Happy Christmas!

We have been talking about Christmas for so long and finally it came! 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

I was very excited when I saw my presents.

I had to inspect everything: cooking tools, building tools, a bear, a big wagon, a small wagon, books ---- I did lots of pointing!

I sat in my new wagon.

I worked on my small wagon.  I had to turn the wheels.

I put on my new apron and played with some of my cooking things.

And then a very unexpected Christmas gift: daddy got out the green beans and I helped get them ready to be cooked!

And the wagon box - what fun!

Back to the small wagon that I can pull!

Molly liked the box too but only when I wasn't playing with it.

Did I mention the green beans?  

I made many visits to daddy to help and to eat raw green beans (yummy).

There were so many fun things in my big wagon.  My Advent Calendar was in there.  It has been so much fun to open each day and today I got to play with it all by myself.

Let's go!

I am waving bye-bye because tomorrow I head to Tennessee and Alabama to see my grandparents and my uncles. I won't be posting for about a week but I promise to update you on my adventures when I get back.

Daddy is cooking Christmas breakfast right now! 

I love Christmas. It was worth the wait!

Advent ABCs: Z

Z is for Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!

It's Christmas Eve and I am getting ready to catch some Zzzzzz's. I had a great time at our church service. I wore my Santa suit and everyone thought I looked just like Saint Nick. In the first picture, you can see some of my Christmas Eve dinner: carrots, squash, and risotto.

I got to stay up late for the service but now I have my PJs on and momma is talking about brushing my teeth (that's right, I have my own tooth brush for my four teeth - one more is on the way right now so soon I will have five. My tooth brush has Big Bird on it.)

Daddy reads me a story before I go to bed.

This book came yesterday from my Uncle Jake and Aunt Karrie. They live in Virginia. My Uncle Jake is my daddy's younger brother.

I can't wait for tomorrow. It's Christmas day, you know! I have been a very good boy this year, so I am very excited to see what that jolly old elf leaves under our tree.

Before I say goodnight, here is the Houston version of "The Night Before Christmas."

Tejano Night Before Christmas

'Twas the night before Christmas and all through the casa,
Not a creature was stirring -- Caramba! Que pasa?
Los ninos were tucked away in their camas,
Some in camisas and some in pijamas,

While hanging the stockings with mucho cuidado
In hopes that old Santa would feel obligado
To bring all children, both buenos and malos,
A nice batch of dulces and other regalos.

Outside in the yard there arose such a grito
That I jumped to my feet like a frightened cabrito.
I ran to the window and looked out afuera,
And who in the world do you think quien era?

Saint Nick in a sleigh and a big red sombrero
Came dashing along like a crazy bombero.
And pulling his sleigh instead of venados
Were eight little burros approaching volados.

I watched as they came and this quaint little hombre
Was shouting and whistling and calling by nombre
"Ay Pancho, ay Pepe, ay Chucho, ay Beto,
Ay Chato, ay Chopo, Macuco, y Nieto!"

Then standing erect with his hands on his pecho
He flew to the top of our very own techo.
With his round little belly like a bowl of jalea,
He struggled to squeeze down our old chiminea,

Then huffing and puffing at last in our sala,
With soot smeared all over his red suit de gala,
He filled all the stockings with lovely regalos--
For none of the ninos had been very malos.

Then chuckling aloud, seeming very contento,
He turned like a flash and was gone like the viento.
And I heard him exclaim, and this is verdad,
Merry Christmas to all, and Feliz Navidad!

Advent ABCs: Y

Y is for Yule-tide.

I am very smart and I don't know everything - yet. For example, I did not know anything about the word "yule" except that it has to do with Christmas and is in a couple of carols. So, I did what I always do when I need information: I looked in my books - nothing! I asked my parents - clueless,! And I consulted Wikipedia - ahah! According to my wiki- friend:
Yule or Yule-tide is a winter festival that was initially celebrated by the historical Germanic peoples as a pagan religious festival, though it was later absorbed into, and equated with, the Christian festival of Christmas. The festival was originally celebrated from late December to early January on a date determined by the Germanic lunar calendar. The festival was placed on December 25 when the Christian (Julian) calendar was adopted. Some historians claim that the celebration is connected to the Wild Hunt or was influenced by Saturnalia, the Roman winter festival. The term "Yule" is still used in the Nordic Countries and to a lesser extent in English speaking countries to refer to Christmas. Customs such as the Yule log, Yule goat, Yule boar, Yule singing, and others stem from Yule. In modern times, Yule is observed as a cultural festival and also with religious rites by some Christians and by some Neopagans.

Now that is interesting! The x in x-mas has nothing whatsoever to do with taking Christ out of Christmas BUT the Yule in "yule-tide carols being sung by a fire" is a reference to a pagan holiday. Amazing!






Have you ever seen anything more wonderful than a bottle with milk? Beautiful!







I have been trying to help Noah on this ark project. Here I am with the calculator - you would not believe how much math it takes to feed so many animals!










And here I am with the tape measure! We need an addition to hold the cats - an east wing, perhaps. Molly cat is very interested in this part of the improvement efforts, as you see.

Advent ABCs: X

X is for X-mas.

Did you know the “X” in this common abbreviation has nothing to do with our English letter “X”? In fact, it is a Greek letter. Two Greek letters, the Chi (χ) and Rho (ρ)– which together are called the labarum (☧) – long ago became a Christian symbol for Christ. Originally these two letters were together, but eventually the Rho (ρ) dropped, leaving just the Chi (χ) as the symbol and abbreviation. So why these Greek letters? Well they are the first two letters in the Greek word for Christ, which means “anointed one” (Χριστος). Yeah, I know Greek. Hebrew too. What can I say? I am super smart.We made a manger scene at church on Sunday. You can see everyone in the first picture. I am hard to find in that photo but I was a cat. In this shot you can see my cat ears. All the babies were part of the manger. Elliot was a bear, Sterling was a shepherd apprentice, Elyse was an angel, and Liam was a lamb. The big kids were part of it too. You can see them a little better because they're bigger. We had a lot of fun celebrating x-mas by recreating the birth of baby Jesus.
Here I am crawling in the church Narthex. My nanny, you might remember her from youth camp (she went with us just to take care of me) took all the pictures on today's blog post. She is so wonderful.
This is the children's choir and as soon as I am old enough I am going to sing with them. I already like to dance.

Advent ABCs: W

W is for Wreath.

My Great-Aunt Dianne made this wreath (my Great-Uncle Dan is my grandmomma's brother and when momma and daddy were in college they got to see them a lot because they lived so close). Isn't it beautiful! It usually hangs on our door and I like to point at it and touch it every time I am near it. Momma got it down so I could really inspect it. I am a little scientist. We love our wreath and our family.














Can you read my shirt? It says: "I wanna rock 'n' roll all night! And potty every day!" It is from my favorite restaurant, Chuy's. If you have visited us in Houston, we've taken you to this Elvis focused TexMex joint! I love it - from the guacamole to the fajita chicken - yummie! My Uncle David got me this shirt at my Uncle Millard's birthday party. Thank you!


















This wreath is in Hobby Lobby. We had to go there for a few things and I enjoyed learning about pine cones while we shopped.