Libby's First Christmas-Part 1

Christmas is my favorite time of the year! I love decorating, Christmas music, shopping for the perfect gifts, time with family, and celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ! It is the most wonderful time of the year! This year was even more exciting for a couple of reasons! First off, it was Libby’s first Christmas. Secondly, Uncle Parker got to come home! Christmas is always busy, but that is the way I like it. I love spending my days filled with family!

We got busy on Wednesday. We headed to the airport to pick up Parker and then went to eat at one of his favorite Mexican restaurants. Libby immediately was drawn to Parker. She reached for him at the restaurant and smiled her little scrunched up smile at him all night.

Thursday some of Parker’s college friends came to my parents for lunch. They all had kids and it was a house full. We had a great time. I know Parker really enjoyed catching up with his friends.

Friday was Christmas Eve we ate lunch at my parents before heading to Reform to open gifts with CiCi and Pop. Libby got plenty of toys to play with. Then we headed to Aliceville to Grandmaw Rickman’s house. This is a tradition that has been around for a really long time. It is a packed house and a great time. We always have a time set apart for family pictures.

Saturday was Christmas! We woke up and had Brunch at our house. Cici, Pop, Gran, Coach, Mamaw, Pop, Uncle Jeremy, and Uncle Parker were all there to see Libby open her gifts from Santa. Then we had a small brunch and watched Libby play with her gifts. Later we headed back to Reform to go celebrate with Nanny, Poppa, and the rest of the Drake family. It was fun and we had an interesting game of Dirty Santa. Once again, Libby scored some great gifts. She has played with every single gift and really enjoyed herself. Her lack of sleeping also caught up to her and she passed out! It was really cute!

After Nanny and Poppa’s we headed to my parents house. We ate a wonderful meal and then opened up gifts. Libby got a soft and comfy chair that she loves. She also got some great books. Uncle Parker brought her a few books. One was the Christmas story in French. He tried to read it to her but her attention span is a little short steal. However, she listened to a few pages before she started flipping them herself.

On the 26^th we returned to Aliceville First Baptist Church. Parker really wanted to visit Aliceville and eat at the Plantation House while home. It was really good to be back and I was flooded with wonderful memories of our times at Aliceville FBC! The Plantation House was great too!

Tonight we will go to my Aunt’s to celebrate with the Windle family and on Friday we will go to Marvin Chapel to celebrate with the Pate’s! I am looking forward to many more great times with family! I hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas too!

Coach and Libby waiting on Uncle Parker to get here

Reading the Christmas Story

Thanks Santa!

Let me show you how to do this Uncle Parker

She just passed out at Nanny and Poppa's

She loves her chair!

Uncle Parker reading to her

Cookies and Santa

We had a fun weekend! Friday night we went to watch Holt play County High in basketball. I got to watch several students play and we also got to see some of the girls we had coached who know play for County High.

Saturday we went with the Hootons to see the newest in the Chronicles of Narnia movies-The Voyage of the Dawntreader. I was more excited about this one because I recently read the entire series. (After much pushing from Jason and Parker) It was really good! I was sad to see a small crowd. We went to an afternoon showing, but I expected more people.

After the movie we came home and made Christmas cookies, fudge, and a few other goodies. The Christmas cookies did not turn out so great. We used pre-made cookie dough and didn't know that in order for the shapes to keep we needed to add flour. We also didn't have the most beautiful cookies because we were all not so great when it came to icing them. Mainly because we have not done this very often. I called it a practice round. We probably have another practice or two before Libby understands that we are really bad at baking and decorating Christmas cookies. I do look forward to when she can really get involved.

Sunday afternoon we went to see Santa. I just knew Libby would love him. She never meets a stranger and loves men! I would say she loved him..... but she didn't cry or freak out. She looked unsure! She just sat there and didn't really do anything but stare. It was cute. For her picture with Santa she wore a dress that was mine as a little girl. She is a little taller then I was but it fit pretty good.

Some of our better cookies

Waiting to see Santa



Hum.......do I cry or not?

Getting Ready for Christmas!

Sorry. I guess I am not a very consistent blogger. I will try to catch you up. We have been super busy. We had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We first went to my Aunt Emily’s and enjoyed eating with the family. Next we went to Jason’s Nanny and Popa’s house. We ate a little bit more and looked through the sale papers. After that we went out to Jason’s Mawmaw and Pawpaw’s house. Once again, we ate! We also continued to look through the Black Friday sale papers. We also began to make our plan. After returning home we took a nap and headed out again. Thanks to Jason’s dad for keeping Libby, because we needed to split up. Jason and his brother went to Target and I met his mom at Wal-Mart. She had been up all night! We had several things we wanted to get and we got them all! We conquered Black Friday! We all know what came next…. A certain football game…..but that is all I will say about that.

Since Thanksgiving we have been super busy with the girls’ basketball team we coach. In December we have 3 games a week! As you can imagine, with a little one, (well, even without a little one), that can be really tiring! We are so fortunate to have Mrs. Paige who is willing to hold Libby during the games. Our girls have been doing really good. Right now we are 10-2.

I also would like to say that our house is decorated and I have almost finished all of my shopping. I only have one or two Dirty Santa gifts to buy! Also, the gifts I have bought are already wrapped! Don’t be a hater if you are behind….. I just like to get it all done because I like to have gifts under my tree!

Last night we had a wonderful time with our Sunday School class at our Christmas party. We ate too much and laughed soooo hard! Dirty Santa was fun. I left with a gift certificate to Charming Charlie’s. I don’t know if you have one of these stores where you live, but it is amazing. It is basically a purse and accessories store that is color coordinated. After playing Dirty Santa, we played a game that Patrick came up with. It was basically a trivia game about Christmas movies. We either had to finish a quote, say who said the quote, or name the movie the quote came from. My team dominated!

Well, I hope you are not stressing out about Christmas! I love this time of year! If you have a lot to do still take a breath and remember why we celebrate this holiday!

At my Aunt's on Thanksgiving

Our Sunday School Class minus Kim and Jarrod -they had a sick baby =(

Libby in her Ornament DressLibby checking out the tree
Merry Christmas!