A Holiday Tradition That We Actually Do

The King/Haynes family has a few Christmas traditions that we do every year. For the most part, we are pretty flexible with "celebrating" various holidays, and don't always do the same thing every year. Christmas is a little different, however. There are 3 main things that we do.

1. On Christmas Eve, Nigel, Kingston and I eat dinner at my mom and dad's house along with my Grandmama King and Mark.

2. After having our own little Christmas morning at our own house with all of its inhabitants, we go over to Mom and Dad's house for Christmas morning and brunch.

3. We have dinner at the Hardy's house one night before Christmas. (But not always on the same night each year. It depends on schedules and plans.)

Last year I was obscenely pregnant and couldn't really enjoy the yummy food for fear I would explode. (Kingston was born 4 days later!) This year, Kingston got to enjoy the tradition for the very first time. You see, the Hardy family has been friends of ours since before there were 3 girls added to their family! Before Mr. and Mrs. Hardy had kids, Mark and I would stay with them if Mom and Dad were out of town or busy. I babysat for their 3 girls as they came along. Ever since I can remember we have been having a Christmas dinner at their house. It is something I look forward to every year. There is always good food, good drinks and lots of good conversation (not to mention good presents!).

Did I mention that Mrs. Hardy was one of my favorite teachers, too? 4th Grade.

This year was no exception. Sunday night we went to the Hardy's house for dinner. The youngest Hardy was the only one of the girls to come this year. The other 2 were busy with college life/jobs/boyfriends. I missed seeing them and hope to see them at some point during their Christmas break. The youngest Hardy practiced for her Girl Scout babysitting badge (kidding) by playing with and looking after Kingston! They both had a great time, I think. Mrs. Hardy even broke out an old toy that her girls used to play with. Kingston loved it!

Kingston and his newest buddy, the Youngest Hardy

It was fun to watch Kingston open his early birthday presents and his Christmas presents. It was a small taste of what's to come in the next week. I'm already getting a little nervous about the amount of "stuff" we are going to acquire when it is all said and done. Where, oh, where will we put it all?!


Another Hardy Christmas dinner goes in the books. Thank you, Hardys for all you always do for us. You are very special people and I want you to know that you make our Top 3 Actual Christmas Traditions List! That is a very exclusive list to be a part of. Obviously.

I Won!

I've started reading a few money saving blogs, you know, to try to hang on to at least a small portion of my small income, and I love it when these said blogs give stuff away either by contest or just link you to where you sign up to get free stuff. I have signed up for really cool things like a sample of Glad Zip Lock bags or a package of instant mashed potatoes (I've already gotten those!) or other such important stuff. My favorite, though, is when the bloggers give away "real" prizes and you win them when a random number is picked and if your post was that number, then you're the big winner! I figured that if I keep entering, I would eventually win SOMETHING.

Well, I did. I won! From the fun site, "Deal"icious Mom, I won an Avon Beauty Palatte. It is sort of laughable since I rarely wear make-up, but on the rare occasion that I try to get all dolled up, it will be nice to have some real make-up to try! And I love to win stuff, regardless of what it actually is! Especially when you don't even have to do anything but comment on a blog to win it! "Deal"icious Mom is now giving away a Bluetooth headset from Staples. Don't worry, I've already entered that one, too! I'm a sucker. I know.

Wanna Cookie? I Didn't Make Them.

Kingston and I were looking for something to do today. Just as I had decided that I would make a grocery list and we would head to the grocery store, Michelle called and invited us over to bake cookies with her and Riley. Perfect! I packed up my cookie gear and we drove the 1/4 mile to Michelle and Kingston's little buddy, Riley's house.

It took Kingston a bit to warm up, as it always seems to do. Once he became detached from my leg he played a bit by himself. That is, until Riley walked over and yanked his paci out of his mouth. Crying ensued. Riley is a much more physical kid than Kingston, even though he is only about 2 weeks older. He has been walking for months, says lots of words and has very developed motor skills. Kingston looks like a lame wimp compared to him!!! (Just kidding. I know all babies develop at different rates.) Every time Riley would go over to him and try to play with the same toy, Kingston would cry and re-attach himself to my leg. All of this made cookie-making pretty difficult! They were cute to watch sometimes, but Michelle and I were constantly putting out baby fires!

We decided on a sugar cookie recipe that we planned to ice and/or roll in colored sugar. We nearly forgot a few key ingredients and only remembered them after looking over the recipe one last time! Let's just say we were a bit distracted. The first batch that went in the oven was a disaster. The bottoms were burnt within minutes! The second batch was better and looked better. Our icing turned out great but we weren't very careful while icing our ugly cookies and they ended up dripping and uneven.

