merry christmas and happy new year

a wonderful merry merry christmas was had 

although you'd never know it by my pictures. 

since there are 5. 

i'm fired. for reals.

BUT, i guess i'd rather have had a great christmas with a family i love

 and no pictures to show for it,

 than a no good family or holiday with lots of pictures! -- right?

 (just trying to make myself feel better.)

and no pic from our fancy new years dinner with g+p.

and that's a shame cuz we were looking good... 

happy 2013 to you and yours! 

o christmas tree

this is our first year to get our own christmas tree! 

(i can't remember if we had one on eaton... so i'm thinking we didn't).

for one reason or another, we've never really had a chance/space to, 

and we're usually gone most of the holidays so it's not really worth it, 

but i really wanted one this year. 

we drove to a little tree lot, ivy picked one out, and they delivered it to our living room. 

gramma strung on the lights and ornaments when she was here. 

and ivy colored a little star to put on top. 

then she got really into ornaments, adding things here and there.

an angel she made in preschool, 

a red and green wreath from church, 

a pack of gift tags that she got from a saleslady at jcrew. 

i love it.
perfectly imperfect. 

so colorful and bright.

now if only i had anything to put under it!

christmas with the mcconnells

a sleeping car...

equals a happy mama!!

(note: kevin is not sleeping, i just didn't want him to feel left out :)

it was only an hour and a half drive (that's nothin for us).... but still!

gotta count yo blessings.

we drove back today from visiting the mcconnells in beaumont.

we were there celebrating christmas

before they leave for charleston for a few weeks.

i didn't take ANY pictures so i snapped a few in the car.

hardly makes up for our time there. but we had a wonderful visit.

nancy had her new little house all decorated with stockings for ivy and eli,

lots of gifts under the tree,

christmas tree sheets on ivy's bed,

snowmen, wisemen,

christmas towels, etc.

such a fun time of year.

it was fun watching ivy open her presents this year

since she understands what's going on and gets really excited.

she got a new play kitchen (that she loooooves - the girl can multi task)

a tutu and ballet leotard from craig to encourage her amazing dance skills,

new books, bubbles, a stuffed puppy.

eli got new clothes that will solve our everything's-too-tight problem.

the boy is huge.

but i have to say i think i won in gifts this time.

i got some really thoughtful, nice things.

including the miette pastry book with a set of little 6 inch cake pans...

perfect for baking with ives!

craig was crazy as usual......

atleast he:

A) made fun of my husband for being out of shape

B) got us a date night to a concert in boston

C) didn't terrify ivy with his spontaneous yelling

D) didn't cause our son to throw up multiple times.

E) effectively communicated 15% of the time.

so we're making progress.

juuuust kidding. he's awesome and he knows it.

thank you mcconnells for being so wonderful to me.

and ivy.

and eli.

and of course kevin :)

we love you!

christmas twins

our friends matt & lexi think ivy & cindy lou who are twins.... and i think emily said the same thing a long time ago! matt & lexi emailed us this pic - too funny!

fa la la la la

There's been so many wonderful Christmas music concerts around the town the past week. I love it! It's so fun being able to walk out our door, down the street, and into a beautiful old church with others, young and old, students and families - all gathered to sing and celebrate.

Last Sunday, Handel's Messiah was performed by the St. Andrews Chamber Choir at Holy Trinity Church. That's just a must-hear every Christmas so I was thankful to get to attend and in such a beautiful setting!

Then, last night the St. Andrews Chorus (featuring yours truly, my friend Kendall and about 100 other St. Andrews citizens) performed Faure's Rancine de Jean Racine, the world premiere of Paul Mealor's Stabet Mater, and Hayden's Nelson Mass. We've had rehearsals every Friday evening this semester and it's been so fun getting to be a part of a choir again. Our neighbors watched Ivy so Kevin could come... I'll go ahead and speak for him and say it was the musical highlight of the season :) The storied walls of Younger Hall could scarcely hold the applause! haha.

{St. Andrews Chorus December 11, 2010}

And tonight, some of our friends watched Ivy and let Kevin & I attend a Carol Service at Holy Trinity Church and it was so beautiful! I wish I had pictures of the inside to show you all.... just envision a huge, stain-glassed chapel with massive columns and a gigantic Christmas tree all lit up at the end of a long, dramatic central aisle. We sang some traditional carols with an enormous organ. Glorious! But all of the melodies were different which was a little disappointing when you want to hear the familiar tunes. Oh well. We'll get that in Texas :)

Music is such a gift from the Lord, especially during the Christmas season. I'm glad it's not over yet!

found one!

(Holy Trinity Church St. Andrews, image from google}