The Third Day of Christmas

Due to a big family, we are lucky enough to have three full days of Christmas celebrations. On the day after Christmas, we all headed up to my Aunt Mary's home in San Antonio for the Kirkendall family Christmas. This is always a big, crazy, fun day, and this year was one of my favorites. We did our usual introductions (really helpful in a big family), played a hilarious version of the newlywed game (Meg and I were a "couple" and won!), ate great food (thanks Uncle Joe!), and enjoyed catching up with everyone. Although we missed those Kirkendalls who couldn't make it, it was a wonderful day!

This is a very typical Kirkendall-gathering scene...

Joe (our cook) and Mary (our hostess). Thank you both!

My cousins Caroline and Emily were the best little babysitters. They played with Charlie all day and he just loved them!

Emily and Charlie (who is busy finding new uses for a water bottle).

We also decorated cookies...

Someone was hopeful that some sugary crumbs would come his way. :)

A final cuddle with Aunt Meggie before we headed home for the evening...

I'm so sad the holidays are over, but it was so good to see all of you!

Christmas!

Charlie must have been very good in his first 7 1/2 months of life, because Santa came and found him all the way at Papa and Ali's house! Charlie had a wonderful first Christmas, and even though it took us most of the day to slowly open each of his presents (breaking for naps and our big family brunch), it was just a perfect day.

I got a glimpse of the tree--and all the new presents!--first thing Christmas morning.

ALL the stockings were full!

Santa left Charlie the cutest wagon and rocking horse...

But I don't know if the rocking horse will ever recover from this. :(

Charlie eagerly dove into his stocking...

...and inspected its contents carefully.

Then it was on to the tree! Aunt Meggie showed Charlie how to ride his rocking horse...

Can't you tell how excited he was?

After we opened presents, we headed over to the Frets house for our big Christmas brunch. Unfortunately, I didn't get as many pictures there as I would have liked. But I DID get a pic of Addie and Baby Katie greeting their company... :)

And a pic of Charlie, Abby, and Katie getting some play time with Katie's new toys.

Back at my parents' house, Charlie did some final tree-inspecting while we prepared Christmas dinner. He is really going to miss the lights once the tree is taken down!

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve

What a wonderful Christmas Eve we had! Every year on Christmas Eve, my family heads out to the log cabin at our ranch for a big, rollicking celebration. This day is always so much fun--Christmas Eve has always been the highlight of my holiday and is such a special day to me due to all the wonderful memories associated with it. I was so excited for Charlie to experience this holiday with us and get to take part in his first Christmas Eve celebration. Luckily, it did not disappoint!

We started off with a shooting competition (the Hickory Hills Shootout). Thanks so much Dede for organizing this!

Jackson opted for an automatic weapon.

Charlie dined al fresco while we watched the shooting competition get started.

Yes, I participated.

Charlie and Jules loved their hearing protectors.

Clint rocked it. :)

Emma and Elizabeth loved driving around in the Jeep.

Isn't Baby Abby adorable??

Chris even fed Elec outside so that they wouldn't miss the shooting action.

Addie and Baby Katie hanging out... :) Addie was on my team and she is an amazing shot!

The winning team. :( We were robbed!

Megan, Chris, and Elec came all the way from LA for the holidays. It was so wonderful meeting little Elec and getting to catch up with Megan and Chris!

Amy and Baby Charlotte were so much fun as well. I cannot believe that Charlie already has two babies younger than him--our family is growing so fast!

Jackson and Charlie are so cute together. Jack is really, really sweet with Charlie and Charlie just adores him. Jack can always make him laugh and Charlie is very content just watching him. Here's Jack teaching Charlie how to drive the Jeep.

Charlie was quite pleased. :)

Aunt Kay's cookies were a big hit.

Someone has developed a bit of a sweet tooth... :)

Charlie, Elec, and Charlotte were so cute together. It's going to be so fun to watch these three grow up together. Here's Charlie "entertaining" little Charlotte.

Elec joins in the fun. :)

My only disappointment this year was that Charlie and I didn't make it out for the annual hayride. Just as we were leaving, Charlie decided he was starving and could not wait any longer, so we stayed behind for some dinner. Oh well, this will give us something to look forward to next year. :)

I love this picture Amy took as they were leaving on the hayride. It was dusk and the rain had just let up. Such a pretty view.

Charlie loved opening his mouse puppet from Baby Katie. We have had so much fun with Mr. Country Mouse--he always makes Charlie laugh!

The girls got fingernail polish and it was a huge hit. I love that Lizzy and Emma have taught Will how to paint nails!

After a long, exhausting, wonderful day, we headed back to Seguin to wait for Santa...

Catching Up

Whew--what a month it has been! We spent the holidays down in Seguin with my family and it was a wonderful, busy, special time. I don't know that any of us have fully recovered from all the activity--Clint and I are both tired and Charlie is missing his houseful of full-time babysitters and playmates. But it is definitely nice to return to our quiet, cozy little house and get back into our regular routine. I have a lot of catching up to do on the blog, so hopefully I'll get my Christmas and New Year's posts up shortly. It's amazing how much Charlie has changed since my last post--the little guy is scooting around everywhere, walking all around the house in his walker, talking up a storm (he says "dadada" and screeches when he's happy, says "nanana" when he's getting mad, and just said "mama" the other day!), is pulling up on his own, has taken a few steps behind his new wagon all by himself, and sprouted two new teeth on top! Even with all these changes, he is still as giggly and cheerful as ever, so we are feeling very blessed!

Merry Christmas!!