Don't Count the Days, Make the Days Count: Christmastime was here...

...you know kind of like the first line in the Charlie Brown Christmas song. Only "was" instead of "is" - I know that was lame but it helps if you sing it in your head like I just was. I love that song and if I wasn't pushing mid January with my Christmas post then I would have it on my playlist. But seriously when I here that song I'm officially ready to start the Christmas season.

I'm going to try my best to fit this all into one post if I can so it's going to be long and I've tried to dwindle down the amount of pictures but I'm pretty sure I failed at that so get ready to see a bunch.

We decked our halls...fa la la la la...la la la la.

And you may notice the very small section of lights out on the top...a wind storm came shortly after we put them up and that happened. We were too lazy to get the ladder back out and fix them and then a couple of days before Christmas as we were backing out of the driveway to head for North Carolina I said "You know we probably could have fixed those by just climbing out of our bedroom window." Chris giggled...we're genius I tell ya.

Ivy and Grammie made a Gingerbread house that was quite cute...

I'll have to give you a disclaimer for the rest of these pictures...any that you see of me you please be warned. I got sick the week before Thanksgiving and stayed sick until New Years. So you might see me without makeup or just looking like crap in general. This is when a husband with photoshop works to my advantage though.

On December 18th we had our annual family get together at my Grandma's house. Uncle Nate couldn't make it up here because of work but other than that everyone was there. Ivy and Emily exchange gifts with each other and then the rest of us all bring a gift and we take turns picking which one we want to open or steal. Ivy got two things that she REALLY wanted - Hamm (a pig) and Rex (a dinosaur). For those of you not familar with those they are from Toy Story and impossible to find anywhere...especially Hamm. When she opened that gift and saw Hamm it was like she had just found the last golden ticket to get into Willie Wonka's chocolate factory.

She could not wait to get it open!

She was pretty excited about Rex too....I love it when she sticks that tongue out!

After everyone had finished eating and opening gifts we just spent time being with each other...oh and playing lots of Jenga! A game that some of us had never played.

Then we moved onto Uno. It's a personal favorite of mine....

...but Uno didn't last long. Ivy decided that she was hot and needed to take off her pants and run around like a lunatic.

Then on top of my already feeling crappy-ness I knew Ivy had been feeling bad too. After a few minutes of no pants and running around she crashed in my Mom's lap and spiked a fever. The next day was spent in the house eating lots of soup after a mid day visit to Prompt Care. A prescription of Amoxicillin and she was on the mend.

One of my favorite traditions when I was growing up was making a Red Velvet cake with my Mom every year on Christmas Eve. I would really love for this to be a tradition for Ivy and me too. Not neccessarily always on Christmas Eve but sometime during the month of December we will make a Red Velvet. A lot of love goes into Red Velvet but it's worth it. It's hands down my favorite cake! Ivy and I had a lot of fun making one this year. She's at the age where she can actually help and she loves participating. And whenever she is helping me with something I try really hard to let her do as much as she possibly can...no matter how big of a mess it will cause.

She even helped me wrap presents this year which was lots of fun. Whenever she would see me wrapping she would come pick out the paper and then put the tape on it. Then she would pick out the ribbon and would hold her little finger down for me to tie it. And sometimes she would ask me to put my finger down so that she could tie it but she would eventually become frustrated and say with a big sigh, "Mommy, you do it."

And with out fail every year Chris buys me at least one present that kills him to leave under the tree. He always begs me to open it early because I'm going to "need it" he says for the trip to Boone. I usually fight the power and tell him we should wait. It's never bothered me to wait to open presents, even as a kid. I always loved looking at the them under the tree and the anticipation of knowing that on Christmas morning I would get to rip them open. Chris on the other hand it almost kills to wait! This year when he started on me and I said "no" he just had Ivy bring me the present and say "Mommy, Daddy will be so happy if you open this present." Swoon....I gave in. And boy am I glad I did because I got me an iPad baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I'm pretty much like a crackhead when it comes to playing angry birds. And Ivy loves it too, she can use it better than me.

We still managed to leave for North Carolina early on the morning of the 22nd since Ivy and I were both on antibiotics. We stayed with Jamie and Heather again. Charlie and Ivy have a blast together, so do Chris and Jamie, and so do Heather and I. It's win-win-win situation. It was REALLY cold this time so we didn't leave the house much. It snowed a lot before we got up there but we couldn't play in it because it was packed down so tight and VERY slippery...and me and slippery don't get along very well.

We did manage to get to town for a few minutes on the 23rd. We got to catch up with two of Chris's best friends Ryan and Danny. I somehow don't have any pictures of this reunion because we all spent our time laughing and playing the Wii. Then we headed over to Libby's house for dinner...and man can this woman cook! We ate ourselves silly and then ate dessert so we were even sillier. It was a great night.

