Twinkle Twinkle Little Star

Seriously one of the cutest things ever....




Don't mind the glasses and beer can (??) in the way.  I was trying to take the video without her know.  She sometimes gets a bit camera shy.

She is reading a nursery rhyme/story her day care provider gave her for Christmas.  And, in a robe her Memere made for her older cousins, which she loves to wear after her bath.

I'd say she has lots on angels and bright stars looking out for her.  

The Three Days of Christmas

Holy cow have we been busy! Sick, busy, traveling, busy, sick and busier!  And I wouldn't change a thing!

Abby recovered in the nick of time for the holidays and passed on her germs to Tim and I.  I'm still battling plugged and echoing ears and tiredness.  Tim is Tim.  :-) 

Day 1:
We celebrated our immediate family Christmas on Christmas Eve.  Meeting at my parents house and patiently waiting for Abby to wake up from her nap, we finally opened our presents!

After our Christmas we headed over to the Legere family Christmas where we enjoyed scrumptious food including seafood casserole, ham, Italian chicken, jello casserole and oh so much more....We switched up gift giving by having a very successful Yankee Swap. 

Day 2:
Christmas was fantastic!  Abby was totally awesome.  She walked timidly into into the living room and then ran to the tree.  She climbed on top of all the presents to check out her new kitchen.  She finally moved on to her new piano from Santa and all of her other presents to open.  Our Santa doesn't wrap presents (call it lazy or thrifty - whatever) but he does have cool "to: Abby, Love: Santa" labels. 

After we opened all of our presents, we headed to worship to celebrate Baby Jesus' birthday, and then drove down to Woburn to share the holiday with the Proctors.  A yummy dinner of lobster casserole, ham, crock pot potatoes, sweetened carrots and more!  I need to get some of these recipes!  After presents and a Yankee Swap we got on the rode around 8pm. 

Day 3:
Tim and I committed to serving breakfast at Preble Street Soup Kitchen and I'm so glad we did.  Not only did we volunteering our time for the hungry and sometimes homeless, we had the opportunity to put our life into perspective.  We left feeling very fortunate for our abundance of food, family, gifts, and love. 

We had dropped Abby off to MiMi's and met everyone up to the Lee's for the Dee Family Christmas.  Again, more food of steak, eggs, toast, bacon.....oh how I'm full.  The Christmas Auction is always one of my favorite traditions of the holiday.  Where we each have 40-50 pennies and we bid on items pulled from Santa's sacks.  Several of my family members purchases items (beef jerkey, beer, wine, candy, gadgets, household items, toiletries, and just plain stuff) to auction off to the family.  There's always something for everyone! 

So there was our three days of Christmas...are you tired?  I'm still trying to catch up!  Even after hitting the sack before 9pm each night this week, I'm still exhausted!

Holiday Traditions Part 4 - The Polar Express

While this is one of the priciest traditions in the mix, we're split 50/50 if we'll continue next year. Seeing the pure excitement and wonder in Abby's eyes was something to be treasured.  AND, I'm a big fan of experiential gifts :-) 

We picked Abby up from day care and got down to train in the nick of time. 

On our way with our gold ticket!

 We strolled pass the steaming, shiny black engine, to the conductor waving us in.  We chose one of the last cars with plenty of seats. Anxiously waiting to see what awaits us, we jump with excitement as the steam engine roars to push the train on  its way.  We pass the chefs ready to serve the hot cocoa and as the train stops they dance their way on the train!  Serving a delicious beverage and sugar cookies we dance with them. 

The train gets going as the narration of The Polar Express begins.  We're on our way to the North Pole!  The conductor stops by and asks for Abby's ticket and name.  She quickly punches an "A" and passes it back, "I hope you've been a good girl!  Santa is on his way!"

We reach our destination in record time and enjoy the sights of Casco Bay while we wait for Santa to make his way to our train car.  Finally, we catch a glimpse of the big man in red as he opens the door! 

