This Christmas was SO FUN with Noah! He loved every minute of it and so did I. Here are a TON of pictures from the festivities.

It all began Christmas Eve with one of my favorite traditions--baking and decorating cookies at Mimi's house.


Noah helping Daddy decorate a cookie. He spilled some sprinkles right after this and then he was totally over it.

Mollie's favorite thing about making cookies.

Ellie worked so hard on her cookies! She had a whole platter that she decorated all by herself.

Before church on Christmas Eve. The service was soooo good, I just love our church! It was fun having Noah in there with us...even if he did break down just a little toward the end.


I wanted to get a cute picture of Noah sitting in front of the tree because I have a good one from last year too. He wasn't too interested, and refused to put down his book!
Noah's loot from Santa. I'm really happy that we decided to start the three gift thing this year. He was so happy with his toys!

Checking out the cars--this was the first toy that he went to.

He quickly moved on to the tool bench though, and Josh gave him a lesson in using the drill

He's a pro already!

Josh and I wrapped two small gifts for Noah from us. This Thomas train was a HIT, but I quickly realized why it was only $9--there is no "off" button! Lovely

Our attempt at a family picture on Christmas morning

On the way to Mimi and Papa Jim's--notice the tight grip on his Thomas "choo-choo"!
Checking out his stocking loot, with Ellie's help

He got the coolest remote control car from Mimi and Papa Jim!

Sweet Annie wearing the flower headband we gave her.

Taking a rest on his new, bigger PB chair from Mom & Papa. I think he was calling Caleb & Stephanie to thank them for the new cell phone :)

Driving his car while waiting for his waffles

Mimi and Papa Jim also gave Noah this easel. Of course he thought he should try climbing on it!

Playing with the easel while Mollie took a rest inside!

Ellie & Mollie's microphones created some major laughs all day! I have some hilarious video of these two "singing" that I will try to post later.

After a nap, it was time for Christmas at Mar Mar & Papa D's! Noah loved the rocking horse that Mar Mar cleaned up for all the grandkids--it was ours when we were little!

Sweet Emma and Mama Dot. Emma is walking all over the place now--so fun!

The new "tree house" that Mar Mar got for her house.

This was the only moment that they were all still and quiet. It lasted for about 30 seconds, if that!
Somehow in all the craziness of having 3 kids under 2 at my parents' house, I didn't get many pictures! Noah's two favorite gifts were his Thomas the Train pop-up fort and his basketball goal. He begged Josh to put the goal together, so of course he did. It was adorable because Noah stood there right in front of him holding the basketball the entire time Josh put it together, for about 15 minutes. He seriously stood there completely still and quiet just watching and waiting, with a death grip on that basketball!

This Christmas was such a blast, I'm sad it's over. Josh & I are so blessed with our precious little boy and amazing families!

This past weekend we celebrated Christmas with Mama Dot and my Aunt Nancy, her husband "Uncle Ron", and my cousin Micki. We missed you Jeff(rey)! I look forward to this time with some of my very favorite people every year! And even though we have celebrated in Little Rock for several years now, I can't help but still call it "Magnolia Christmas".

We had dinner at my parents' on Saturday night, then Sunday we had brunch and opened presents. My great aunt and uncle Sue & Bobby came from Greenbrier to celebrate with us on Sunday. Monday the girls (and Noah!) shopped and went out to lunch, then Monday night everyone at my parents' house had the pleasure of keeping Noah while Josh & I went to Micah & Kelsey's engagement party. The Pearson/Donats headed back to Atlanta early this morning and we miss them already!

The weekend was full of fun, food, and several trips to Sonic! I may have even said this on here after her last trip, but my Aunt Nancy is the only person I know who loves Sonic even more than I do!

I accidentally uploaded the pictures in the wrong order but I am way too lazy to fix them!

PS. We also missed Brady, who has RSV! Poor little guy. Thankfully he should be all better in time for Christmas later this week!

I don't think I could possibly love the Christmas season any more than I already do!

One of my very favorite things about the season is getting Christmas cards. I love going to the mailbox every day to see what cards came--today was a great day because we got 7 cards in the mail! Oh, it just makes me so happy! I love to display the cards front & center on my mantle so I can enjoy them all season. Here is Noah posing with the cards we have received so far--apparently they make him happy too!


