Holly Jolly Christmas

December is always a super busy month for us with all of the shopping we have to do for family. I remember the days before Porter when my presents were wrapped and under the tree by the first week in December. No matter how hard I try I just can't do that anymore. I assume it will only get harder as we have more children. Anyway, we were able to squeeze in a little bit of fun for ourselves in December.  Sweet friends of ours, Jordan and Jennifer, offered us tickets to the Starry Night Gala. We had a blast and I ate an insane amount of food. They had the best vendors. 

the obsession with our shoes continues

Why is taking the cushions off the couch so fun?

Our itty bitty tree turned out pretty :)

If I had a nickel for every time I said "don't touch the presents"......

We attempted a little photo shoot in the backyard for pictures to give to family. He wasn't the slightest big cooperative. 

If you take 100 pictures, you are liable to get at least one decent one.

Silly boy :)

We took our monkey to the zoo.

This zoo visit was a lot more fun than our first one. A) it wasn't 90 degrees B) the animals were actually out and about

That night we went to eat Sal and Mookies, then to see Christmas lights. It was fun seeing his reaction to the lights this year compared to Canton Lights last year.

Sunday we had pictures with Santa. That morning THIS happened, naturally. Yep a big ole shiner. He was jumping on the couch and fell into the paneling on the wall behind it just perfectly leaving him with an INSTANT black eye. 

This boy wears a black eye pretty well :) The pictures turned out precious. I wonder if three is the year he will be scared of Santa, because so far Santa and the Easter bunny are his bff.

After Santa, we treated our little black eyed buddy to ice cream

As if a black eye wasn't bad enough we had another accident that night. He kept running and jumping into his "anywhwere" chair, head first, over and over.  Every time he jumped, he pushed his chair closer to the brick hearth. At that point, Chris moved the chair away from the hearth. Well, it apparently  didn't register that the chair was gone because Porter ran and jumped head first, face planting into the sea grass rug. It was SO sad. Chris felt absolutely terrible. P was swollen and skinned up.  It broke my heart.

The magic of Christmas time

That weekend we celebrated early Christmas with Nonnie, Mike Mike, Aunt Abby and Uncle Michael since we would be in Atlanta at my parents house on Christmas Day.  I scrounged up what I could find that wasn't boxed up and cut some azaleas from the yard. Sweet and Simple. Yes, most of that kind of stuff is still boxed up because we will be moving out of this rental at some point. 

My mom gave me this sugar mold for my birthday a couple of years ago. It's such a great centerpiece for a dinner party. It's the perfect height and creates such a warm ambiance. 

Love these two

Gifts

It was all about food this Christmas. He got a new refrigerator and tons of food to go in it.

He needed uncle Michael's help opening this one

Just making a sandwich

Of course we had to put all of it in our refrigerator after we opened it

Phone shenanigans with Mike Mike

He had no idea that he was talking to him 5 feet away

Time to make Porter's first ginger bread house. It has been a tradition for Michael and Abby for years now and Nonnie wants to carry it on with Porter :)

He got side tracked with all the candy.

Then he decided he needed to eat half of the cookies before putting them on the house

Finished product. It only took me 2-3 months to throw it away. I kept it in the refrigerator because it made me laugh to look at it. Love these memories.

Love this crew

Lounging

cheap fun

We went to the McDonald's house the night before we left for Atlanta to have a tacky Christmas/birthday celebration for Chris Mc. 

This one had fun......

He loves his "Wucy" (Lucy) 

Blowing out candles takes a group effort

Disappearing head act

It's always a fun night when we get all of the kiddos together.

We left bright and early the next morning to go see Meme, Poppy and Uncle Larkin. 

My mom wrapped up every little thing she could find so he had presents starting the day before Christmas eve. He was a happy camper.

My brother will NOT get a hair cut so this is what she resorts to in the basement

Meanwhile, Porter and Poppy were having fun of their own in the basement 

Christmas Eve

He loved sitting on the stairs playing with "Sansa" which was perfectly placed for that very reason by his Meme

More present opening. He got to pick this time.

Meme is so silly

Bed time!

Santa came!

Christmas morning

Poppy's bike gear is sure is funny

It was a wonderful day

Mom had this little tree in her keeping room. It was filled with wooden ornaments that were made and personalized by my aunt for years and years. I love it.

When we got back from my parents house we had Christmas with Papa John, LoLo and Aunt Sharon.

In their uniforms. Camo, always. 

We went through old pictures

On New years Eve we went to the Wilsons' house for a spend the night party.  We did a mock New year celebration then put the kids down for the night. It was so good to have some one on one time with one of my besties and catch up.

We stayed up way too late. It was fun :)

What a year it has been! Thankful is the main word that comes to mind.  It was a good one! Happy New Year!!!

::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::Letter to Porter:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::

           
Porter,

                       

    I can't believe I have finally finished documenting two whole years of your life. I may have been behind at times, but I did it. I am so happy you will have this to look back at one day. I hope it conveys our immeasurable love that we have for you. You have been the light of our lives since the moment you entered this world. Each month comes with something new and just keeps getting better and better. You say the sweetest things and make us laugh constantly. I want to bottle your innocence and keep it forever.  It's like time gets a little faster every single day. As I am writing this you are now 2.5 years old. You tell me you "wuv me so much" all of the time. You will not let us walk out of the door without a hug (after fake leaving most of the time). You say the most off the wall things that makes us laugh like "are you kidding me?" and you are so polite with "please, thank you, bless you and I'm sorry" even though they are just words to you right now. You are very headstrong and determined and make me want to pull my hair out sometimes, but I would change absolutely none of it. You can be cautious with certain things while other things you dive right in. We have never known a love like this before and don't take it for granted. It brings a big, tearful smile to my face thinking about what's to come in years ahead. We love you with every bit of our hearts and souls Porter Banchero.

"Wuv"

Mommy and Daddy