This Christmas

Jeff and I have been married a long time. How do I figure, you ask? Well, this was our 10th+ Christmas together. (The plus sign gets complicated, as there is some discrepancy on when we officially began dating :-) Anyways, as we reflected on Christmases past we determined that this Christmas was the first when we were at our place with just us, no family at our place~nor were we on on the road on the way to see family. Weird. Nice, but mostly weird. With three family members in Heaven since last Christmas and the rest of our family in Alabama, Kentucky, and Ohio....it was very different to say the least. There were several reasons why this was the case (Jeff having to work being the main reason), but we tried to make the most of it with our little family. In the end, it was very special....

This is what our place looked like the night before.

If you guessed that my hubs is putting together a train table while watching "Christmas Vacation," you are right! Very tiring, but fun as we laughed, got full on Thai take-out, and constructed something that we knew our little man would enjoy! One of my tasks was putting the track together. Jeff laughed at how I used the graph and meticulously marked off each piece as I placed it on the table. Didn't take me that long, so he wasn't laughing in the end :-)

The finished product at 1:30am! Thank you KK and KPop!

Judah wasn't so sure about the video, camera, and giddiness of his parents the next morning~but he was soon excited himself! This is the first he is seeing of the table. Love how Allie is in on the action, too :-)

He RUNS straight to it!

An outfit change and hours later, he is still playing!

This is awesome!

What?! "Horsies" can run on the track too!

More presents?! With no family here, it means that UPS and FedEx have been busy delivering to our place!

Judah thinks the "Sit n Spin" is a "Stand n Spin"....of course. Thank you cousins Marlee and Maggie!

After nap time, it's more baking! Today, it's for Baby Jesus' birthday!

And on the menu today is chocolate brownies! Yum!!!

After all that chocolate, the shirt had to be removed :-)

And we discovered that a certain someone even had chocolate toes...literally :-)

Wait a minute?! Is that Elmo in our house?

No, just the cutest almost-2-year-old I know!

And we can't forget to celebrate the real meaning of the day...the birth of our Savior, complete with birthday cake (okay, stacked brownies with a tea candle on top ;-) and a reading of The Christmas Story.

¹⁰ But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. ¹¹ Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. ~from Luke Chapter 2

At the end of the day, everyone, including Allie-dog, was grateful and happy....

 And tired...

one of my favs...my 2 men watching "Home Alone" on Christmas

We hope everyone had a joyful Christmas, filled with love and gratitude! Gotta run....I'm in the middle of packing...we're headed to the slopes tomorrow in Snowshoe, WV! Until next time~

Hang Your Stockings and Say Your Prayers...

'Cause Santa Claus Comes Tonight! Not too sure J-man is too excited about that though :-)

After almost a month of Santa exposure, Judah seemed to be quite fond of the jolly ol' soul. "Santa" is one of his new favorite words, and you can often hear him in his crib (when he's supposed to be snoozing) exclaiming, "Ho, ho, ho!" He smiles when he sees his picture and tells him "Night Night" at bed time. But when he was faced with the "real deal," he wasn't so sure.

Checking him out while standing in line. Apparently, mommy was really excited to see him :-)

We're next up and Judah is not so sure anymore.

Insert loud crying when the elf notifies us that it's our turn.

 

At this point, we are getting ready to exit the scene. The plot thickens, however, when Santa offers Judah a candy cane.

Okay, he thinks he'll try it but only with the red and white sugar stick. Mommy sits with him at first but really doesn't want to be in the picture. ps. can you tell that Santa was ready to go "feed his reindeer?" We were the last in line before his break.

Can't believe it, but Mommy was able to exit the scene with no crying. Meanwhile, Judah was intensely studying.

In the end, this is the best we got....I'll take it :-)

Today, however, we liked Santa again so we agreed to make him cookies :-) Ready for the action in his apron...and loving his new Christmas Carousel! Please don't mind the post-nap hair.

He did so well making the cookies! Looks like I have a new sous chef :-)

Time to taste! Our sugar cookie batter had no raw eggs so Judah could help himself...Daddy too, since they were gluten-free, per Santa's request ;-)

Now time to place them on the tray. Judah kept saying "roll" when we were rolling the dough into balls.

Judah and Allie loved to watch them rising. I think Santa will enjoy!

And we can't forget to change the date on our calendar.

 

We made it to day 24! 

Now, it's bedtime and time to read a classic.

And we can't forget the most important Story of all. Stay tuned for Jesus' birthday party tomorrow :-)

Happy Christmas to All and to All a Good Night!

365

What a difference a year makes! (sniff, sniff)

Christmas 2010

Christmas 2011

We Need a Little Christmas!

After a not-so-happy November, the Nix family was ready for some Christmas cheer! However, this was not the usual December for us with cards and shopping completed relatively early,  lots of parties (one of which we typically host), and a very full calendar of events. Resting and recuperation were in order...

And in the end, I didn't feel like the Grinch at all and I'm very glad we crossed several things off the calendar! We did fit a few things in, though, thanks to the help of friends and family...

We learned about Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (via stickers :-)...and we can never leave Allie-dog out!

We also learned about an elf, who we affectionately named "Clarence" because we introduced him to Judah the day after we watched "It's a Wonderful Life." To Judah this year, however, his name is simply "Ef."