Here is our card from this year. I used one of the pictures that Jill took that I absolutely LOVE (obviously I love it, it is the same one in my blog header!) Anyway, I just really love how completely joyful Noah looks in this picture. It was the perfect choice for our card this year, because this season in particular I am really making an effort to focus on being joyful. (I had this card designed by someone on Etsy and I was really pleased with how it turned out! It is also nice that I can just have them printed anywhere as a 5x7 photo)

Noah's very favorite toy right now is his Little People Nativity set. He could seriously play with it all day long, and some days he does! I really like how it is such an easy way to teach the Christmas story to a child his age. He has learned the story, knows who everyone is, and has started saying Jesus. (this Christmas he has learned to say both Jesus and Santa, ha!)


And now this really has nothing to do with Christmas, but how handsome is this sweet boy in his new church outfit??! Thanks Mar Mar!

I am always forgetting to post videos on here, but I remembered yesterday have some funny ones to share! The first one is of a little dance party we had on Monday. We've been having lots of these dance parties at our house lately, but whenever I get the camera out Noah stops dancing for some reason! So these aren't his best moves, but I did think the spins were pretty hilarious. Plus please note the one-handed glove, a la Michael Jackson. I promise that was his own wardrobe choice



This second video is from breakfast yesterday, when Noah was enjoying his current favorite breakfast food--scrambled eggs with salsa. "Salsa" is by far his new favorite word!

A couple weeks ago I tackled the project of going through all of Noah's old clothes and organizing them by size to be stored away--either to use later or eventually sell. I filled 3 huge bins and a few diaper boxes with all those precious clothes!

I know it is a little cliche, but I couldn't help but reflect a little on how much he has grown. Those little 0-3 month clothes just seem SO tiny to me now, I can't believe he ever wore them (cause who am I kidding, my child only wore one newborn sized outfit!) With many of the outfits I could remember a specific time that he wore it--the outfit he wore to church for the first time, the shirt he wore when he took his first steps, even what he wore the first time we took him to the park. It is amazing how many memories are tied up in the clothes he has worn. But I think my absolute favorite things he has worn are all the striped one-piece outfits I dressed him in last fall and winter. I was such a sucker for those things, and I am pretty positive that I shed a tear or two when I finally had to accept that he had grown too tall for them. My boy was always so precious in his sweet stripes!

Well, yesterday was a big day for Noah. It was time to see Santa Claus! Over the last week or so I have talked to him about Santa and read a few books with Santa in them, so he recognizes Santa when he sees him and actually gets really excited. He was ready!!

He got all gussied up in his adorable new Christmas outfit:

and look at the back!

Santa was coming to my parent's country club, so we headed there along with Mar Mar & Papa D and my brothers and their families. Apparently Santa's sleigh is too slow these days, because at PVCC he came in on a helicopter! Noah was completely amazed
The helicopter circled several times before landing on the golf course, and Noah was so funny chasing it. He ran around the lawn pointing and waving at the helicopter as it circled. Once it landed I think he was a little overwhelmed, he just gripped onto Josh's arm and stared. I really don't think he even noticed Santa jump off! After landing, Santa was whisked away in a golf cart and all the kids ran inside to meet him upstairs.

Before sitting down to take pictures with the children, Santa had them all circle around and told them about his new reindeer. Noah was really excited, the whole time Santa was talking he was waving and pointing! It was so cute. Unfortunately, we didn't know that the smart parents who had been to this event in the past were forming a line in the other room while all of us newbies stood with our kids listening to Santa. That put us at the verrrry back of the line to meet Santa! We waited for about 45 minutes, but Noah stayed occupied mostly thanks to his daddy and Papa D. He really enjoyed climbing up and down this loooong staircase!

We also took a brief break to check out the ornament-making room while Josh took over line duty. I just strung this bell on some yarn for Noah, and he was pretty impressed with his new bling.
So, finally the time came to meet the big guy himself. Noah got really excited as we got closer to the front of the line. He was peering in the room to see Santa, and was even waving at him some more! Oh I was so excited to get the perfect smiling picture of my precious child on Santa's lap.

Well...not so much.

The moment we put him on Santa's lap he completely lost it!! He was freaking out, I really can't believe Santa was even able to hold on to him. Notice in the first picture that he is trying to hurl himself off his lap! So I guess Noah is more into seeing Santa from a distance. He really did love him until he had to sit with him! Maybe next year we'll get that perfect smiling photo.

By the way if anyone doesn't get the reference in the title of this post, it is a line from my all-time favorite Christmas movie (and one of my favorite movies, period), Elf. One night this week when Josh was working late, Noah and I watched it together and he actually sat through the whole thing! I couldn't believe it. It was so fun! He was laughing really hard at some parts, and at the end when Santa's sleigh finally took off he started clapping and cheering! So fun.