Great Christmas!

I hope everyone had as great of a Christmas as we did!!  Our whole family was totally spoiled!!

Brooke woke up at 7:30 (her normal time), and I managed to keep her in my bedroom for about an hour since we were waiting for Daddy to get home from work.  Finally, she was too antsy and we came out to the living room - and she couldn't believe her eyes!!  She had a HUGE stack of presents from Santa, not to mention Grandma and Pappy, Aunt Kelly, Uncle Kevin & family, Aunt Heather & family, Nana, Jacqui, and Becky....

She got so many great things.  Of course, her favorites are her big kitchen and Ariel doll from Santa, but she also got play-doh, some board games, clothes, Tag Jr. reading system, etc., etc.

Jim totally spoiled me this year, too.  I got a bracelet and earrings, new dishes I had been eyeing up, a great picture frame, a Kindle Fire, a meat grinder attachment for my Kitchen Aid, and lots more!!  I had gotten him a GPS system, replaced his lost wedding band, and got him a Raiders watch.

It took Brooke four - yes, 4!!!! - hours to finally get everything open.  We spent the rest of the day playing and enjoying a delicious dinner.

I'm still homesick, but there is absolutely nothing better at Christmas than seeing the pure happiness and belief that eminates from Brooke.  I am so happy to make the holidays magical for her.

Now, I need to focus on getting everything cleaned up this week (haha!) and figuring out what we will do on New Year's Eve.  Happy Holidays!

Merry Christmas Eve!

Has it really been two months since I've blogged??  I don't know how time flies so fast - this is something I definitely need to keep up on, though, because it is the only written journal of our family for Brooke to see when she's older - to me, pictures capture the memories, but she won't have the memories without these stories.

What have we been up to?  Thanksgiving, of course.  Decorating for Christmas.  Norton family trip to Disney (Brooke asks daily if today's the day we're going back).

But all of that pales in comparison to tonight and tomorrow - Christmas.  My favorite days of the year.

Right now, as we speak, Brooke is asleep in her bed.  We've sprinkled the Reindeer food, left out milk and cookies, and hung Santa's Magic Key on our door.  Santa will be here really soon, cause Mama's tired.

I'm homesick.  I miss my family, my friends.  I can't wait to be living up north where we might be able to make it home for the holiday.

But still, I'm happy, and my heart is full.  Brooke and I read the story of Christmas every day for the past couple of weeks.  Her version? "We celebrate Christmas because Jesus' birthday. Angels told Mary baby named Jesus. Joseph walked. Angels told him baby born. Follow Star. Give gifts cause they loved him. Give presents to show our love. Say, Happy Birthday Baby Jesus!"  Cue heart swelling with pride and tears gathering in my eyes.

Merry Christmas, everybody!!