Catching up....

An entire month has gone by since I have updated my blog.... let me try to catch you up with a month of review. There have been a lot of events going on with school and such and then I caught some terrible cough/bronchial something and couldn't seem to fight it off. I called the Dr. to see if he could just call me in an antibiotic and another Dr. was on call so I had to go in. He said I was actually "Really sick!" so I tried to spend the last two weeks of school not missing too much but fighting off the sickness. Needless to say by the time the break came I was so ready and in need of some rest. I would try to go Christmas shopping and just get too tired in a few hours so it was a rough couple of weeks. We got our house decorated in early December this year which was nice. Here are a few pictures of our decor.....

Our Tree

We got a new tree topper this year, Tinker Bell!

Here is Carson, our elf Santa sent us. This was such a fun tradition we began this year. Our elf was delivered the second week of December and every morning Lillie woke up in search of Carson. This particular morning he was hanging from the ceiling fan chain.

This is our new addition... Eric's parents took Lillie to a Guinea Pig show the second weekend in December and I got a phone call begging for a new pet. I told her I was OK with it as long as it was a girl since we already had a girl, but I caved and she brought home Charlie Black. I could see why Lillie was sold on him. He is really cute and very small. He was only two to three weeks old when she brought him home. Let me just say for the record that I have a very kind husband who allows me to get all of these crazy pets! I take care of them all but I still appreciate it! Charlie Black now makes pet number 6!

Since Lillie turned about two or three we have done Christmas in the same fashion every year. We spend Christmas Eve with my parents, going to church, then to Red Lobster, then on to one of our houses to open presents. This year My brother and his girlfriend joined us as well as my Aunt Dana. We had a wonderful time attending church then being together.

Christmas morning we always stay home so that we can spend time as a family and let Lillie open her presents and see what Santa brought her. This year Santa brought her an American Doll which she had asked for as well as a Pillow Pet and a camera.

Lillie looking at her Pillow Pet after just waking up.

Lillie and her new doll "Katie"

This was Lillie's reaction to getting a new scooter from Eric and I.

After we opened presents we had a nice breakfast then just relaxed. Usually the day after Christmas we go over to Eric's family's house and do our Christmas with them. The timing usually depends on when Eric's sister, Katie and husband, can come down from Colorado. They made it here the day after this year and we had a wonderful time having dinner and opening presents. This year we had such a wonderful time and I believe it was because we tried to keep it low key and keep in mind the meaning of what this time is all about. The older Lillie gets the harder it is to do that but also all the more important! Another one of my favorite parts of this time of year is getting all of the Christmas cards from all of our dear friends and getting caught up on their lives and seeing family pictures, which I love!

As we draw near to the close of 2009 I pray that we will continue to be able to focus on the many blessing God has given us this year and look forward to where he is taking us in the New YEAR!