Christmas 2010 Recap

I have had one of the most spectacular Christmases EVER.  Having our new little family together for the holiday made ever thing extra special; this is the first Christmas that I'm Mrs. Roper, Hope has Sam as her "official" daddy, and, of course, Atticus was here for the festivities.

I'm drinking a huge mug of tea as the baby naps in his swing, so I'm hoping I'll have time to make this a decent blog post. ;) First off are some pictures and then at the end I'll bore you all with my sensational Christmas loot.  To me Christmas is about family (and cookies) and not about things, but let's face it -- we all get super excited to get gifts.



Here is the most magnificent part of Christmas -- two smiling, happy kiddos.  Atticus is smiling genuine smiles and Christmas he started out happy as could be.  This is probably because Hope was excited and happy.  In the picture above, Hope is thrilled she received PAJAMAS.  Yes, that is how easy it is to please Hope.



Of course, in addition to all of her other loot, Hope received a Selena Gomez CD.  This has been the gift that she has decided to share with the entire family.  We listen to Selena Gomez about 12 hours a day; now I know how my parents felt listening to New Kids on the Block every. single. day.



According to Sam, Hope and I did a magnificent job buying his gifts.  He mostly received art supplies and I scored extra points for getting things right (thank you to the teenaged artist at Michael's).  As you can see, Atticus helped with opening gifts.



Eventually, Atticus had more fun than he could bear.  We took a timeout after unwrapping gifts for breakfast and cuddling before heading out to my parents' home.



I didn't take many pictures at my parents' house; I was too caught up in visiting with everyone, eating gingerbread men, and keeping Atticus from the loving slobbers of the resident dogs to drag out the camera.  I did snag this picture of the beautiful snowy day.  That's right, Georgia had a white Christmas!!!

I made out like a bandit this year; time for dishing on the loot!

• Cookbooks!  My grandparents gave me The Joy of Cooking and the King Arthur Flour Baking Companion.  Sam gave me a ginormous cookbook of slow cooker recipes; he knows how much I rely on the slow cooker!


• Baking Supplies!  Sam gave me a baking stone, a retro timer, and spring-form pans, my parents gave me a baking pan set, and my friend Heath gave me GOOD VANILLA!  My Aunt Diane made me the cutest apron for me to wear while baking.


• Owl stuff!  Sam gave me two awesome owl necklaces and my friend Sarah gave me a pair of owl earrings.  My parents bought me a vintage 70s string art owl to hang on the wall.  It is EXACTLY like the one we had hanging up in the house when I was a child.  It is still encased in bubble wrap because I haven't decided where to put it.  I'll share pictures when I get it on the wall.


• Books!  Hope (with Sam's assistance) bought me G.J. Meyer's book The Tudors; I've been lusting after this book for quite a while.  I also received some cash for Christmas which I spent on books; I came home from Books a Million with The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters, The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton, The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory, and Alice I Have Been by Melanie Benjamin.


• Other wonderful things:  Sam gave me a lovely wooden box of teas and a tea strainer for my teapot.  My sister gave me a beautiful set of stationary.  We received several gift cards and an offer for free babysitting; so we'll have a date night soon.


• Best of all, my parents gave us a digital video recorder.  Soon I'll be posting baby videos and I may even venture into vlog territory.

The most special gift came Christmas night, Sam returned from a quick visit to his mother's house with a special surprise.  My mother-in-law has given me Sam's grandmother's wedding rings.  They are beautiful and I am so honored to be given such a cherished gift.  Sam loved his grandmother more than anyone and it means a lot to have something so special.  Officially, it is a gift for our one year anniversary in January, but it was a beautiful end to a lovely Christmas.