The Herrins from Scratch: Christmas in Savannah!

Get my race track open!!

Joy to the World the Lord has Come....I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! We had a lovely Christmas! We decided to host Christmas at our house this year because it was Ella's First "Real" Christmas. Not that Christmas 2010 was fake, but Ella couldn't even open her eyes...I'm serious. Little know fact about Ella-- she didn't open her eyes for more than a few seconds twice a day for 4 weeks! I was honestly starting to freak out that her eyes didn't work. She was exactly 4 weeks early and we think she needed the extra time to incubate, so she just slept once she arrived until she was "ready" to meet the world. And meet the world she did...the day she opened her eyes was the day the 5 months of colic began! I digress...back to Christmas...We knew this Christmas was going to be a lot of fun because she loves to play with toys and loves when her family visits. We decided it would work out wonderfully to invite our families here.

On Christmas eve, Brent's family was the first to arrive. Here's the very exciting part...UNCLE BRANDON got to spend Christmas with us!!! This was a real treat. We only get to see Brandon about every six months. He is an analyst for Bank of America in NYC and literally has the longest hours at work that I have ever heard of. He doesn't get to get away often, but he was able to spend Christmas with us. This was very special and we look forward to the time Ella can spend with Brandon! My family, Nana and Uncle Jason, arrived next from Roswell...we were so excited that they could make the 4.5 hr trip just a week after they came for Ella's birthday! It was great to have so many people we love under one roof. Oh yeah, we had six dogs and a cat here too. It was definitely a full house.

We headed to our church's "Children's Christmas Eve" service. It was like you would expect, loud and festive. Lots of kids. Ella was a little antsy during the service and had to take a little break in the back midway through the service. She and Brent hung out with the three wise men in the nativity scene in the foyer for a while before it was their turn to walk down the aisle to Bethlehem aka. the front of the church. Brent joked that she was back there trying to grab their frankincense and myrrh...lol! They returned in time for communion and for me to sit on her applesauce squirt pack that exploded all over the seat. Yeah, my black dress was covered with applesauce while the applesauce was running down the pew. Thank goodness for wooden pews...seriously don't know what we would have done if they were cloth. I was able to do a 1 minute clean up and head to the front of the church, with residual applesauce on my rear end to take communion. Oh, the surprises of parenthood!

After church, we went to eat at On the Rocks on Bay Street. It's a little touristy, but very yummy. It's in the Bohemian Hotel that has a awesome roof top bar that overlooks the river. We enjoyed a great meal with great company. After dinner, the girls headed home and guys headed to the bar to have some male bonding time. Eddie came back to the house about an hour later without the brothers in tow. They decided to stay out and shoot some pool and catch up. I'm so glad that Brent, Brandon, and Jason had time to hang out! Back at the house, we got Ella ready for bed and headed to bed ourselves. After a very nice evening, it was time for Santa to make his way down the chimney!

The next morning, we woke up and opened presents. We all got some wonderful gifts and had a really nice time. Ella isn't totally into the gift opening thing. She loves the toys she gets, but opening them up and realizing that they are hers is just not where she's at yet! So, we opened her presents after we opened ours (she played in the wrapping paper). Ella had a very Merry Christmas. I think she is set with toys and books until she is at least 3!! My goodness!! She is enjoying all her toys and goes from one toy to the other all day. The best part for Ella is that she LOVES her visiting family. She has so much fun and goes full throttle all day-- rarely breaking to eat or REST!! It makes for some grumpiness after everyone is gone, but she's an ALL-STAR when everyone is here! She loves everyone so much and you can see how excited she is to have her family at her house.

We had had an enormous Christmas Lunch around 2:00 p.m. We tried something new where everyone contributed to the meal so it didn't fall on one person. It made cooking and clean up SO easy and I would highly recommend the "everyone contributes "holiday meal prep! Ella was actually napping when we ate, so we all got to sit down and really enjoy the meal. Not that she makes it unenjoyable, it was just nice to engage in some adult conversation while she got so MUCH NEEDED rest. The rest of the day was pretty lazy. We actually pulled out our two air mattresses and everyone laid around and watched TV and played with Ella. It was a relaxing and restful day...just perfect.

What a wonderful Christmas! Ella adds such a special dynamic to the celebration. Even if she doesn't quite understand the whole concept, it's exciting to see the joy and discovery of Christmas through her eyes. She is truly a little miracle to watch and enjoy. Happy Birthday, Jesus! So grateful that we could spend your birthday celebrating your birth and your promise to the world AND enjoy the family we love SO much! We feel truly blessed :)