Christmas...the first time around!

We were all spoiled this Christmas and we still have one more Christmas to go...with Gaga and Papa!  (I'll get to the one with Mimi and Pop Pop on my next post!)  The hit toys of this Christmas are pictured here:

An Alien Matchbox thing-a-ma-jigger set 

(I have no recollection of its real name but something with a Rocket ship, launcher, alien ship, astronauts and aliens that goes with the submarine set he got last year;) And his knight in shining Armor Costume that goes with...

Georgies Cinderella Dress!

I didn't get a picture of Georgie's other hit present...her baby doll stroller.  But here she is, all smiles at the sight of it!

Frosty the Snowman came to our house:

In Pettey/Anderson family tradition, Frosty the Snowman brought new pajamas on Christmas eve!  But this time, he knocked on our door and left gifts for us on the door step!  Here Isaac is flying to the moon with his Superman cape flying behind him!

Georgie was so excited to be wearing her princess night gown that she gave her friend, Sam, a giant squeeze!

Oh Boy...Princess!

"What the heck?  Superman!  Frosty knows me so well!"

Here are all our little tyke guests ready to go play outside on Christmas Eve!  

Don't they look cute!

Our more mature dinner guests!

I must say that our Christmas Eve dinner was quite smashing.  I actually still dream about it.  My new friend Ellisa brought a very yummy Guacamole for an appetizer.  Our friends Johnny and Natalie Fischer made Chicken Cordon Bleu and Mashed Potatoes.  I contributed Blueberry Spinach Salad with candied almonds and Bleu Cheese, Carrot Souffle, Bacon wrapped Green Bean Bundles and Homemade Sour Cream Rolls.  And Shalisa brought  Chocolate Peppermint Cake and 2 Peppermint Ice Cream Cakes.  Can we have that again please!  We topped it all off with The Newlywed Game where the topic turned many times to sex and laughter was had by all until our sides hurt!  Isn't that the best!  The missionaries sure enjoyed their visit!

So, as you can see we had a great Christmas.  We felt truly grateful for friends who filled our house with love, laughter and kindess in the absence of extended family.  And we sincerely enjoyed the time spent with just our little family.  I think it is the first Christmas I have ever had where I didn't feel that empty sadness at the end of the day because I had to wait a whole other year until next Christmas!  I can't quite figure out why that is..?  But it sure was nice!

forever a favorite

The Christmas Miracle:

I think this will forever be a favorite in my book of Isaac memories.  

He loves to draw and color and I found this amidst his crayons a few days before Christmas.  I thought I'd put it on here for us all to see!

Thank You Pop Pop!

The long awaited removal of our disgusting carpet has finally come!  And boy am I ever glad!  No more food/smoothie/yogurt/milk etc ground into the carpet under our dining room table I can't even begin to convey my excitement and relief.  And who do we have to thank for it? 

 POP POP!  Thank you, Kerry, for all your hard work on our new tile flooring! (and our new french doors, light fixture, roof and fan;)  We really appreciate your generosity!   

Before:

I wish we had some more "before" pictures with all the new stains that we added to the carpet and the original set up with WAY too much furniture in the room.  This picture was taken before we bought the house.  It doesn't quite do it justice.

Goodbye Pop Pop!  We will miss you!

And so it begins!

The Christmas season is truly here and the parties have already begun!  Here are a few shots of what we've been up to already this December.

Here are the kids singing at the Ward Christmas Party.  I could hardly hide my enjoyment at watching my two children holding on tightly to each other as they sang.  It was too much for words.  Isaac was so proud to have Georgie next to him.  He invited her to come up and sing with him and put his arm tightly around her neck.  He kept peering down at her while they sang, giving her his cute little toothy grin and she hugged him back and constantly patted his tummy. 

A cute idea for school treats:

Isaac really enjoyed making and eating these!

Here we are with some friends at Joey's Medical Group Christmas Party.  

We had a really great time.

All Aglow!

We finally got around to decorating the tree on Sunday evening after our dinner of Potato Soup and Cornbread...yum!  Isaac was so excited he could hardly stop talking about it all day long!

Here's Georgie and the little puppy Mojo that we puppy sat for the week.  She tortured the poor little dog and carried him all over the house.  Surprisingly, Mojo loved her anyway and ran around at her feet whenever she allowed him to get down! 

We had Elder Urick and Elder Young over for Dinner that night as well.  I hope no other Missionary that we've known over the past few years reads this because I'm about to admit that Elder Urick is our favorite missionary EVER!  We LOVE him and will miss him dearly when he goes.  He is such a cool kid.

Pop Pop finally got some time with the grandkids!  Mimi and Gaga take a little more of their share;)

I thought this was a cute picture of Georgie and Jenny enjoying each other.   

O Tannenbaum

Hands down, my favorite Christmas tradition growing up was going to a real Christmas Tree farm and cutting down our own fresh tree.  I can almost feel the vibration of the long bumpy hayride that took us deep into the farm and dropped us off whenever we spotted something we liked.  I remember Mom and Dad sizing up each tree, checking for holes and height and then, finally, taking a saw to the perfect one.  With the big beauty strapped to the top of our big blue Suburban we headed home to decorate it while listening to Christmas music.  Slowly, over the years it became hard to find any Christmas tree farms at all until one year, despite our protests, Mom bought the enemy...a fake tree.  More than any other tradition, this is the one I would like to keep in my little family for as long as Christmas Tree farmers will let us.  My thoughtful neighbor, Josh, with no knowledge of my love for Christmas Tree farms, brought over a flyer advertising the last year in business for the local Christmas Tree farm.   I wouldn't have missed it for the world!  And so it became our Saturday afternoon activity with the Grandparents! 

Here are some pictures of the fun we had:

Hike and Hamburger Heaven

Hike and Hamburger Heaven

After our short hike and drive through the Oklahoma Wildlife Preserve we stopped in at the local, legendary hamburger joint, Meers.  Known for their Longhorn Beef raised and killed right on the sight, these Hamburgers were listed in Gourmet magazine as being one of the 10 best in the nation.   Here we all are after our big juicy meal:

And here we are after waiting in line for over an hour to get a table:

Loving my Lizzy:

And here are pictures of our hike.  Isaac and Georgie played Princess Leia and Luke Skywalker all the way down the mountain.  Isaac even stopped several times to hold Georgie's hand, help her down a steep step or just to check on "the Princess".   It was adorable.  

Pondering on the Mountain Top:

Some of my favorite people all in one place:

It truly was a joy to have both of our parents together.  If our siblings had been there it would have been perfect!  Thanks for coming you guys!  It meant a lot to us!