Abby stares.  In astonishment.  Santa makes his jolly way down the aisle and stops to talk with each child.  He asked Abby what she wanted for Christmas and she stared.  What a magical sight!  Santa moved to the rest of the train and Abby just watched him.  It was really a lot of fun and I can.not.wait to see her look on Christmas morning.

I will be that Mom who races to the tree before anyone else in the family to get the camera ready.  That's another tradition I remember fondly.  We weren't allowed one step down stairs until we heard, "Go!"  :-)

The Polar Express was a big hit for us this year!

Merry Christmas!

We're heading south for the Proctor family Christmas and had a minute to post a Christmas greeting! A few more tradition posts are scheduled for the next few days and a recap of Christmas morning with a two year old. Oh what fun! Santa came to visit and left lots of goodies!! Worship this morning reminded us of celebrating the holy family and the birth of Christ the King. So from our family to yours to the true reason of the holiday, Merry Christmas!

Holiday Traditions Part 3 - The Gingerbread House

Who doesn't love building a house out of Candy?  No, I didn't bake the house, but I sure did get a killer deal on the kit.  Maybe I'll find an inspiring recipe for next year.  :-)

Abby and I got down to business after she got lost in her excitement that we actually got to play with the candy. While it looks like I did a lot of it, Abby actually picked from the instructions where to put things.  I did most of the "gluing" while she did the "sticking" 

What a fun project to add to the tradition list!

Holiday Traditions Part 2 - Baking

Let's face it, I don't bake a lot.  Not for the lack of loving treats, I just don't have a lot of time.  The holiday are a perfect time of year to make the time.  I love my mom's peanut butter fudge, my aunt's needhams, the chex mix, the cookies, the macaroons, the chocolate fudge, the pies...there is absolutely no bias here. 

My friend has a cooking blog that sometimes inspires me to spend more time in the kitchen.  Actually several of my Nestie friends (online girlfriends) have cooking blogs that are totally awesome.  Here is the recipe that inspired our time in the kitchen this year.  Abby was just starting to feel better, but shows a few signs of being sick.  Red eyes, leaky nose, etc.  :-)  Tis the season, right?

What's more fun than a little flour fight?  Most of these went to my coworkers as gifts, but I did leave a half dozen for our house. 

Holiday Traditions Part 1 - The Tree

We seem to all be on the mend, so I thought I'd write to more exciting happenings.  Tis the season for all things Christmas!  The next few posts will involve what we hope to be some great family traditions that create some fabulous memories.  Don't forget our elf, Eddie, who made his appearance on Thanksgiving.  He's been a fantastic addition to the holiday season. 

First up, the Tree!  One of my favorite traditions was decorating the trees and sometimes two trees at our house growing up.  When my parents moved us to their current house, my Mom wanted a tree in the front room for space to open presents and one in the kitchen for us to enjoy.  As crazy as it was, it was always fun.

Here are the Proctors decorating our 2011 Christmas tree:

The first ornament

Notice the Willow tree behind Tim?  Family.  He gave it to me our first Christmas with Abby.

The final touches - the Angel! 

We bought the second tree we picked up, enjoyed the candy canes given to us by the nice Rotary guys, and drove on home with our 2011 tree.  Isn't it pretty?

on top of it all...

We now have conjunctivitis! 

Just to keep all our family and friends in the loop of what's going on in the Proctor household.  Fortunately, Tim has started his holiday vacation and can be home with her today and starting tomorrow I'm off the rest of the week.  Let's hope that Miss Abigail is better by tomorrow at 4pm where we hope to be riding on the Polar Express.  I think we'll make it.  We've been armed with antibiotics and eye drops so we're good to go. 

I have a few more things to get for the upcoming holiday and most of the wrapping is done.  pheewwww.  There was certainly an advantage to being home all weekend and having a sleepy baby. 

