December kind of snuck up on us this year!! We had a lot to do to prepare for Christmas. :)
To start off the month of December, we had to get our tree and decorations up.
Charlie unloaded the Christmas tree from his truck...
While Eli and Lulu watched him from the front window. I thought this was sooo cute!
We decorated the tree. It looked so pretty! Eli was fascinated by the lights when we first put them up, but he honestly didn't bother with the ornaments or lights (once he touched them a few times--haha).
Eli checking out the lights...
One of my favorite things during the Christmas season is receiving Christmas cards!! Thank you all for the wonderful Christmas cards!!
I had them displayed in the kitchen...
And strung them across the curtains in the Living Room...
Charlie and I just loved looking at them!!
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Of course Anne and I had to take our sweet little ones to go see Santa again this year! It was quite the adventure. Last year, Anne and I were on Maternity Leave during December, so we went on a Tuesday morning and there weren't many people-- it was great. This year however, we are back at work and now have busy little toddlers. So we decided upon getting to the mall first thing on a Saturday morning. We waited in line about 3 hours to see Santa. We kept saying, "We have already waited this long..." Eli and Sara were soooo good waiting all that time!!
The mall was decorated very pretty for Christmas...
Anne and Sara...
Eli and Santa... (I LOVE this pic!)
I just LOVED Eli's little outfit he wore that day!!
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The weeks leading up to Christmas, we did a lot of fun projects and activites at school!! One thing I do miss about teaching First Grade is we didn't need as much of an excuse to do "cutesy stuff" in the classroom. Teaching a testing grade, they do not get to do as many fun little activities.
My students had a BLAST doing Christmas activities!! I loved just watching them be KIDS. So much emphasis is placed on these tests that sadly, the "fun stuff" is the first thing to go. So I truly enjoyed watching my kids make Christmas crafts, laugh and just enjoy this time of year with their classmates.
They made Gingerbread Houses during Math class. They did an amazing job!
We did a Multiplication activity where we made marshmallow snowmen. We made a mess, but had fun doing it. :) I have 2 high school students that come help in my classroom once a week. One of the students, Francisco, is in the second picture below. The kiddos really look up to him and he is awesome with them!
My students also made these lovely Christmas ornaments for their parents...
The school choir performed a Christmas Musical for the school. It was WONDERFUL!!
Two talented 3rd graders: Jada, MyKayla and myself...
The last day of school before break, the entire 3rd grade wore their pajamas to school. :) We had hot cocoa with Marshmallows, a yummy sugary breakfast (I tried to level out the sugar with some grapes--haha) and watched a Christmas movie. It was such a fun-filled day!! :)
The gourmet student breakfast...
Wearing pajamas at school...
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Every month Alpha Delta Kappa has a meeting. For our December meeting, we had a Christmas Auction to raise money which will go towards scholarships for students this Spring. The auction was soooo much fun!!
Each member bought a gift to be auctioned. I decided to put together a basket of something near and dear to my heart... COFFEE!! Haha.
The basket I put together...
The beautiful tree surrounded by all the gifts to be auctioned...
I really have enjoyed being a member of ADK. I look forward to the meetings each month. It is such a fun group of ladies!!
Anne, Sara, me and Leigh Ann at ADK auction...
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Every year our work Christmas Party is on a Thursday. It makes it difficult to attend because 1.)Charlie works and doesn't get home until after 7PM 2.)It always starts at 6:30 and 3.)It's in Galveston. Well this year I was talking to some co-workers and we were all kind of in the same boat--our husbands work and we wouldn't be able to go with it starting so early. So we decided to make it a "Ladies Night" and go enjoy some food and fellowship. :)
I really had a great time just chatting and laughing. Everyone had a great time!!
Me and some of my team members (Me, Heather, Lana and Stacy)...
Anne and I (I am bummed this one is blurry!)...
Judith and I...
LOVE all these ladies! (Heather, Lana, Stacy, Judith, me and Anne)
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Christmas Eve was such a special night. We decided we wanted to go somewhere we could take Eli and Lulu. Lulu is a member of our family too, but since she is a "furry child," she isn't allowed to go everywhere Eli is. :) So we decided to go look at Christmas lights in a really nice area in Pearland we read about in the paper.
Eli really loved looking at the lights!
When we got back to the house, we snuggled on the couch and watched a "Charlie Brown Christmas."
I love this pic of Eli with his Daddy (look at that grin behind his binky)...
After a perfect Christmas Eve, everyone went to sleep with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads....everyone that is, except me. At about 1 o'clock in the morning I woke up with some awful stomach pains. I will spare you the details, but let's just say I had a horrible "stomach bug."
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After having been up all night, I felt pretty out of sync, but I wasn't about to let a little sickness get me down! I could not wait for Christmas morning!! It was almost as if I was a kid going to get Eli up. :) I wondered how he would react--if he would even notice Santa had visited him and left him presents under the tree?
Eli woke up all smiles. He toddled down the hallway and stopped in his tracks when he saw the Christmas tree surrounded by presents. He took his binky out of his mouth, stood there wide-eyed and said "Ooooohhh!" It was the cutest thing ever!
Our Christmas Tree (notice we only put tinsel on the upper half of the tree)...
The stockings...
We really enjoyed watching Eli with his presents!! He studied each thing he opened. It was so much fun watching Eli and his facial expressions!!
Eli received a J.Crew flap hat from Daddy for Christmas. Remember Charlie's J.Crew flap hat?? I need to get a picture of the two of them in their hats together. :)
These photos crack me up!!
After we celebrated Christmas at our house, we packed up the car and headed out to to visit with my family in Cypress.
I just love visiting my family!!! The visits never seem long enough.
Eli had fun playing with his cousin, Brandon...
He also had fun opening presents!! He got some really cool (and noisy! Haha!) boy toys. :)
Eli picked out this shirt for his Nana :)
Charlie and I at my Mom and Dad's...
After a wonderful day at my parents, we headed to The Woodlands to celebrate Christmas with Charlie's side of the family.
The Brenner's pretty tree...
We had such a nice time!! Thank you Mom Brenner for the yummy leftovers!! I really enjoyed them once I was feeling all better. :)
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Wishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas and blessed New Year!
Love,
Charlie, Courtney, Eli and Lulu
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