Christmas 2010

Christmas has come & gone. It was filled with family, friends, love and laughter. Every year at this time I'm reminded of what's important and how blessed and lucky I am. Thank you to all of our family and friends who always make this time so special.

The week before Christmas we took Whit on the Polar Express in Bryson City, NC. It was really a fun experience & something we'll definitely do again. You board the Polar Express at the train station, and head for a 30 min. ride to the North Pole. Just like the book, all the children (& many adults) wear their pajamas. Santa boards the train once you get to the North Pole and comes to see all the kids on the train. Whit was a bit young to understand everything that was happening, but he had a blast, and loved watching all the older children. I can't wait to do it again! Unfortunately, it was pretty dark, and I didn't get many good pictures. I've included a few that weren't too bad.

This year was only the 2nd in our marriage (& first with Whit) in which we've gotten to wake up Christmas morning at our own house. It was so nice to not have to travel over the holidays. Since we finally had the opportunity, we decided to host the entire Madden clan at our house for the annual Christmas Eve gathering. It was a lot of work, but we had a blast doing it. We decided to go all out since we hadn't had an opportunity to entertain in quite a long time. We unpacked the china, used real linens, and didn't ruin the beef tenderloin that we were serving. Of course, none of that is what's really important, but sometimes it is nice to "use the good stuff". My only regret is that we didn't take a single picture. So you'll have to take my word that the house looked great, the food was delicious, and the company was the best!

Christmas morning we were excited to show Whit that Santa had in fact visited our house. Despite explaining the whole Santa concept to him many, many times, he had no idea what was happening. He did start to recognize pictures of Santa, & started calling him "Ca Ca". He might be the only child in the US that calls him Ca-Ca instead of Ho-Ho. All of Whit's grandparents (and his great-aunts who were visiting from Texas and Tennessee) came to visit Christmas morning, and we enjoyed eating breakfast and watching Whit play with his toys. Christmas afternoon was filled with lunch with some of the Waters family in Greenwood and more gifts with John's family in Iva.

It was a whirlwind as always. However, it is always a wonderful reminder of how lucky we are to have such a large, loving extended family.

Aboard the Polar Express. It was COLD!

Santa is passing out bells to all the kids aboard the train. It was so fun to see the kids get so excited about the real Santa Claus.

Whit loved his bell.

Santa brought Whit a tricycle. Whit went straight to it & loved it.

Santa had a hard time deciding if he should make Whit a tricycle with or without the tandem push-bar. It's a good thing he decided to go with it, b/c even on the closest setting Whit's feet don't reach the peddles.

Being silly with Daddy thanks to fun balloons from Aunt Becky and Jim

The hand-made truck from Aunt Cathy was very cool!

Santa helped deliver a second-hand kitchen that Whit loves.

Strangely enough, it was his anywhere chair that was the gift that got him the most excited. He immediately discovered he could bounce on it & he's been sitting & climbing on it ever since. Unfortunately for Mommy & Daddy, he also wants to stand in it & that has caused a few meltdowns.

Elmo slippers!!

Merry Christmas from the Waters Family!