And most importantly, we've learned about the birthday of Baby Jesus. (aka, "Jesuseseses" to Judah). So cute (and fitting) the way he says His name like it is never-ending :-) Unfortunately, I have no pictures of Judah and Jesus (from our Nativity Scene) because for some reason, I chose to keep our very nice porcelain set here in DC while our older (non-breakable) one is currently  in our storage shed. Needless to say, it is way up high out of Judah's reach.

And for the very first time, we cut down our own tree! We joined several of our new friends here on an outing to a Christmas tree farm not far outside of the city.

If you happen to be a Home-Depot-kind-of-tree family (I confess, we have been before), I highly recommend cutting your own...at least once. Judah had a ball, and this is how he "helped" his Daddy cut down the tree....

Like father, like son

A little shove of encouragement ;-)

The farm highlight for Judah was most definitely the "Choo Choo!"

All Aboard!

And of course, Santa's Sleigh!

One of the many faces of Judah that crack me up.

What a fun day!

 

Now to figure out how to decorate our tree so that toddler hands won't destroy? Well, Grandma can help us make paper snowflakes!

And thankfully, Gradma also found some "shatterless" ornaments!

Daddy, this is so cool!

The semi-finished product :-)

I spy Clarence...and one adorable little boy!

Merry Christmas!!!

Do You Hear What I Hear?

Unfortunately, I think Judah is requiring less sleep these days. Boo. Although unpredictable, most of his naps are getting shorter than his previous 3-hour stretches. And at night when we put him down around 7:30, I hear him having a grand ol' time....laughing, talking, playing...sometimes until close to 9pm! I've thought about pushing his bedtime back, but he seems soooo tired by 7:30 and he sounds perfectly happy during his nighttime soirees, so I don't know? Any advice on this one is greatly appreciated.

One night last week, I think God knew I needed some comic relief after a long, hard day. About an hour after I put Judah to bed, I heard a high-pitched noise coming from the vicinity of his bedroom door. I ignored it at first, but then heard it a second time and just thought it was him "whoo-ing," as we like to call it. (He's always rhythmically "whoo'ed" himself to sleep like an owl...a coping strategy I believe he taught himself in Gladney's Care Center when he had to sleep with a room full of babies). The third time I heard it, it seemed higher and louder than his signature "whoo." The mystery was solved when Allie-dog jumped off the couch and barked near his door. I could not believe what I was hearing.....unmistakeably his new favorite toy...

What?! How could this be? Did he climb out of his crib?! How did he find this toy in the dark? Is the Ghost of Christmas Present in his room? Sure enough, this is what I saw when I walked into his room...

Clearly, he thought it was hilarious. Okay, so I did, too :-)

I'm assuming he put the recorder/flute in his crib earlier in the day and I just didn't see it? Needless to say, I've been doing a thorough crib-search these days before night-night time. Love. this. kid.

Awake Again

"I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me." ~Psalm 3:5

The morning after my last post on this blog brought the unexpected....followed by more unexpected. Friday, November 11th, my grandfather was tragically killed in a car accident on the way to be honored at a Veteran's Day Ceremony. We were very close and although he lived 90 years of a great life, losing someone this way is horrifying. His only brother, my sweet Uncle Bobby, was also in the car; he was severely injured and died 10 days later. Shortly after returning from our travels from my grandfather's funeral, I was hospitalized with the final diagnoses of mono and viral meningitis. So for the past several weeks, I have literally lied down in grief and slept because of my illnesses. However, because the Lord sustains me, I am awake again! One day soon I will journal about the details of these events. Some "sequences of errors," if you will, have become quite comical to us in retrospect. Example: Our car wouldn't start in the hospital parking lot the day I was discharged. :-) 

For now, though~I choose to focus on how the Lord has sustained me. He's given me over 30 years with my grandfather who loved me like his own. He's given me time to grieve while continuing to heal my broken heart. He's given me laughter in the memories and precious time of fellowship with family and friends who loved my grandfather so dearly. He's given me safety while our family has traveled. He's given me a husband with immense medical knowledge to know why and when to take me to the ER (twice over the past few weeks!)....who has loved me for better or worse, in the good times and bad...my greatest friend, biggest life cheerleader, and the one who knows when to hold me and how to make me smile. He's given me a precious son who is incredibly loving and completely resilient. He's given me a mother who will drop everything to board a plane, sit with me in the hospital, and feed me when I could not sit up....and who I can now say is the absolute strongest woman I know. He's given me a mother-in-law who also dropped everything to board a plane to help in the recovery stages...and who loves me like her own. He's given me amazing friends from all over the country who have sent cards, emails, phone calls, texts, and gifts my way to help brighten my day. He has given me community here in DC, only living here 6 months...neighbors who have watched Judah, let us borrow their car, and offered to help in every way. He has given me a church body to pray for me, visit me in the hospital, organize meals for us, set up childcare for Judah, and overall exemplify Christ's love toward us. He has healed my body and given me a new perspective on what is important and necessary.
And because of that, my friends, I am awake! Ready to enjoy all of life's blessings....and even life's unexpected curve balls....for in those, we are made strong and in Christ, we are renewed. And finally, he's given me life...32 years of it exactly today! And one-third of it with an amazing partner! Tonight, Jeff and I will not only celebrate life, but 10 years since I said "YES" and accepted the most beautiful birthday gift on my left ring finger :-) And we'll be celebrating here, rooftop-style~looking over DC...

Thank you, Lord, for sustaining me!

It's time to awake and celebrate!