merry christmas to all!

We started our Christmas Eve with a haircut for Britton and a nap for me.  Ugh, I was struck with the gross 24-hour flu and to top it all off, Barrett spent his first Christmas Eve and Christmas sick as well. Poor Barrett was worse off than me, because he had a horrible runny nose and congestion and an inability to breathe properly or eat anything and no intention of being anything else but coddled and catered to (as sick babies are).  Thankfully we had Memaw here to help out, since not long after I fell sick, the hubs was also shaking in cold sweats and coming down with the flu too!

Cookies for Santa...

Stringing popcorn with Memaw...

Christmas morning! The night before was awesome because we were able to set out "Santa" gifts (for all the kids reading - we were just helping him out) quickly because nothing had to be assembled!  Britton wrote to Santa a couple of weeks ago and wanted an American Girl doll, ballet Barbie, and a "diamond" ring.  Well, Santa delivered - even a diamond ring, courtesy of Wal-Mart's fake engagement ring selection.  

Proof that Barrett did attend his first Christmas!  Admittedly, there aren't many photos of him, because he quickly gave up on feeling better and went down for a nap.

Then it was on to playing (after removing every doll from their wire-strapped box jails) and Britton got into the chocolate candy in her stocking.

We made a traditional dinner, with roasted chickens, mashed potatoes, stuffing, corn maque choux, broccoli rice casserole, and roasted carrots and beets.  Leftovers for days, people!

This girl loves her jewelry!

 Since I was out of commission all day yesterday, Memaw made the dessert - a red velvet and white chocolate cheesecake from Southern Living that I've been waiting to try for weeks now.

It was ridiculously rich, and fine - 3 layers would have been enough, but this is Christmas so we went decedent.  

And in true Carrie form (oh, I just went third-person there), I started clearing out Christmas stuff as soon as the china went back into the dining room hutch.  That included throwing away the stale as all get out gingerbread house, so I made a stickered-Britton pose with it.  Memories, like a corner of my mind…...

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!