We are very much looking forward to Christmas and all the family time!  I'm excited to go to Christmas Day service in our PJ's and serve breakfast at Preble Street on Monday.  I have a big box of donations ready to go to the food pantry thanks to my couponing and dropped off mittens and gift to the mitten tree. Tis the season of giving, you know. 

And the doctors say...

Ear infection!  Abby's cough deepened last night and we were nervous her cold may turn into pneumonia.  So we called last night and ended up seeing the on call doc this morning.   Luckily, it is not that serious and she is now on antibiotics for her ear.  I'm thankful our office has weekend hours and we were one of the first ones on the list!

After a fairly normal day helping me bake in the kitchen (stay tuned for priceless pictures!), she took a turn backwards and whimpered herself to sleep with a leaky eye, leaky nose, and cough.  I'm predicting her leaky eye might be conjunctivitis.  We'll see what tomorrow brings!  Let's hope she is on the mend very soon and the rest of us stay healthy for the holidays. 

Sick Abby

Tim and I have been splitting the last couple of days between home and work as Miss Abigail has caught the cold (disgusting mess) that was running through day care and school.   Poor Abby worked so hard to poop in private she fell asleep.

Tim didn't dare move her......

Thankfully the nice folks at Port tix took pity on us and exchanged our Polar Express tickets to another day.  There would have been no way we would have made it tonight.  Abby is running fevers up to 104, blowing snock rockets and just today refused to eat any food.  She's still drinking fluids, but I have a feeling we might be at the doctors on Monday if not sooner.

I can't help but chuckle at her lovely bed head, rosy cheeks, and bright red nose as she wakes from a nap...off to watch Elf on the Shelf or Rudolph for the upteenth time.  We'll keep y'all updated!

My Tree Hugger

 When we started feeding the ducks in Millcreek last summer, Abby began to hug and kiss the trees.  Without my encouragement.  I think she's going to be the next EPA leader.

I found this picture on Tim's phone from this fall. :-)  Oh, how I love her!

The Elf Part II

Yesterday morning after breakfast.  Eddie has already been found in the bathroom toilet paper holder

Me:  Abby let's go wash our hands and brush our teeth!

(Abby does her toddle waddle off to the bathroom!)
Abby:  Teeth? 
Me:  Yes, Abby you can brush your teeth
Abby: OOOOK!
Me: (A few minutes later) Alright, Abby, it's Momma's turn to brush teeth...(I usually make sure she got all the crevices)
Abby:  No, Mummy, MYSELF!  Eddie's watching.

The bathroom is THE best place for Eddie to show up. 

Santa!

This Christmas season is going to be so.much.fun!  Abby is at an age where she understands the meaning of Santa...well, that he brings presents, that is.  I'm working on how to introduce the religious aspect of the holiday and that will come.  For now, seeing the awe and wonderment in her eyes when she met Santa for the first time this year was priceless.

I had to work a bit late on Friday night and was fearful we were going to miss the Christmas Tree lighting and potentially seeing the man in the big red suit.  A frantic call to my mom and brother led to a quick change in plans.  Mimi rushed through through her evening plans (thanks, Mom!) to scoot down to the park earlier than anticipated.  While we waited for the lights to magically come on, we stopped by city hall where Santa was anxiously waiting his good little girls and boys.

We walked into the room and I couldn't get over the shock in Abby's eyes.  Because Eddie, our elf on the shelf has been visiting, we've been talking about Santa all week.  The surprise of seeing Santa in real life was just awesome.  It wasn't just the reality that Santa really does exist, it was a reminder of our children's innocence.  This innocence should be captured, bottled, and given out in times of despair causeless it is precious and short lived.  

So thanks Mimi and Uncle Chris for shuffling plans for getting to the park in time to meet Santa and **almost** see the lights came on.  They were off when we went in to see Santa, and they were on when we came out! 

Merry Christmas to all and may this holiday season be the happiest of ones for you and your families.