Wooden Soldiers" very loudly.