Christmas in Pictures

Happy New Year!! I cannot believe that 2010 is already behind us and that 2011 is here! We have been so busy with work and spending time with family and friends that I haven't had the time or creative energy to keep up with the ole blog... So, I thought this would be the easiest way to document what we did over Christmas.... mainly pictures with a few much needed explanations....

My family came down to Pike Road the weekend before Christmas just so we could have some extra quality time together and do our traditional "ornament making." The following picture was used for my parent's Christmas card this year. And yes, I am looking quite pregnant these days as I am now almost 6 months along!

The "ornaments" we made were headed up by mom and they consisted of felted Santas as well as sculpy clay ornaments. The following picture is sort of what the felted Santas were supposed to look like but we couldn't find any flesh colored wool so they ended up looking a bit albino.

Ben took an original route and his Santa ended up being the "Zoro Santa from Texas."

Dad took one look at his Santa and died out laughing when he realized it looked like one of the band members of ZZ Top.

Oddly enough, the felted Santas provided fun for the entire family. This week I got more pictures of Matt than I have gotten in the last 3 years since he actually allowed me to take pictures of him! He and Cara decided to use the sculpy clay to make their Santa's faces instead of making wool faces. They were the creepiest things I have ever seen. (Pictures of Creepy Santas further down)

Then things got a little crazy with the sculpy clay.

Here we have Creepy Santas (Cara's on left and Matt's on the right) and the sculpy elf that happens to look exactly like President Obama.

And here we have the final cast of characters.... yes, we did set up a scene, complete with backdrop, to photograph them. In case you are wondering, the green balls with faces are "Christmas Peas."

The family visit was a lot of fun and it was nice to get to spend some "extra" time together since we no longer have those long breaks that we once got when we were in college!

Ben and I opened our gifts to each other on Wednesday night before Christmas so we could get rid of our dead Christmas tree before we had to go out of town. Here is our attempt at a photo of ourselves. Thankfully I got a tripod for Christmas so no more having to prop the camera on various pieces of furniture!

Christmas Eve was off to a great start with breakfast at Ben's parent's house for the Lassiter family Christmas. Ben and I were so proud of ourselves for leaving our house on time that I ran out the door without my camera!! I stole this family photo from Jessi's album on facebook.

In one of my previous posts I accidently said that our baby would be grandbaby #5, I meant #6!

Ben's parents even gave our baby Christmas gifts including cute little clothes, a book, a toy, and a stuffed animal! He is already spoiled and he isn't even here yet! We had such a good time with Ben's family and really enjoyed watching all the kids open their presents.

After Christmas Eve breakfast, Ben and I loaded up the dogs and headed North to Florence. We woke up on Christmas morning to a beautiful winter wonder land! Snow had been predicted but it was really a surprise that it actually came and stuck!

Of course, we had to take our traditional Christmas picture on the steps. It's a good thing that mom and dad's new house has stairs since we have been taking this same (or similar) picture on Christmas morning for about 20 years. We used to all three sit on one step. Those days are obviously long gone. Please excuse the sleepy looks and the strait out of the camera shot much in need of editing.... I just found it too funny not to share.

Christmas morning was complete with Santa hats and reindeer antlers for all.

Matt was thrilled. This is my favorite picture of the morning.

Berkley had never played in the snow before and didn't know quite what to think. He took off running in it like a maniac and he would lay down and stretch out all four legs. Then he would eat the snow and lay in it. We all got a good laugh out of him and if I can figure out how to edit and share the video then I will do so later. When it was time to come inside, Ben and I had to blow-dry Berkley for about half an hour to get all of the snow balls off this pompoms because they were completely frozen to his fur. You can see them in this picture...

I enjoyed getting to take some pictures of all the beautiful scenery:

Our Christmas festivities ended with the "Cousin Bash" with all of Ben's first cousins, siblings, and spouses. Ben wore his festive Christmas sweater and everyone was jealous. I again failed to bring my camera and I got this picture from facebook that Tori snapped of Ben in his Christmas get up. (My mom bought Christmas sweaters like that a couple of years ago for all the guys in our family as a joke. You can find them in the women's department at Wal-Mart. Don't all rush out at once.)

The "Cousin Bash," complete with Dirty Santa and multiple games, turned out to be so much fun! I wish we all could get together more often. Ben and I racked up in dirty Santa with a gift card for me and a Shake Weight (that we actually brought) for Ben. We will both be extremely buff in 2011 from working out with our Shake Weight. Get excited about pictures to come!