December is always such a fun, crazy, and exciting month and this year held true to that reputation! We started December 1 very early in a caravan of vehicles heading to Auburn University to cheer on the NCCS Robotics team all day Saturday and Sunday. We were so proud of our team and all of their hard work. Emma had a blast hanging out with all the kids and parents…and especially at the hotel. Our girl loves hotels and loves to travel! We drove our own car and took advantage of the chance to sleep a little later than usual and then we stopped for a great dinner at Cracker Barrel on the way home.
Clint’s mom came down to spend the day and night with Emma so that we could run some errands, go out to dinner, and catch a movie. It was fun and Emma had a great time with Granna! We took advantage of lots of naps and fun Christmas activities all month…including the warm Christmas blankets and Santa pillow! Emma and I had a blast with several of the senior girls from school, their moms, and a lot of Emma’s friends, and my friends at the senior Mother-Daughter Christmas tea. What a fun tradition and special friendship these girls and their moms share!
Emma’s class did a great job singing in their Christmas program. Each group sang a song or two and there was a live nativity with the 4th graders. At the end…all of the Lower School kids sang “Joy to the World”. As the song ended, Emma (on the front row) punctuated her enthusiasm for the holidays with a very loud “Woohoo”. Fortunately we got it on video!
We spent several evenings with friends and family leading up to Christmas and also had several relaxed evenings at home watching Christmas movies and getting ourselves ready for a two week break from school. Emma’s class had a “Happy Birthday Jesus” party which was a lot of fun. She has great kids in her class and her teacher and parapro are the BEST!
Our official Christmas celebration kicked off Saturday, December 22 when we had a ton of friends over for our traditional “Christmas Eve Eve Eve” dinner. Lots of fun to catch up and just enjoy each other’s company. We spent Sunday morning at church for the candlelight service and really enjoyed that time of worship. Sunday afternoon was our trip to Summerville to celebrate with Clint’s family and we had a great time with all of them. We got up early Christmas Eve morning and hit the road to Memphis to stay with my sister and her husband for the week. We had a great week in Memphis hanging with family and catching up with friends. We always have awesome meals at my sister’s and my mom’s and this year was no different. We are all so excited that my sister and her husband are expecting their first child in March. Emma is extremely excited…she has enjoyed being the only child in our extended family, but she is ready for a cousin in Germantown to play with (boss around). Katie and JD are so awesome to Emma and they are going to be amazing parents!
We drove back to Georgia on Sunday, December 30th and began cleaning out and organizing for the New Year. We spent New Year’s Eve at the hibachi place by our house with a good friend celebrating all the great things God has done for us in 2012. We look forward to 2013 with great faith, hope, and love!
Here are some pictures of our sweet girl from this past month…