On Christmas Eve we got up to spend some time with Jamie and Heather and we let Ivy and Charlie exchange gifts. We got Charlie some power tools which he LOVED! And they used the flashlight to search for Ivy's elf. Ivy's "Elf on the Shelf" flies to the North Pole every night to report if she was good or bad to Santa and he somehow makes it back before she wakes up and he is always in a different spot. Attention Parents: Greatest thing ever! Every morning when she would wake up she would say "I need to find my elf!" She was an absolute angel the entire month of December. Charlie had fun helping her search for him too. She named him Frosty and she was obsessed. She still asks about him now and wants to know when he'll come back from the north pole because she misses him.

Then we headed over Arville's house to spend some time with him, Zach, and Kristin. Ivy loves her Paw to pieces and she always has a blast with her Uncle Zach. But before we left we did manage to get a couple of pictures of Ivy outside in the snow...because lets face it, we never know when we may see some of that in Georgia.

After we opened gifts Ivy was worn slap out. She decided that she wanted to take a nap on the floor between the couch and coffee table while holding Kristin's hand. And Paw watched some ESPN...must be Ward thing.

Then it was off to Carter and Beth's house for the Ward get together. Lots of fun and lots of cousins running around playing with each other. This was the first time we've been up there on Christmas Eve since Ivy was just a few weeks old and every single family member was there...that never happens. We should have gotten a group picture! This year they made all of the kids sit down and sing "Santa Claus is Coming to Town" before they could open their presents. It was the cutest!

From L to R: Anna, Ivy, Lily, Ella, Ida, Noah (hidden behind Abby - don't worry I have a GREAT picture of Noah coming up), Abby, Walker, and Jordin. Charlie decided against singing for presents.

Okay...brace yourself...Someone gave Noah a chocolate cupcake. People were actually chanting for this kid as he was eating. It was like being on the playground in elementary school and chanting "GO GO GO" as two kids are fighting. It was a tough fight but Noah managed to pull it off.

When we left the Ward gathering we drove straight home...well, if you can call 5 1/2 hours with two potty breaks straight home that is. It was really late and we didn't get in bed until after 2 AM. But the next morning was Christmas! Grammie, Maw, and GG came over early to see Ivy open all her gifts...only Ivy wasn't awake. Seriously, who has to wake their kid up on Christmas morning? I went and woke her up around 7:45 and she was not happy with me. I said very softly "Ivy are you ready to get up?" She cracked one eye and looked at me "No." Then I said "But it's Christmas morning, do you know what that means?" And I kid you not this is what she said "Baby Jesus's birthday." Smart Girl. Then I said "That's right! Very Good! But it also means that Santa Claus came...." She gasped. "Hurry Mommy! Lets go now!"

Chris is going to kill be for posting this picture but oh well, it makes me laugh....hard

Can you tell that she was SO EXCITED to get a camera!

Maw, Grammie, and GG getting their calendars that we made. They loved them of course.

P-man had a good Christmas too....he worked on that bone for 3 days.

Here's our traditional family portrait in front of the tree on Christmas morning in our jammies.

Then Maw (a.k.a. Debbie my mother-in-law) cooked a DELICIOUS country breakfast. Trust me, this woman knows what she is doing when it comes to making breakfast. I've never met anyone that can cook it better. Her gravy is to die for!

Then we cleaned up and relaxed a little bit while Ivy was checking out all her new toys. We packed up and went to Mama Hancock's house to spend the rest of Christmas day with her, my Dad (Paw Paw), and my stepmom Debra (a.k.a. Nana Hannah - long story). Ivy got more presents of course and then crashed....crashed hard.

Mama Hancock...I could write a book about how much I love her. Oh, and the blanket on her lap my very talented mother made for her 85th birthday/Christmas and she wanted a picture of her with it. Funny thing is - that blanket behind her...my mom made that for her too, years before I was born.

Now Dad always wants a family picture taken but I swear this is how it turns out everytime - 1. Mama Hancock with a look of disbelief on her face. 2. Debra is always smiling and happy about life. 3. Dad is ALWAYS talking. 4. Ivy wants nothing to do with it. 5. I always have a sarcastic grin because I know all of the first 4 things are going to happen. 6. Chris takes the picture in horrible lighting.

Whew! Remember when I said this was going to be a long one? Almost done...I promise.

The day after Christmas we went to Mom's. She always serves us Pancakes, bacon, and a fruit cocktail on her China. It's tradition that it's always on the China and this year she even let Ivy use China too. I was a wreck over it but she insisted that it's just a plate and Ivy was going to use it.

Oh and another thing...it started SNOWING! We couldn't believe it. We woke up and there was some flurries coming down but we really didn't think it would stick but it did. Then everything that was sticking melted but it kept on snowing. It kind of gave a magic feeling while we were opening gifts with snow falling outside the window.