Christmas 2013: Part 2

Christmas morning Sam woke up and made us breakfast.  We had pancakes and eggs, nothing fancy, but a treat for us.  The kids played and we got ready to go to my bro/sis-in-law's house.  Upon arrival the kids began running around playing while we helped with food preparation.  This year we brought deviled eggs, sweet potato casserole, and peppermint cupcakes.  My sister-in-law made a few things and my mother-in-law made A LOT!!!  She always goes beyond the call of duty to make our meals special and it is much appreciated.

After some play, the kids were more than ready to open their gifts.  Here is a pre-opening shot of the boy cousins.  I have grown to love B's smile, because it reminds me so much of mine at the same age.

Zoe was intrigued by all of the wrapping paper, of course!

My sister-in-law is very good about gifting my kids books.  Some of B's favorite reads have come from her or been suggested by her.  This year she (along with B's cousins) gave him The Slurpy Burpy Bear.

And they gave Zoe Animal 123, which Bennett likes as much as she does.  This is one of her cousin Kyrie's favorite books.

Each year I try to make my in laws a calendar of photos from the previous 12 months.  It usually brings lots of smiles.

These two are too cute for words!!

NOTE:  This was Kyrie's first time wearing pony tails.  She only let her mom put them in, because Zoe was coming over.

Prema is 100% girl.  She loves nail polish.  She loves jewelry even more!

I must get better at taking family photos.  I am only in one photo and B's not even looking at the camera, but he is enjoying his Christmas gift.

Poor guy looks like he is miserable, but he was very excited about his new Word World DVD's.

Kyrie was equally excited about her Signing Times DVD's.

The boys had a few gifts they got to open together. One of which you will see below.

We, then, took a break to allow the kids to play with some of their toys and to eat a few appetizers.  The girls spent most of this time swinging and going down the slide.  Bennett and Eli played with their parachute men and stomp rockets, while Isaac played with his football men.  

Eventually, the adults came inside to open gifts while the kids continued to play.  It is nice to open gifts separately, because it allows us to interact without constant interruption.  Sandy bought all of the men these flying monkeys.  They are pretty funny!

Then, it was time for the final dinner prep.  I was soooooo glad, because we must have misunderstood the plans.  We thought we were eating lunch after opening presents, but we were actually eating dinner.  We had appetizers, but Sam and I were hungry.  We will pay closer attention or ask more questions next time :)

My sister-in-law's mother, Dotty, is spending the winter in Florida.  She joined us for Christmas dinner.  It has been wonderful getting to know her.  She was so thoughtful bringing each of us a gift.  She gave Sam a red workout shirt.  Bennett received a plane from the movie "Planes."  She gave Zoe some Play-doh and me a beautiful scarf. 

Zoe gave the food a thumbs up (especially the sweet potato casserole)!

We had a wonderful Christmas and are forever grateful JESUS stepped down from Heaven to take on human form all for the sake of LOVE.

Christmas 2013: Part 1

Since getting married we have switched holidays from year to year.  One year we spend Thanksgiving here and Christmas in Nashville.  The next year vice versa.  This year was our turn to spend Christmas in Florida at home and with my in-laws.

Now that we have children it is definitely nice waking up in your own home on Christmas morning, or in our case Christmas Eve morning.  Since we had plans to go to my in-laws around noon on Christmas day we decided to have "our" Christmas on Christmas Eve morning.  

The kids were up bright and early!!  Like 5:30 a.m.  We have a tradition of wrapping a book for them to open and placing it outside their door.  Zoe has no clue, of course, but Bennett got up so early he walked right over his :)

We gave Bennett two of his favorites books we read when we are in Nashville at my sister's.  He has enjoyed each of these titles the last three times we have visited them.  Zoe received Sandra Boyton's Snuggle Puppy.

I did not not take much time to take photos, because 1.) where we open presents is kind of cramped 2.) I enjoy watching and helping them open the gifts.  Unfortunately, that means I got zero photos of the two kids together, zero photos of me, and zero photos of our whole family.  It was worth it!!

Bennett asked for 2 toys (although he said he wanted numerous toys throughout the month) over and over again.  1.) A book like Koo Koo and Dadder have (hard cover book that also has a small projector you use in the dark to project images from the book) 2.) I-Dragon.  We were able to find each of the toys he requested, but as usual those have not been his favorites.  He has most enjoyed the Gooey Louie game.

I had no intention of buying the kids a kitchen, but we scored this one for free at a church swap shop.  It has been a favorite of Zoe's.

Zoe spent most the morning playing with the coins from the cash register.  Eventually, she opened her Mrs. Potato Head, but B was the one who played with it.  

Bennett also got a box of Letter Construction Fun which came highly recommended.  I thought he would love them, but he has barely played with them.  His fascination with letters has almost come to an end.  It kind of makes me sad, because he enjoyed them for so long.

Here is a picture of tired daddy!!  You can only imagine how awake I looked :)

Then, we moved on to stockings which were always one of my favorites things to open on Christmas morning.   This year's stockings were filled with Little Mermaid characters, Dora characters, Turbo shampoo, bubble bath, jelly bellies, candy necklace/bracelet, and twistable crayons.  

The candy was a hit, of course, but Bennett has used his twistable crayons a lot and LOVES having Turbo (his favorite movie) shampoo.  Zoe is fascinated with bath bubbles, so it was fitting to give her some for Christmas.  Both kids enjoy Dora and I got the characters for free at the swap shop, so the stockings were definitely a hit.

I had a bed tent when I was a young girl and loved it.  I would decorate the inside, play house, etc.  Bennett enjoyed having it on his bed, but it was too hot, so we have taken it off for now.  

We had a relaxing day.  We just hung out most of the day playing outside and inside with their new toys.  

