Christmas Part 2

This year we headed to Bowling Green on December 27th. It was nice to have the day after Christmas to unwind and relax a little. We spent a lot of the day playing with Emily's new toys. Then, it was time to pack up for Bowling Green. We got some sad news that Memommy Meisel's sister, Aunt Frankie, passed away on Christmas Day. We attended her visitation on the evening of the 27th. Her funeral was on the 28th and Dad sang at the funeral. Aunt Frankie had had poor health for awhile and also suffered from dementia. While it was sad to see another family member in her generation pass on, it was also comforting that she would no longer struggle with her health problems.

Christmas with the Lee family was on the evening of the 28th. Mom prepared a wonderful dinner for us. Jeremy could not believe the spread of candies and desserts Mom had. I don't think he knew that Mom had such a sweet tooth or that she made all of these special desserts every year. By far my favorite Christmas indulgence is Mom's popcorn wreath. She makes this wonderful caramel popcorn with red/green MM's and peanuts in it. Then, she molds it in a bundt pan in the shape of a wreath. I swear, I ate half of it the first night. I can resist most of the other candies, but not the popcorn wreath!

My baby boy is adorable!

Still too little for the Bumbo, but we tried.

He's Mr. Personality these days 

 Caleb's first Christmas at Nan and Pop's

Decorating cookies with Cooper (reluctantly I might add--she wanted to do them all herself!)

Oh my. Yes, that is my daughter squirting icing directly into her mouth! 

Listening to Aunt Becca share the Christmas story with an interactive Ipad book. 

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus.

My brother's adorable family

Here's little Maddie making off with all of her Christmas loot (and Caleb's, too!)

 I love how Caleb is checking out his gift!

This year, the Burnhams were in Vancouver and of course we missed them. The house wasn't nearly as chaotic or loud without Hunter. :) Seriously, I missed sis and the family so much. It didn't seem complete without them. One of my favorite memories of this Christmas was watching my little nephew rock out with his new guitar and microphone. Cooper is adorable! He's only two years old, but he already knows exactly how to hold a guitar. Emily liked playing with the microphone, too. I think that girl needs one for sure! I also enjoyed watching little Maddie walk around. Compared to the big two and three year olds, she is so tiny, but into everything! She's barely a year old, but she could pick up a big bag and carry it over her shoulder all over the house. It was hilarious to watch her pushing her new stroller. That girl was out of control! She can scramble up a flight of stairs in the blink of an eye. Becca and Stephen have their hands full with Cooper and Maddie. Watching Maddie makes me worried for when Caleb starts walking!

Cooper Lee--remember that name. He's bound to be the next big singer/songwriter in Nashville! 

 Baby boy can't hang in there with the big kids just yet!

Love Em's new toboggan (Handmade by one of Mom's cousins.)

Notice Em's finger. The finger lights were a big hit with the preschool set. ($1.50 well spent, Mom!)

We had lunch at Aunt Cindy's house on December 28th. It started snowing while we were there. 

And we had just enough snow to build a tiny snowgirl when we got back to our place in Louisville.

We were so thankful for Jeremy's paid Christmas vacation (about 11 days off work). His office shuts down for Christmas week until the start of the year. It is such a nice benefit for the employees. Also, I was off work because of maternity leave. We couldn't have spent as much time with family if one of us had to head back to Louisville for work. I got spoiled to having his help with the kids!