Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Santa???

EMMA!!!!! She was only a couple of months old when she first met Santa so sitting on his lap was no biggie, but her 2nd encounter with him....not so much! I was a little skeptical about their meeting due to the fact that Emma was scared to DEATH of the Tickle Me Elmo chair at our house! I knew that couldn't be a good sign. Of course, I stayed hopeful because with Truett and Santa, it was love at first sight!

Anyway, we opted to skip the mall this year (although if we can catch Santa on a slow day, we may go back next year...he's a GREAT Santa) and chose to visit Santa in Coppell. He usually sits out in his front yard for a couple of hours each night, the whole week before Christmas. Surprisingly, we were the ONLY ones there! ***DISCLAIMER***Santa does not have a bonk eye...just foggy glasses! :)
Truett couldn't jump out of the car fast enough and ran right up to Santa. Emma, on the other hand, would have been perfectly happy for us to drive right past the man in the red suit. :) She even cried when she saw Truett on his lap! I guess she assumed he was in fear for his life, like she was, and cried FOR him. :)
The good thing about visiting this Santa was that there was no long line to wait in and we took our own FREE pictures, soooo, the fact that it was a bust wasn't so bad.

Since then, Emma has warmed up to the Elmo chair and with Easter coming up, we'll have a test run with the Easter Bunny. Hopefully by the time Santa makes his appearance this year, she will have gotten over her fears. Not counting on it....just hoping! :)

I'll Be Late for Christmas!

YES! I'm just getting around to posting pics from Christmas. YES! There are a lot of them. YES! I've come up with a plan to avoid this next year! :)

Just like everyone else, Christmas time is probably our busiest time of the year. Between Christmas shopping, caroling parties, family celebrations and baby showers, December seemed to be especially packed with activities and celebrations. I think next year, I'm going to try to blog after each event so that everything is not all crammed into one, but this year, a 'photo blog' is going to have to do! ENJOY!!!

Goulas Christmas Caroling Party

Mary and 'Baby Jesus'

Baby Jesus doing some light reading in the manger

Mary, Joseph and the Angels of the Lord

Baby Jesus and the donkey that Mary rode on to get to Bethlehem.

Baby Jesus kept petting the donkey. I guess she thought he was a puppy....not sure WHY she would think that! :)

The Holy Family, the Shepherds, Angels and Wisemen

Christmas with the Praytors

Truett and baby Jesus

Gramma and Dakota - Dakota painted this apron for her

Truett & Tuck the Tortoise (gift from Jay and I)

Emma checking out her Christmas goods

Christmas Eve

I don't know why Truett wasn't in any of the pics, but if I had to guess, I'd say it was probably due to the fact that he rarely stays in one place long enough for me to get a picture!

Christmas morning at our house

Santa's apple turnovers and chocolate milk. I'm glad Santa is so polite and leaves a Thank You note each year!

Truett's gifts

Emma's gifts

Christmas morning snowfall at our house....it was 70 degrees the night before!!!!!!!! Christmas morning with the Goulases and Ryans

New Year's Eve with the Rashes, McDonalds, Ritzels and Calhouns

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAPPY NEW YEAR! LOVE, THE PRAYTORS