Christmas, part one.

Well, I can’t believe it is already 2012! I know this is way late but Merry Christmas! We had a lovely holiday that seemed like a whirlwind.  I know this is late, but Freddy was off of work for almost 2 whole weeks and we wanted to enjoy the time he was home.  We had a lot of fun as a family! We loved, loved, loved having Daddy home with us, and I must say I got somewhat spoiled!!

The Stokes household hosted 4 Christmases this year! That’s right, 4!! We had our family of 4, Grandma and Grandpa Stokes, Gigi and Nana and Pawpaw, and finally Pop and Mimi.  Oh, and we can’t forget Aunt Amanda too.  So with all of those celebrations you better believe we, especially Ansley and Emerson, were spoiled rotten!!


I’ll start with our little family Christmas.  This year was so much fun, because Ansley is really starting to get what Christmas is all about.  She was so excited for Jesus’ birthday and also for Santa to bring her presents.  We try to focus less on Santa and more on Jesus, but let’s face it Santa is fun! To start our Christmas Eve off, we baked Jesus a birthday cake.  Ansley insisted on a pink cake and pink icing.  I told her that Jesus was a boy but she said, "no Jesus a girl, Jesus a little princess."  Well, I guess there is no arguing with that!! After she decorated the cake, on her own I might add, she and I went to the neighbors houses and gave out our annual Christmas cookies.  She was a hit, as she was still wearing her Christmas apron.  After the cookies were all handed out we loaded up the car and went to the Christmas Eve service at church.  It was a beautiful service and really reminded us of what this holiday is all about.

When we got home it was just about bed time, so we let Ansley sprinkle her reindeer food on the lawn (basically just oats and sprinkles).  She was very excited to let the reindeer know where to come.  We came inside and got all of her pacifiers together to give to Santa.  We had been talking about leaving her pacies for Santa for A. LONG. TIME.  So she knew that he was going to take them and give them to babies who really needed a paci but didn’t have one.  When she put them under the tree she was perfectly happy.  It wasn’t until we had put on our new Christmas jammies and were in bed that she just melted down. She insisted that she no longer wanted presents, she just wanted her pacies! It took her about an hour and a half to fall asleep but the next night there was no problem at all.  She still occasionally asks where her pacies went and I reminder her that Santa took them and she responds “to the babies”.  Once the kiddos were in bed, Freddy and I snuggled up and watched Christmas Vacation, a Henderson family tradition. I have to say that I love Christmas Eve far more than Christmas day!











Next…Christmas morning!