Celebrating the Season

It's been quite a busy weekend for us all here. Friday night, I had a wonderful reunion dinner with some women from a Bible Study I did in fall of 2008. We enjoyed good food, good wine, and most importantly, good company. I forgot my camera though, so I don't have any pictures. :-( Cate also attended a party hosted by her Tuesday/Thursday sitter, Tasha, on Saturday afternoon. Tasha was so generous with the gifts she gave the 20 or so kids in attendance and we are so blessed that she is a part of Cate's life.

Our small group from church has definitely become a family for us over the past year and has been a huge blessing in our lives. It's still so hard for me to believe that we were all pretty much strangers only last February. Now we see each other at least once a week, our kids love one another, and we're always guaranteed a good time when we're with one another.
Last night we had a Christmas party. After some fabulous barbecue for dinner, the kids busied themselves coloring nativity scene ornaments.
Then the big guy himself showed up! Since all of the kids believe in Santa, they were super excited to see him making a personal appearance at the party.
Cate loved Santa last year, and we were pretty sure she'd love him this year since she doesn't really have stranger anxiety. Sure enough, she was the first one to climb right up there on his lap.
He brought a gift for each of the kids to remind them to be good for the next two weeks and that he's watching them for excellent behavior. He also brought the stockings I blogged about in this post filled with small goodies. Cate loved her Little People Ice Cream Truck that plays music, moos, and is driven by the cutest little cow holding an ice cream cone ever.
I was shocked that Cate made it until 10:30 before she started to get fussy. She occupied herself for about an hour taking Mad Gab cards out of the box and then putting them back in. This morning she slept until 9:00 (for which Mommy and Daddy were very grateful). We were a few minutes late to church because I had to get pictures of Cate wearing the velveteen coat my grandmother made for me when I was little.
And yes, that is an old school Polaroid camera in the picture with Cate. She has been obsessed with cameras since watching an Elmo's World episode about cameras. So now she carries this thing all over the house and asks us to say "Cheese."
It has definitely been a weekend well spent...and we still have a birthday party to enjoy this afternoon.

~Melody :-)