the duncan family: What a Fun Christmas!

I can't believe Christmas has already come and gone! We had so much fun this year. I vote to celebrate again next week. Anyone else with me???

We were asked to light the Advent candle at the Christmas Eve service at church, so that was a little adventure. We were stressing about it all day because we weren't sure how Jacob was going to act. I thought, maybe, seeing all the people in the congregation would cause him to clam up a little. I was wrong. There could have been a million people watching and he wouldn't have cared! He threw a little fit in the beginning because he wanted to hold the candle, but other than that, he really wasn't too bad. I also got a little nervous since Annabelle decided to get fussy as soon as we walked up on stage. Thankfully, I was able to quiet her down rather quickly. Jacob still talks about that night. "Light a candle....people watchin'," he says.

The service was beautiful and was a perfect way to get our minds re-focused on what Christmas is all about. Our culture makes it so easy to get caught up in other things, but without Christ, there would be no Christmas.

Speaking of those "other things," Jacob didn't totally get the whole Santa concept, but he had a good time helping to bake cookies to leave for him on Christmas eve. I must confess, we made the slice and bake kind, but we did pour some sprinkles on top for some additional fun...and some additional mess! By the time we were finished, the kitchen tile was beautifully decorated in rainbow sprinkles. Another job for the Dirt Devil Kone!

After reading the Christmas story in his Toddler Bible, we put Jacob to bed and sure enough, Santa showed up! He ate all the cookies, drank most of the milk, and the reindeer ate almost all of the carrots. Side note about Jacob's pajamas: Jacob has been playing with his guitars (yes, he has multiple guitars) lately and the other day while he was playing and dancing around, I said, "Are you a rock star?" Apparently, that stuck with him because now he'll walk up to me with his guitar and say, "Jacob a rock tar!!" When I saw these pj's, I just had to buy them.

One of Jacob's main gifts this year was a Fisher-Price "kid tough" DVD player. It was definitely a hit......until it broke later on Christmas morning. What a bummer...for Jacob and for me. I guess it wasn't so "kid tough" after all. We emailed Santa and told him he left us a defective gift. He apologized and said we'd receive a replacement in a few days. I hope this one works!!

Annabelle was all smiles Christmas morning. I'm convinced they are real smiles now, although some are still followed by a burp or a spit-up. Her daddy was really making her smile on this particular occasion. Be forewarned, this video ends with a massive spit-up, probably due to all the shaking.