Christmas Joy!

These first few pictures are just of Luke being super cute!

The last 2 show his interest in the tree. Thankfully he didn't go near it too much, & only a couple of ornaments had to be put back on. Notice the presents under the tree....they're the one's Matt wrapped....3 days before Christmas....I've still got time :0)

Double the Happiness

Lydia and I shared our birthday celebrations this year. Our combined age is 59- wow that sounds weird! I don't think the YUMMY coca-cola cake would have supported that many candles.

I think this was the gift that caused mom to exclaim- "Wait! That's Laura's" (This, of course, was joked about all through Christmas.) In the end, we both received equally wonderful gifts!

Here's how Luke celebrated:

Lydia and Eric won both rounds of Like Minds. They both think of the same items when you give a category such as: What you see at the beach or What you put on an Ice Cream Sundae. (I was going to post a link for the game, but I'm guessing it isn't being made anymore since I could only find it on Amazon for $70 & EBay for $30.)

Elijah help deliver a VERY big surprise! It's not easy to surprise me. Not really because I'm sneaky. Just because I pay attention. And, of course, know how to read mom's face when I ask a question :0) However, I didn't think anything when she asked me about our video camera tapes laying on our counter a couple of weeks prior to this. (Good job mom!)

The difference in size is amazing! Even more amazing is what dad used to have (similar to this). He carried this MONSTER all through Disney World!

Best of all we no longer need tapes! Thank-you mom and dad!

Spreading the Love

4 grandparents & 1 grandbaby = not enough time :0)

We had a good time at the annual Graves/Dodd Christmas meal!

We took this picture before we left. Notice there are NO presents under the tree 6 days before Christmas!

Nobody forgets about their granddog either :0)

The Things We Do For Love

This Christmas outfit wasn't purchased at the same time, but look how the shirt & pants match exactly!

We dropped Luke off at Grampa & Grammie's church (my parents) on a Sunday afternoon so that we could go to.....
STAR WARS IN CONCERT! (An early Christmas present for Matt.)
I have only seen bits and pieces of some of the movies, but the Ewoks were my favorite!

I have no idea what this is :0)

This lady is one die hard fan!

Anthony Daniels played C3PO. He is a funny man & was a great narrator for the show. Don't you think they kind of resemble each other?

I think I fell asleep a couple of times, but I must say it was better than I thought it was going to be! It was worth it since Matt goes to all the "girlie" movies with me :0) Love you Sweetie!

We Remembered to Take Our Wallets

but we forgot our camera! So enjoy these pictures taken with an expensive disposable camera & which were expensive to develop (we got a cd so we'd have a hard copy). Even these pictures are priceless!

Another tradition we started this year was to see the lights at Opryland Hotel. However in the future, we are going to try to go during the week! It took FOREVER to get to the hotel on the Saturday night 2 weeks before Christmas!! Due to this and the fact that it was raining we decided to park at the hotel instead of at Opry Mills...reason #2 for needing our wallets!

I remember being SO excited to see the lights and decorations when I was little. A few times it was after dad performed with the choir...Handel's Messiah is my favorite song to hear at Christmas...this is not them, but they were so good!

Santa is not easy to find in a massive hotel! I think having to hunt for him resulted in many people giving up because we didn't have to wait in line at all. The pictures turned out cute (minus the crazy looking Nutcrackers in the background), but Santa wasn't so sure what to say to a baby! These pictures weren't taken with the disposable and they were reason #3 we were glad to have our wallets :0)

We only saw the lights inside. Matt tried to direct us to the outside lights which featured a beautiful Nativity scene. As we drove past it on our way out, I asked why we didn't get to see those up close. I guess I should have listened to him :0)

A sweet gentleman offered to take a picture of all 3 of us. So even though I look like a gopher, it was the only one we had, and it just has to go on here :0-)

Our exciting evening was topped off with us spilling Luke's rice in the car while he was eating. Thankfully he already had what he needed!

This was a picture taken the next day so we could finish the roll of film. It looks like he's sledding in the kitchen :0)