We ended the day with our last day of advent devotional.  I wish I would have taken a photo of the tree in Bennett's room.  It was decorated with the advent ornaments he made last year and the ones we used this year (given to us by our friends the Boney's).  Bennett asked to read our advent devotional every night.  We also sang a Christmas carol each night which he enjoyed and eventually began to sing along.  

Merry Christmas 2013

Luke 2: 10-14

But the angel said to them, 

"Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.  

Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; 

he is Christ the Lord.  

This will be a sign to you: 

You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger." 

Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, 

praising God and saying,  

"Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests."

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!  May the joy of Christ fill your hearts this season and throughout the new year.

Thank you to my friend Rebecca of Southern Bliss Photography for capturing my family.

We ended 2012 in Nashville with my family after having a wonderful Christmas celebration.  My family met Zoe for the first time and we met my youngest nephew for the first time.  

January brought beautiful Florida weather which meant lots of outside time including the sandbox, kiddie pool, parks, Gasparilla celebration with friends, etc.  Thankfully, I was on the tail end of Thrush that I had for several months while breastfeeding Zoe.

My parents visited for a week in late February, which was wonderful one on one time for both Bennett and Zoe.  We were able to go to Disney World.  It was the first time my parents had been since my sister and I were young.  They enjoyed seeing Magic Kingdom through the eyes of their grandchildren. 

March was packed full of fun.  Two more trips to Disney World (my mother-in-law was able to go with us to Animal Kingdom) and B's 3rd birthday celebration.

We continued to have nice weather in April and honestly I can't remember much except B's behavior was becoming more and more of a challenge.  Whoever said the terrible 2's?  It is the terrible 3's!!!  The good news is Zoe began sleeping through the night and B began taking swim lessons, which he really enjoyed. 

We finished our study of the Acts of the Apostles in May and I loaded up the kids and drove to Nashville.  It was the first time taking both kids on a road trip by myself.  We were on the road by 6 a.m. and arrived in Nashville around 9 p.m. central.  The trip had a few challenging moments, but all in all it went GREAT and we had a wonderful week with my family.  

In June, Julie came and spent a week with us.  It was such a treat to have this young woman who I grew up babysitting here spending time with me and my kids.  I also taught 3rd grade V.B.S.  Bennett had a wonderful time and Zoe stayed home with Grandma all week.  It was our second year attending (and teaching) V.B.S. and while preparation can be intense, it is such a blessing for me and for Bennett.  

July brought vacation which was a nice break for everyone!  Sam had been very busy at work.  I was exhausted at home.  Bennett was in need of some more friend interaction.  And Zoe was content either way.  This year my sister's family joined us.  Instead of going to Hilton Head we went to Destin, which was supposed to be a shorter drive for my sister, but traffic didn't agree.  The kids had a blast on the beach and in the pool.  Bennett and Braxton were able to swim in the pool which made our outside time so much fun compared to previous years.  It was nice to be able to put the kids down at night and enjoy games and conversation with my sister and brother in law.

In August, we celebrated Zoe's first birthday.  She has been such a wonderful, joy-filled addition to our family.  I can't imagine our life without her.  She smiles and waves and hugs and kisses and prances and dances and simply enjoys life.  It was a fun filled month celebrating her with family and friends.  We also celebrated my birthday and Sam made me feel very special.  We even got to spend a night away sans kids.

September brought many changes.  I returned to the BSF leadership circle (after three years), which meant Tuesday morning leadership meetings and Wednesday morning Bible Study.  I was thrilled to be returning to leadership, but a little nervous for Zoe.  She adjusted wonderfully.  Bennett started pre-school 2 mornings per week.  And Sam continued to be very busy at work putting in A LOT of overtime.  All of the changes have been rich blessings to our family.  

October was HOT, but we were able to take a long weekend trip to North Carolina to visit our dear friends, the Shah's.  The weather was not all that fall like, but it was still beautiful and we had a fantastic time!!!  We purchased our first van prior to the trip, but I won't share any details regarding Sam's accident that led to the purchase or my own accident, while in N.C., that left a few scars on our brand new van. 

November brought more HOT weather, a week long visit from my parents, B's first extended stay away from home, and a week long Thanksgiving in Nashville.  I was so thankful to have my parents here for a week while Sam was out of town.  At the end of their visit B kept asking to go home with them.  We were all a little nervous, because he would be away from home for 10 days before we arrived in Nashville for Thanksgiving.  However, he went, had a blast and didn't miss us a bit.  He had an ice cream cone every night, jumped in leaf piles, played on the Wii and iPad, took bubble baths, and so much more.  He was excited to see us when we arrived, but just as excited to go spend another week at Brax's house.  Thanksgiving was low key.  As always, it was nice to spend time with my sister and the boys got along much better than they did in the spring when we visited……PRAISE THE LORD!!

December has flown by.  I feel like it just began and now we are a few days from Christmas.   Despite it's quickness, it hasn't felt as stressful this year.  Bennett sang in his first Christmas performance and did an excellent job.  Our BSF Christmas fellowship was just that: a joyful fellowship.  Sam and I won not 1, but 2 prizes at his work Christmas party (Bern's and Amazon gift card).  We had two sets of dear friends over for breakfast.  We sang Happy Birthday to Jesus at our church's Jesus Party.  And Bennett has asked us to read the daily advent devotional and sing the accompanying Christmas carol every day.  We are continuing to focus on the coming of Jesus Christ to this broken world and are looking forward to giving gifts to one another in order to celebrate His coming.  

So as the year comes to an end I say Merry Christmas from the Cullum family!!  May the coming of Christ be the reason you celebrate and reflect on the blessings and challenges you have received this year.