Ho! Ho! Ho!

Emma's first Christmas was quite an adventure!

Prior to leaving Birmingham, we made Emma's first trip to see Santa. All was going well, but the line was quite long, so by the time we made it to see Father Christmas, Emma was ready for a nap. We snapped a few photos before the fussing ensued!

We arrived at Mimi and Papa's house on Friday and settled in for several days of rest and relaxation - ha! Actually, Emma was quite happy to entertain everyone with her new set of tricks...almost rolling, spitting, "mm" and "wah," along with a bit of cooing.

For Christmas, Dugald and I decided to give Emma her first taste of cereal. The first round went fine, and she seemed quite keen for the spoon. However, after her first go of it, she has been otherwise unimpressed with cereal, bananas, or sweet potatoes. We are going to give it a couple of weeks and try again.

Christmas Eve brought our first holiday meal, as we met Katelen at the fire station for dinner. We visited for a bit and then headed home to put Emma to bed.

Emma gave us a nice little Christmas present on Christmas morning - as she slept until 8:30am -- what a treat! We fed her, dressed her up in her sweet Christmas outfit and headed downstairs for breakfast and presents. We made it through breakfast before the hives erupted.

Yes, hives! Due to a laundry malfunction, we had to wash her onesie in color remover to remove some misplaced red dye. Well, Emma was allergic to the color remover and broke out in hives! We quickly removed the onesie, gave her a bath, all the while she giggled and blew bubbles. It certainly made for an eventful Christmas!

After getting Emma settled back in, we set off to unwrap quite a number of gifts for Emma's first Christmas. Dolls, books, bib clips, a market basket, a furry possum, and much, much more. We all had quite a time!

Post-presents, we all had a bit of a rest before heading into Christmas dinner mode. Dugald cranked up the turkey fryer, Mimi started the dressing, sweet potato casserole, green beans, mashed potatoes, gravy, noodles, bread, and country ham. I set the table, snapped a few photos and stayed out of the way!

We are now headed back to the homestead before returning to work. This Christmas, like many more to come, was so enjoyable with our new addition.

Much love!

Family Visit

We all had such a great visit with Grandma, Grandpa, and Grant! Our time was filled with bad driving, great food and a visit to see Vulcan's bum...and of course, lots of giggles and poopy diapers.

The first week was spent hanging out at our house, just catching up and trying to make Emma laugh. We then went to my parent's house in Dalton for Thanksgiving. It was great to have both of our families together celebrating our great blessings and remembering the fantastic life of my grandfather who passed away on Thanksgiving last year.

Dugald was in his element as he fired up the turkey fryer, while the ladies spent time in the kitchen making way to much food. We all enjoyed gathering around the big table together, and watching Emma giggle at the window.

On Friday, the ladies went shopping in downtown Dalton for what we thought would be a quiet trip...until we heard the fire engine. Katelen was at work! A sweet, elderly man had driven his car through the entrance of the dowtown bank and come to an abrupt stop in the lobby. He wasn't harmed, but the marble lobby was! It was really fun to see Katelen at work!

After our visit to Dalton, we came back to Birminghamfor what seemed like mere minutes, although it was another week. Ma and Pa spent some time shopping and visiting the Musuem of Art, while Dug and I went to work. We met up in the evenings for great food, great wine and great amounts of smiles.

Grant came in for the last two days of the visit, and we got to celebrate his birthday with caramel cupcakes and candles. The last day of the visit was spent looking at Vulcan's booty, eating barbeque (guys) and O'Carr's chicken salad (girls).
It was sad to see everyone go, but we had such a great visit. I am sure we will find a reason to see everyone again soon.

Since their trip to Alabama, they have cruised around the Caribbean and headed back to their respective homes except for Grandma and Grandpa, who are now visiting with Liss, Martin, Lou, Tim, Isabelle and new, little Henry in the UK.