Happy Birthday Jesus and Merry Christmas

I will start this post with my favorite Christmas picture.  One of the sweetest I have ever seen.  I love that Anna Scott is looking down at baby Jesus in the manger.  Happy Birthday Jesus.

Can you believe that the little girl in the picture above is the little baby in the picture below just two Christmases ago?  

From baby to little girl in such a short time.  

Before I continue, I want to share the most precious gift I received this Christmas.  My sister (and very best friend) did something for me that I did not see coming.  When I opened this gift, I couldn't believe my eyes.  She gave me the first book (of what will be a series) of my blog.  My Fair Laney, Volume 1.  Its pages contain memories from my first blog post (just after I became pregnant with Anna Scott) until Anna Scott's 6 month birthday.  She spent so much time making it perfect, and it is more than perfect.  It is a dream come true.  I have never been one to sit and read leisurely, but I haven't been able to put this book down.  I love reading about all of our sweet memories.  Thank you Allison for this most precious gift.  

Of course, one of the best parts of Christmas is "decking the halls."  It was our first Christmas in our new home.  Here are some of our decorations (before I added red bows to the outdoor garland and tree)...

We had a live tree this year for the very first time.  It was beautiful, but I am not so sure that I can say it was worth all of the trouble.  It is one of those things that makes you immediately scream, "I am never doing this again!"  But, we will have to wait until next year to see if that hold true.  :)

Each year, we buy a new family ornament.  I found the perfect ornament for this year's Christmas tree.  

Ornaments from years past...

Another new one this year.  Love.

Anna Scott made a Christmas tree with her hands this year.  

Last year, she made "mistletoes" with her feet.  

Anna Scott saw her first movie in the theater this Christmas.  Frozen was such a fun movie! 

In keeping with the frozen theme, we made these cute little string cheese snowmen.

Also, I think I drew one hundred snowmen on the magna doodle.

We (parents) were able to observe Anna Scott's last dance class before the holidays.  She did so good.  I am happy that she does not just "stand on her dot" now, but she dances on her dot as well.  :)  So proud of her. 

The Homewood Christmas Parade was one of Anna Scott's favorite things about Christmas.  She loved seeing all of the pretty floats decorated with lights, hearing all of the songs, and waving to Santa Claus! She was fascinated with "that BIG star" (as she called it) over main street.

Anna Scott's little tree is one of my favorite things to decorate at Christmastime.  

Here we are with her tree on her very first Christmas (7 months old).

Here she is while we I decorated her tree on her second Christmas (19 months old).

Last year, Anna Scott learned about her elf on the shelf (as you may recall, we named him Leon, which is Noel backwards).  For those of you who are unfamiliar with these little elves, they stay in the same location all day long and keep watch over the children, making sure they are good little boys and girls.  Then, they report to the North Pole (to Santa) each night.  They reappear at your house again (in a different location) each morning and the cycle continues throughout the Christmas season.  

The tradition I started last year is that Leon appears in Anna Scott's tree each year on the day after Thanksgiving and brings a gift from the North Pole.  The gift is Anna Scott's new ornament for her to hang on the tree that year and her new Christmas pajamas.  This year, he appeared in her tree and placed her gift underneath.  He forgot to add a bow.  I think he was in a hurry.  :)

Anna Scott loved unwrapping her gift...  

then she pitched a little fit afterward, because she wanted us to rewrap the gift and let her open it again.  I knew then that this was going to be a long Christmas.  :)

Leon brought Anna Scott a ballerina slippers ornament.  This was the perfect ornament for this year, because she just started dance lessons.

We had lots of fun with Leon.  We wrote a letter to Santa Claus and left it with Leon to take to Santa Claus one night.  I wrote exactly what she told me to write: "Dear Santa, I want a pink kitchen.  Love, Anna Scott."  

A few mornings later, Leon returned from the North Pole with a special message for Anna Scott.

Leon did all sorts of silly things.  One morning, Anna Scott found him ice skating in our kitchen.  

One morning, he was hanging from the mistletoe.  He is lucky he got back to the North Pole in one piece! 

Anna Scott and Santa have had a love-hate relationship over the past few years.  Thankfully, she wanted a pink kitchen bad enough that she sat with him just long enough for me to get a picture this year.  

She loved him during her first Christmas.  Love at first sight.   

Her second Christmas, she was terrified!  Bless her little heart.  We even tried it again at another location.  Different time, different place, same reaction.  Just wasn't happening!  

