Finn's favorite toy:
He loves this Cozy Coupe that the Tate's gave him for his birthday. I think he looks so cute in it. He says "beep beep" and "move" if we get in his way. Watch out!!!
Decorating the tree:
I thought this would be a super fun activity that Finn and I would share with lots of wonderful photo ops. I was wrong. He was not interested, and when he did decide to give the tree a second glance, it was only to touch the lights for a minute.
Matt's birthday:
We couldn't be with Matt on his actual birthday, and hence the birthday fairy had to go to him in Augusta. We packed and decorated a beautiful box full of balloons and streamers. Finn is really good with magic markers.....NOT!
Christmas card photos:
I had all these awesome ideas in my head about the perfect Christmas card photo. Lesson learned = Finn is 1. He has a mind of his own and will not bend his will to accommodate my whimsy. Additional lesson learned = sometimes in your head it looks a little different. As in, something "cute" may end up looking a little "redneck". See below:
The pictures in the $40 hand embroidered santa pajamas went even worse. Thank goodness Dody was there to help me. Please note the reindeer antlers flying off his head in this first picture. He is supposed to be sitting sweetly in the little rocking chair in front of the tree.
Doesn't my fake Christmas tree stand look great? Didn't get the skirt on it quite yet obviously.
He escaped....
This angelic-looking pose where Finn appears to be asleep, waiting for Santa, is actually him totally melting down and screaming at the top of his lungs. But you would never know it....so I used it on the card. :)
We moved:
This is the real reason Dody was in town. Not to torture Finn, but to help me pack our house because we finally sold it after it had been on the market since May. Of course like every other seller in this market we had to take a loss, but we were busting at the seams and desperately needed more space. After all the complaining I've done about this house, I ended up being really sad to leave it. I know it's just four walls. But it's where Matt and I lived first when we were married, it's where I brought Finn home to (and baby Lily and Myrtle too!), where we had countless fun holidays, birthdays, and made lots of memories. I cried more than a few tears leading up to actually leaving, and then when I really had to say good-bye for good I cried a few more. Here we are on moving day. It was December 22nd.....I know, so close to Christmas! We weren't supposed to close until the 28th but I didn't want to be worrying about packing over Christmas. By the way, we did NOT close on the 28th. Not even close to the 28th.....but we did eventually close and that's what matters.
Don't get me wrong, I love our new house. We are renting for the time being until Matt gets definite orders back to Ft. Stewart (which I pray for daily). And now we have plenty of room to play, cook, have family in town (the BEST part), have dance parties....you know, just whatever we want to do! Here's Finn on Christmas Eve in the new house.
And here's Christmas!
Santa was VERY good to us this year. The elves may have gone slightly overboard.....
At first when Finn came out to see what Santa had brought I think he was overwhelmed by all the new stuff sitting out. He hid his face! It was kind of funny.
I showed him a few of the cool new things (do people still say "cool"?) and he got into it after that.
Elton John on his new piano. Or Lady Gaga....take your pick.
This was by far our favorite thing Santa brought....a gigantic Cars tent!
Everyone had fun climbing in and out.
And I mean EVERYONE.....you can't tell, but Matt is in there too!
Poor Myrtle clearly thought this was her stocking. Or maybe she just thought it was a good pillow.
We had a very delicious lunch. Matt smoked brisket. Yum yum! And of course the paper crown tradition continued. Billy and Cleo were willing participants this year! I think they were really impressed by the "special" toys that come inside the poppers...."made in China" at it's finest!
This picture is black and white because yet again this year I was too lazy to put make-up on and this makes it less scary.
Oh yeah, and the ridiculous hat tradition. It turns out this is even more fun with more people! Aren't we a cute bunch???
Side note: Finn loves and adores his Aunt Dody and wants to follow her everywhere, doing what she does. Hmmm....this could be good or bad. :)
Trip to Greenville:
After Christmas we headed to Greenville for a visit. We really maximized our trip and spent time with lots of family and friends.
Finn loved staying at Nan and Bop's house. Especially since his cousins William and Banks were staying for the weekend too. He was enamored with them and thought they were hilarious!
We were so glad we got to see Papa!
Blackmail picture!!!
Nan and Bop always take such good care of Finn. I say it all the time, but I truly believe that Finn is so lucky to have lots of grandparents that love him so much.
On New Year's Eve, we headed back to Augusta to have a quiet night. But before we left, Cleo cooked an AMAZING lunch for everyone. I feel sure that after eating it I will have all the luck in the world. And based on the amount of greens I ate, I'm going to be coming into a LOT of money here pretty soon. Finn wouldn't try them. I guess we'll have to support him for a little longer. :)
It was a super, wonderful, fantastically blessed holiday season. So many things were stressful but ended up falling into place just right. Thank goodness for family. No, thank GOD for family. For family by birth, family gained by marriage, and friends who might as well be family. I can't imagine my life without one single member of the family he's made just for me.
Love that sweet Finn and all of you to pieces!
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