Christmas 2012.

Christmas 2012 was wonderful, although somehow the season ended up a little more low-key than previous years.  I only got about half of my decorations out.   Christmas morning was still a fun event, though.  Kerry slept til around 8:30.  Apparently even the lure of presents under the tree is not enough to get her out of bed early.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

Once she did wake up she was thrilled to find her very own "Prancine" stuffie which was left unwrapped under the tree.

 

 

 

Then she took a moment to decide what to unwrap next.

 

 

 

 

She had wrapped a few "surprise" presents for Mommy, Daddy and even herself.  I got a restaurant coupon, he hee.

 

She had requested a "jewelry box to decorate".
 

 

 

So she got one =).

Christmas Eve-eve at Nana and Papaws.

My girlie was looking so cute in her little sweater dress (a deal from Old Navy's clearance rack last year).  And those knee socks....I mean, come on!

After Church it was off to Nana and Papaw's for a little Christmas-ing.

 

When did she get so tall?!

 

Nana snapped a quick family shot for me.  I need to take more of these...or better yet, have a family portrait done for the first time in three years. 

Kerry and her cousins before tearing into presents.  Kinsley had been into the Hersey's kisses and had left the evidence all over her face.  I love these girls!  At ages two, four, and six they are little stair-steps with Kerry smack dab in the middle. 

Boy, were they ever thrilled with the new Tabeo tablets that they got from the Grandparents!  I think Nana just tired of them hogging her IPad  =).

Christmas Pretzels!

 It's that time of year again!  Time to make chocolate covered pretzels with Mommy and Mamaw.  This has become a yearly tradition in the days leading up to Christmas and Kerry always looks forward to it.

 

We made milk chocolate as well as white chocolate and white chocoate with crushed peppermint candy coatings.

 

 

 

  

 

 

Kerry got nearly as much chocolate on her as she did on the pretzels..but she didn't seem to mind.

 

 

 

 

 

 She had fun being the official "dipper" and would try to see how many she could fit on her fork at once.

 

 

Caught red-handed, hehee.  See that big pile of containers behind her?  We filled them all!

 

Like many people I have been just saddened and sickened over the events that took place in Connecticut.  I've choked back anger and tears and have certainly been holding my girl a little tighter this weekend.  And trying to keep distracted.  And trying to keep things normal for her sake. 

 

So the annual decoration of Nana and Papaw's Christmas tree by the three Grandgirls went on as planned.   Kerry always looks forward to her "cousins time".

 

 

 

 

Kerry and I had also planned on making Christmas cookies this weekend...so bake we did.  This has always been one of Kerry's absolute favorite things to do.  Even before she could really talk, if I pulled out the cookie cutters she would just smile and squeal with excitement. 

 

 

She really gets into it..as evidenced by the amount of flour she ended up wearing.  And on another note, look how tall and slim she's looking these days.  And when did she develop visible collar bones?  When she first came home as a plump 16 month old she didn't even have a discernable neck!  Crazy.

Santa visit 2012

 

Now that Kerry has come to terms with the Big Man in Red she was eagerly anticipating this year's visit.  And this Santa did not disappoint.  First of all we lucked out and had only one person in front of us when we showed up..and no one behind us..so Kerry got to take her time visiting him (one of the perks of being off of work on a weekday).  He was so nice and, get this, he even pulled out a red guitar and played and sang "Frosty the Snowman" and "Santa Claus is coming to town".  How neat is that?!  I wasn't super thrilled with the photo quality this year, but the overall experience for Kerry more than made up for that.  Look at that grin =). 

 

 My girl loves, loves, LOVES puzzles.

 She has quite a collection of them and is likely to pick a puzzle over a toy when she finds her self with a little spending money.  She is doing 100 piece puzzles these days and she is fast. 

She will happily sit for up to an hour at a time and work on one after another.

 

  

 

And I just love to watch her work.  And, you know, when there's nice lighting handy..take photos.