I would normally post a picture of my baking success. Let's just say these were not even worth the effort of taking and uploading the pictures. They were hideous!! I am eating one right now as I type, so that tells you that they are at least semi-edible, but that's about it. I have to make some more cookies for a cookie exchange on Friday and I hope to do MUCH better. Anyone have a fool-proof, good kids cookie exchange recipe?

Oh, and as soon as Riley went down for his nap, Kingston abandoned my leg and went straight for the toys. Apparently he likes to play alone. Or else Riley's physicality intimidates him! We gotta toughen this kid up. Mama ain't raisin' no wuss!

He's Climbing Again

Kingston enjoys going over to his little toy corner and playing with his chair and table. He really prefers to stand on his chair more than sit on it. Whatever works and keeps him occupied is fine with me these days. Should I let him climb on the chair? Probably not. But is he really cute doing it? You bet.

How can you deny a kid who is having this much fun?

Oh, boy are we in trouble when he starts to really enjoy climbing on much higher, more dangerous things.

Big Thanks!

What do you think about my new blog layout? Pretty sweet, huh?

BIG thanks, Eden. You are the greatest!
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And big thanks to Brandi and Angie at www.midgettgray.com for hosting a great trunk show tonight. If you see me out and about any time after Christmas day, you might just see me in a new article of clothing that is clearly pretty darn hip! (The day after Christmas because my mom actually paid for the items and is giving them to me for Christmas. And pretty darn hip because, well, that's all they sell!) Now I just have to not buy groceries for the next 2 weeks and I can buy the jeans that I loved to complete the outfit!

Man, I love to shop! Thanks, girls!

I'm Sorry I Judged

OK. Ever been in a parking lot or a store and seen a mom shove her kid into a cart or grouchily tell them not to touch anything all the while ignoring the sweet little innocent cute smiles the kid is throwing out? And have you ever thought "Oh, poor little kid. That mom is being so mean to that innocent little child." Yeah. I've done it.

And I've been that mom, too. Today. At Food Lion. And I will now say, do not judge that mom. You don't know what has been happening up until that moment that you see them. Maybe the cute little kid REFUSED TO TAKE AN AFTERNOON NAP FOR THE 3RD DAY IN A ROW! Maybe the kid was really sleepy and was all but asleep in the crib before becoming fully awake and SCREAMING BLOODY MURDER FOR NO APPARENT REASON! And maybe that mom had to get something for dinner and was planning to go to the grocery store WHILE THE BABY WAS NAPPING BUT THE NAP NEVER HAPPENED! Maybe. Just maybe. You never know.

Whew. I'm glad I got that off my chest.
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On a very serious note, I need a few prayer, please. Remember my friend Kimmi and her little girl, Luna, who we hung out with in Wilmington this summer? Well, Kimmi's brother and his wife just had a baby, Josiah, and they have discovered that the baby has Cystic Fibrosis. They are expected to learn the severity of the disease in the next few hours. Kimmi texted me the news and promised to be in touch with updates as she learns them.

I feel very familiar with CF after following Nathan's blog as he taught us all so much about the disease. I sent the link to his blog to Kimmi and hope that she shares it with her brother. Oh, the power of blogs!! I hope this little baby receives the prayers she deserves through this blog post.

I Promised

I promised pictures from the lighting of the tree and the Christmas parade and I refuse to disappoint. Here they are! And as a pleasant surprise, there are a few of Kingston putting some ornaments on our own little Christmas tree that we picked out today. It is up and decorated and is super cute.

Friday night it was REALLY cold so we had to bundle up when we went to the tree lighting. So much so that I couldn't break out the camera but once to grab this quick shot (or at least that's my excuse!). Here is Kingston as we walked to meet up with Nana and Grandpa. Kingston had on 20 layers of clothing as well as a blanket over his lap. He was fine except for hating his hat. The boy HATES a hat.

Saturday we had a fun day with Nana and Grandpa. We watched the parade, tried again to get our picture taken with Santa which was disastrous a really good time, and played on the boat. To prove that we went to the parade, cruise on over to Eden's blog and look for us in the background of a few of her pictures. Grandpa had on an orange hat, Nana was wearing a purple-ish coat and was holding Kingston and I had on a red fleece. You can see us in the background of some of the horse pictures that Eden took. We were directly across the street from her and she didn't even know it! I only managed to break out the camera when we got on the boat.

When we got home we were excited to find an early birthday present for Kingston on our deck. Nigel's Godfather, Doug, made Kingston an Adirondack chair! It is the perfect size and Kingston loves it! He can even get in and out of it all by himself. Thanks, Great Godfather Doug! What a treasure.

Kingston wanted to take the ornaments off of our tree more than he wanted to put them on. Tomorrow it will be interesting to see how many times I have to tear him away from the tree. I can foresee some temper tantrums coming in our near future!

This week we have play dates, play groups, shopping adventures and a few other things that I can't remember off the top of my head. Should be fun!