Christmas 2012

We had a wonderful Christmas this past year, despite the nasty respiratory illness than ran through our house! Jackson had a very mild case of pneumonia and Rhett had a respiratory infection a week before Christmas. This is after I had Bronchitis that lingered for almost 4 weeks! Justin made fun of me for having the "black lung", but then he turned around and got the same thing after Christmas. Thankfully we were all relatively healthy for the Christmas Holidays!

We had a nice time visiting with family. Justin's mom came to visit a few weeks before Christmas, which was great! We started the festivities on Dec 23rd, and celebrated Christmas with my mom's side of the family, my dad's side of the family, and then we had our own little Christmas here with the boys on Christmas morning. Christmas Eve was a bit rough and was definitely NO silent night...ha! Rhett was on an antibiotic and with the hustle and bustle of Christmas Eve festivities, I did not give him yogurt to help his tummy tolerate the medicine. That night, he was up crying out in pain many times and I could tell it was his tummy. I felt horrible for the little guy. Needless to say, he was sort of a crank pot Christmas morning, but after some yogurt and a nap, he was back to happy! As for Jackson, he was in  hog heaven this year and it was SO exciting to watch him on Christmas morning. He really got into Christmas this year and both boys were totally spoiled. Santa went all out this year!

All in all, we had a wonderful Christmas together and I really enjoyed making memories and traditions with our boys, as well as celebrating our first Christmas as a family of four! We went to the Festival of Lights at James Island County park (which just gets better every year). I LOVE taking the boys here, because I have been going since I was a little girl. We also had our special elf of the shelf "Chocolate Cake" who stayed with us in December. Jackson loved finding him every morning. We had so much fun baking Christmas cookies, decorating our Christmas tree, singing songs, watching Christmas movies (We all know Mickey's Christmas Carol by heart!), seeing the Christmas tree at Marion Square, and making Christmas crafts together. This year was also a particularly nice Christmas visiting with family!

As for New Years Eve, we stayed in and had a wild night of playing on the 3rd floor playroom, bath time for the boys, bedtime stories, and me and Justin were asleep by 11. Yee Ha! Of course I woke up at midnight from the LOUD fireworks in the neighborhood that lasted an hour (ugh!), but thankfully the boys stayed asleep.

2012 had some ups and downs and it is sad to think of staring 2013 without my sweet grandmother and both of Justin's amazing grandparents. Despite that,  I am so thankful for the many wonderful blessings that 2012 brought us. Most importantly, I am thankful a safe delivery of my sweet baby Rhett, and for the health and happiness of my beautiful boys, husband, and family. Here's to a wonderful 2013!

Here are some photos from Christmas 2012:

 Meeting and falling in love with Emerson!