On Monday night we went over to Bud & RuthAnn's for Christmas with them. This was the first opportunity we had to see Taylor actually rip into a present. She was a little meticulous with it - wanting to pull every little piece of paper off the box, but she did get into it more than she did last year. She didn't seem all that interested in it last year. She got a lot of cute gifts from her Grandma & Grandpa. Bud made her a rocking horse and painted it pink and white. Taylor was not quite ready to ride it, but I know that in time she will love it. She got some food for her kitchen and a little train that reminds me of the Little People stuff. The next day Taylor really enjoyed playing with her kitchen and her new food. She and Daddy even had a little picnic on the living room floor.
We were supposed to have some friends from Knoxville stop by on their way to Florida to visit family on Tuesday night, but it didn't work out. They got a late start on their trip and had to make some extra stops along the way and were unable to take the detour into Americus. It worked out okay though because Daniel and I decided to make a brag scrapbook for my mom of Taylor's last year. We found a small scrapbook at Walmart and then had to go get the pictures make later after we picked out the ones we wanted to use. We started on the scrapbook after Taylor went to bed. We sat up until 4:00 in the morning on Christmas Eve working on it and then I finished it up later that day after getting some sleep. We put a lot into it and I will never wait to the last minute to start something like that again. It was a lot of fun though.
On Wednesday night we had our Christmas Eve candlelight service at church. Daniel and I sang a song with the praise team. Children are encouraged to particiapte in the service and they do not provided a nursery. Taylor sat with Bud and RuthAnn while we sang. She sat there very quietly, biting her nails. After the music, we took Communion. At this point Taylor decided that she wanted to talk. Whenever I would say "shhh" she would hold her finger to her lips and repeat "shhhh" very loudly. It was too cute to get annoyed with her. Fortunately the service didn't last longer than about 45 minutes. When we got home from the service we had our private family Christmas before bed.
On Christmas morning we got up and finished packing and loading the car to head up to Tennessee. Taylor did pretty well on the trip as long as she had something to watch or Praise Baby to listen to. Soon after we got to Chattanooga, we went over to Alicia & Darrin's house to have Christmas with my family. As soon as we got there Joshua came over and gave Taylor a big hug and a kiss. He is so loving.
Joshua got a train table for Christmas and he and Taylor had the best time playing with it.
Taylor is doing the motions to Away in a Manger
Grandmommy & Granddaddy gave Taylor the Little People Minivan and the Fisher Price Musical Tea Set. She really loves her tea set even more than I anticipated.
We gave Mama & Daddy a 12 month photo frame for the new baby with an ultrasound picture to announce that she is going to be a girl. Daddy knew what was inside the package and really played it up by unwrapping it really slowly. Mama was dying with anticipation.
Alicia made a Happy Birthday Jesus cake. Each element of the cake was representative of something. The chocolate cake represented our sin, the red was the blood that was shed for our sin and the green was the new life that we have in Christ. The star on top is the Star of David since Jesus came from the lineage of David and the hearts are those who love God and have accepted Jesus into their hearts. The cake was very yummy.
This is the family photo that we took while we were all together.
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