Memories of Christmas

Heather telling us a story about my 4 year old nephew Eddie: He came into the kitchen and asked for a cookie without saying "please", so she asked him, "Have you lost your manners?" He said, "I've lost them! I've lost my manners! I need to go to the store and get more!" and proceeded to run in circles around the dining room table shouting, "Manners! Where are you manners? I need to catch you! I need to put you in my mouth and eat you! Manners!" until finally coming back to her and saying, "I've found them! May I have a cookie please?"

Playing Hullabaloo with Eddie, my sister Stephie and our friend Jay. The game has 16 plastic tiles which are different colors and shapes, with different pictures on them, and a speaker. When turned on, the speaker gives directions such as, "Swim to a circle!" or "Hop to a triangle!" After so many tile-swappings, the game says, "Freeze! If you're on a blue triangle, you're a winner! Winner, do a funky dance!" The winner got a hug from Eddie and then everyone danced, and if you've never seen a 4 year old do a funky dance, you have not lived.

Holding my 10 month old, little fat doll of a niece Julianna, in her adorable Christmas dress, and posing for pictures with every combination of my family we could think of. I even managed to keep my eyes open in some of the pictures! Not many though lol.

Coming home from Target with my Mom and Dad and Heather and the 2 kids, and when it was time for them to leave, I asked Eddie for a hug. I had been holding the baby, Julianna, so he said, "You've had enough hugs!" So my Mom asked for one, and he said, "Ok, but I only have 3 left after that!" After he gave my Mom one, he deigned to give me one, but then "I only have 2 hugs left!" He very graciously gave them to my Dad and my sister.

Walking around New Hope with Stephanie, I love that place! It's in PA, a very cute little town. It's almost a tradition now for us to go and have lunch someplace nice there, then walk around to all the shops. It's funny, we fought like cats and dogs when we lived together, but since I've moved out she's my best friend.

Heather's excitement when my dad and I opened one of her gifts to us, personalized doormats with our latitude and longitude printed on them! She made us open them at the same time, so the surprise wouldn't be spoiled, and we both loved them!

My mother lying to my face when I asked her if she had had time to finish the wallhanging she'd promised me! She said "Oh no, it's on the list somewhere" when I asked about it before Christmas. I was so surprised when I unwrapped and opened a box to see the gorgeous wallhanging completed on Christmas I almost fell over!

I love my family! I wish I got to see them more often. The kids grow up so fast! Luckily Steph is planning come visit me in March, so I just have to wait til then to see her!