Christmas 2010

We spent this Christmas down in Cary, NC with James' family.  They made our visit very special by decking the house all out with decorations, cooking an amazing Christmas dinner and ordering 7 inches of snow late Christmas night! Charlie had a great time hanging with Granny, Grandpa, Uncle Todd, Aunt Allison, Uncle Phil and new cousin Isabella.  While he doesn't really "get" Christmas this year, he did like all the lights, trees, and of course unwrapping presents.  Below are some pictures from our visit.

Reading "The Night Before Christmas"

The family hanging out

"Well hello doggie"

Eating O's waiting for present time

Still waiting...

Still waiting...

Weee... here we go!

"I like these maracas"

"And Dad's hat"

"And these cymbals"

"Hello?"

"Christmas is fun!"

Why Sarah and James didn't get any Christmas gifts :)

Charlie takes his big-cousin responsibilities very seriously

The Cammaratas

Wow

Reading with Granny

Chilling with Granny and Grandpa

Big dog in a little bed

Christmas Card Outakes

I had big hopes of getting a good shot of Charlie and Marley this year for our Christmas card but getting the two of them to stand or sit still for any length of time was nearly impossible.  Along the way though, we got some cute pictures that I thought I'd share.  Enjoy!

Ok, let's start by sitting them both in front of the tree...

Cute, minus Marley's tongue

Sat for 20 seconds but standing is okay, minus Charlie's tongue

Off to the races

"Daddy, I don't want to sit still."

Ok, maybe moving outside would be good...

Where's Marley?

Still cute but need the doggie for the Christmas picture

Hmm, now they are both in the shot at least

Back inside... maybe sitting Charlie in a little chair will help him stay still...

Good, except for Dad's hand

And, off we go again...

We gave up for the day.  Then I had a great idea... Charlie loves lights!  Maybe wrap him in lights and he will stay still...

"Ohh, color lights"

Super cute, but blurry and no Marley :(

Perhaps wrap them both in lights and they will stay still...

"Mom, this is a little weird"

"But fun!"

"We can sit still like this!"

"Nice doggie"

I couldn't get the lighting right on the camera... wanted the glow like this but it is too dark and blurry.  We used this shot on some cards then called a professional a few days later to take the shot below for the others.

(Poor Marl didn't make it but she wishes everyone a Merry Christmas too!)

December Fun

Below are just some cute pictures I took this month.  We've had a fun time listening to Christmas music, shopping, decorating the tree, looking at Christmas lights (Charlie's favorite) and we even made some Christmas cookies!

Silver or Red?

Lights!

Farmer and the boy going for a ride

Mr. Boxhead

Charlie is a very helpful wrapper

Hat!

Trying on big shoes

Thanks Miss Pauline for this rad balloon

Making cookies

Charlie and Dad at Lewis Ginter Festival of Lights

First Snow of 2010!

James had a nice little gift the last week of school... a few snow days!  We got only about 4 inches in total but it was enough to shut down the city for two good days off for James and a half day for Sarah.  We were excited to let Charlie play in it but he wasn't as excited.  Instead, we watched Marley play in it and stood safely on the non-snowy parts of the ground.  Oh well, maybe next time... good thing I didn't buy any gear for him.

Marley liked it!

"Mom, I'll stay over here on the side"

"Can we go back inside now?"

"Ahh, that's better now that I can see the sidewalk"