I am thankful that this year, Anna Scott and Santa rekindled their relationship.  

We just knew that Santa would be stopping at our house on Christmas Eve, so we made cookies for him and his reindeer.  

We also sprinkled reindeer food out on our lawn so that the reindeer would know to stop here!

Milk and Cookies for Santa and his reindeer

Oh, you better watch out, you better not cry, you better not pout, I'm telling you why...

Santa Claus is coming to town!  And, boy did he deliver!  I am still not sure how he got all the way down our chimney, but Anna Scott awoke on Christmas morning to her very own pink kitchen.

After she played with her kitchen and other toys awhile, we had breakfast and sang happy birthday to Jesus, for He is the reason for the season!  One of Anna Scott's favorite songs this year was "Away in a Manger."  I loved hearing her sing it, especially how she said, "I love you baby Jesus" and "be near me baby Jesus" instead of "Lord Jesus."  She always sang to him like he was a baby.

I loved these little grinch fruit kabobs that were part of our Christmas morning breakfast.  :)

Anna Scott had a great time at her school Christmas party.  I was so glad I was able to escape work and  see her face light up when I walked into the room.

The Night Before Christmas was the perfect book to read at the party.  We had read it several times before.  When the teacher asked, "Who is St. Nicholas?  Anna Scott said "Santa Claus!"  :)

After her party, it was so pretty outside that we were able to play at the park in a short sleeved dress!  

Anna Scott enjoyed building a pretty little gingerbread house during the holidays.  

On Christmas Eve, we went to my sister's husband Alan's parents house for dinner.  I spy a sweet little girl sneaking food in the next could of pictures...

The Ceases have a family tradition of driving around to look at Christmas lights on Christmas Eve.  So, Alan and his sister Meghan planned a surprise for all of us.  A limo arrived at their house to pick us up after dinner, and our driver took us on a "tour of lights."  It was a very nice surprise.  Something none of us had ever done before, and something we will never forget.

We spent Christmas Day with my family.  Anna Scott was so excited about opening her gifts!

She got lots of cookware, appliances and food items for her kitchen.  She has more for her kitchen than I do for mine!

We spent the day after Christmas with Scott's family.  Anna Scott woke up to even more presents!

Love this extra cute apron and chef's hat that Scott's mom made for Anna Scott.  Just perfect to wear in her new pink kitchen!  Mama D must have been talking to Santa!

Anna Scott has had lots of fun with her pink kitchen.  I will post more pictures of my little chef soon.

One of her gifts from my parents was this little people princess castle.  It may just be her favorite gift.  She has played with this every day since Christmas.  She also got the movies Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty.  Let me just say that we have watched these movies at least 30 times each.  We watch at least one of them every. single. day.  Scott is actually at the store as I type this buying the movies Beauty and the Beast and The Little Mermaid so that we can add more variety to our nightly routine.  No kidding. 

When Anna Scott watches Sleeping Beauty, she wants to ride her horse while the prince rides his.  He goes faster, she goes faster.  I think we may need stitches soon if that prince doesn't slow down!

We have a little princess on our hands.  She dressed up one night because she wanted to go to the ball with Cinderella (while watching the movie).  When they got to the ball, she asked Scott, "Daddy, do you want to dance?"  Of course, he said yes.  They had only been dancing for a few seconds when she stopped, sadly looked up at him and said, "Sit down Daddy.  You are not a prince."  ha!  It's also funny that when leaving the ball, she wants to lose one of her slippers when Cinderella loses hers.  

Sweet picture of Anna Scott and Grandaddy.

Here, she is reading the Christmas Story (about the birth of Jesus).  You would be amazed at how much of it she gets right just from me reading it to her.  She wanted to read it to all of us, but we weren't paying much attention.  So she said, "You have to listen to me.  This is the story about Jesus was borned.  Are you understanding what I am saying?"  So funny.  The best part is when she tries to pronounce the gifts the wise men brought to Jesus.  

Well, that catches you up on our Christmas fun.  

Each year since Anna Scott was born, I have created photo calendars for the new year and given them to our families for Christmas.  I love looking back through all of that year's pictures and choosing one to go with each month.    

So on that note, we hope you had a Merry Christmas and we wish you a Happy New Year!

My prayer is that as you enter the new year, you will remember baby Jesus and make Him the reason, not just for the season, but the reason that you try to be the best person you can be every single day in every thing you do.  Love Him with all of your heart and love your neighbor as yourself.  If we all made this our new year's resolution, what a wonderful world it would be.