Simply having a wonderful Christmas time!

We had a wonderful time at Christmas this year! David had some PTO that would disappear if he didn't use it before the end of the year, so he took off the week of Christmas since his sister Shelley was visiting from Hawaii. We spent a ton of time with the Isgett family in Durham so that we could maximize her visit, and we had a great time! Joshua did great napping in his Pack-n-Play (in Martha's closet--the only dark place in the house) and sleeping in it at night in the computer room. We did lots of talking and eating (two things the Isgetts do well!), and there was a lot of laughter shared.

We spent Christmas Eve at our own house, and Joshua opened up his presents from us on Christmas morning: two new books. One is a touch & feel book about tractors (Joshua has probably already brought that book to me to read a million times since then!) and the other was the now-infamous "Brown Bear, Brown Bear" book. Since we knew his grandmas were going to spoil him silly, we kept it very simple. And we were right to do so! There is no doubt that this little boy is loved.

After Christmas morning at our own house, we drove back to Durham to spend Christmas day with the Isgetts. It was so fun to see Will and Ellie, two of Joshua's cousins, so excited about all their presents (the highlight for Will was a Transformer robot and Ellie's was a baby doll and baby stroller). Joshua got new books and sleepers, a push lawnmower that blows bubbles (this will be very popular, I'm sure, in the spring), a push toy that pops balls around inside...Grandma Martha obviously had a great time shopping for him!

We stayed through Christmas dinner. Bernie did an AMAZING job with the food. I'm not a big turkey fan, because I feel like it is too dry, no matter how it is cooked, so I usually stick with the ham. David told me that his dad did the turkey in a brine for the first time, and said I should try it--OH MY GOSH. It was SO good--definitely the most tender and juicy turkey I have ever had. Dinner was complete with all the yummy sides: mashed potatoes, rice and gravy, homemade macaroni and cheese, yeast rolls...yum!

Here are some cute pictures Shelley took with the new camera she got for Christmas:

Eating the yummy pancakes Uncle Brian and

Aunt Lisa made for Christmas breakfast

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Mommy and Joshua (with Grandpa Bernie

hard at work in the background!)

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Aunt Shelley apparently has some magical ability

to make me smile like nobody else!

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My little monkey in his monkey outfit :)

Having fun with Aunt Shelley!

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After dinner, we headed home to meet my mom, dad, and brother at our house. They spent the weekend with us and we had such a fun time! Grandma had a great time shopping for Little Man, too: new books and sleepers, wooden puzzles with numbers and shapes, a soft tool box with soft toys that Grandpa picked out, a Noah's ark ornament for the Christmas tree...the list goes on and on! We watched movies, ate more yummy food (and went out for Mexican one night--Joshua loves quesadillas and refried beans!), and just enjoyed being together.

We are truly blessed to have wonderful family members that love and support us, and care so much for our little guy. The holidays are so wonderful when we get to spend time with the ones we love the most!