Christmas Day 2012

When I was a little girl (well, not just a little girl, but for my entire life until I got married....), Santa Claus came to my house.  I got to wake up in my own bed on Christmas morning and all of our gifts were in the living room and we could enjoy being with just our own little family on Christmas morning.  No traveling, no spending the night at grandparents' houses...it was all at home.  Josh and I want our kids to be able to enjoy the same thing and have those same memories.  That is sometimes bittersweet though, because it means that I do not get to be at my parents' house on Christmas morning.  We still go to Yazoo on Christmas Eve, as it is the Fulton tradition to open all of the presents on Christmas Eve and have a big meal!  But I have yet to drive away from Mom and Dad's house on Christmas Eve night without shedding tears as we pull out of the driveway... 

STILL though, I love seeing the grins on Grady and Vera's faces at my house on Christmas morning, and it brings me back to all those fun Christmas mornings spent with my own sisters!  Here are some pictures from this year's Christmas morning and seeing what Santa brought...

a sleepy-eyed Grady-man

 Santa never wrapped gifts much for me when I was little...most of them were just all set up and ready to dive into and play with...  Some of Grady and Vera's gifts were set up and ready to play with, but Santa wrapped lots of them this year, too.  All the ones that were wrapped were wrapped in special red and white paper and they all had a gold seal that said "Special Delivery from Santa's Workshop"...Grady thought this was SO COOL!

 Grady asked Santa to bring his sister a baby doll.  I was SO SUPER excited that Santa brought Vera her very first Cabbage Patch doll!  I got one every Christmas for about 6 or 7 years straight!  My best friend Kimberly and I would call each other on Christmas morning to ask each other what her new Cabbage Patch doll looked like and what its name was.  This brought back lots of memories!  Vera's little Cabbage Patch is named "Kerri Emma"...  so sweet!

 Awwww, she loves her baby so much! 

 Grady's top request for Santa was a LeapPad.  He was super thrilled to see that Santa brought his sister her own "baby i-pad"...(well that is what Grady calls it anyway!)  Now she won't bother his!

 Grana and Pops came over for lunch and Grady had a HUGE present to open, much to his delight!

 What a great place to watch tv, or play on his new LeapPad!

 Our attempt at a family photo...

MERRY CHRISTMAS!



Christmas Eve in Yazoo

Vera... a.k.a. "Cousin Eddie"

 Skyping with Aunt Jenny...



Dear Santa

Dear Santa,

Please bring baby dolls.  And barbies.  And tea sets.  And purses.  And more girl stuff.  All I have to play with is trucks.

Love,

Vera Hammer

Christmas PJ's Photo Shoot

Mom got both Grady and Vera Reindeer PJ's and so I had to get pictures of them both wearing them by the tree.  Photo sessions at the Hammer house just don't go so well sometimes.  Well, actually...never!  ha.  I can never get the two of them to look at the camera at the same time.  Or either Vera will spit up carrots on her white pj top right in the middle of the photo shoot.  Or Grady will act like a clown and squint his eyes so much that he looks like he HAS no eyes!  AGH!  Oh well...  but when I look back at the pictures, they DO make me smile.  So who cares, I guess!?

I guess Grady is doing "the wave" and Vera isn't participating...

Eating the ornaments proved to be much more fun to Vera than smiling for a picture...

Apparently we do not feed the poor girl enough...

Grady:  "Ok, hurry up and smile, Vera.  I'm tired of CHEEEEEESE!"

.....and FINALLY....  after only 243 attempts, we got a HALF-WAY decent one!  :) 

(Actually, I think Josh may have taken this picture!)

 "Ooooooh, wonder what this one tastes like???"



Gingerbread Man

Grady had "homework"...ha ha!  His class was reading the story, The Gingerbread Man, and we had one to decorate any way we wanted!  Of course, Grady chose candy to decorate with!  And of course I had to pull out all of my old Kindergarten books and different versions of the Gingerbread Man story and share them with Grady's teacher!  This kind of stuff makes me miss teaching Kindergarten...  Can't believe I will HAVE a Kindergartener in a year and a half!  AGH!  He is getting so old!