What a Wonderful Christmas!

There is no denying that Conor is a very lucky little guy. He has 3 sets of amazing Grandparents, Aunts, and Uncles that absolutely adore him. He truly had the best Christmas ever!

Christmas night is always spent with his Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Lara, and Uncle James (and now Scout). Conor was so excited on the way to see everyone...most of all their puppy Scout. He was sitting in the backseat clapping and sqealing "Yay, Stout!" The favorite gift of the evening was an awesome set of tiny golf clubs. He was so excited to have real clubs like his Daddy's. He played golf until he wore himself out. Thank you for such a memorable Christmas!

Conor Jamming

Merry Christmas!

I've always loved Christmas morning! This may have been the last year before Conor starts waking us up super early to open his presents. I hope everyone enjoyed sleeping in one last time :) Once again Conor had numerous fun gifts to open. A very unexpected favorite gift was this Dirt Devil vacuum that "Santa" picked up at the last minute. Once he opened the vacuum nothing else mattered. He received a whole slew of fun and exciting gifts, but he would always go back to the vacuum. Kids can be so unpredictable! We were so lucky to get to spend Christmas morning with the whole family. Thank you Nana & Pops for such a wonderful Christmas!!!

"Twas the Night Before Christmas..."

Every year we spend Christmas Eve with Baba & Papa. Conor had such a blast playing with his new toys. We tried to explain Santa Clause to him, but he's still not quite sure about that. We told him Santa brought him this tricycle but he keeps saying "Baba buy me this bike!". We couldn't believe he actually wore the helmet...he's such a good boy! Thank you Baba & Papa for another fun and very special Christmas Eve!

Priceless!

A Love of Cooking

Warren and I have always loved cooking together. From the time when we first began dating in college we've always had such fun planning, shopping, and cooking a new recipe together. So, we were not surprised at all that Conor shares our same passion for cooking. I particularly love cooking during the winter months. It's so cold and dreary outside and there's nothing better than delicious aromas filling the house. Lately we've enjoyed cooking our most favorite comfort foods as well as some new more ambitious dishes. We have found that the best way to entertain Conor while we are cooking is to give him his own ingredients and work space. He absolutely loves mixing, pouring and stirring his own concoctions. He takes great pride in his creations. (Nana bought this adorable little apron for Conor last month...she's always one step ahead of me :) There is just something very special about cooking as a family.

The best Christmas Carol

Several years ago I was at home for Christmas break from college and witnessed quite possibly the greatest performance of a Christmas carol ever. Pavarotti and Vanessa Williams performed a duet of Adeste Fideles together with a children's choir. It instantly became my favorite! It wasn't until a few years later that I saw it again on a Saturday Night Live Christmas special and I fell in love with it all over again. Unfortunately this is where the story truly begins.

Every Christmas I was reminded of the song but was never able to find it again. I would wait and wait for Saturday Night Live to do their Christmas special wondering if this would be the year they would show it again. My hopes were consistently crushed as they failed to replay it. This led me to trying to find it online. I searched and searched and searched for literally HOURS attempting to find it online. I encountered several people like me who wondered if they would ever be able to see the performance again (1, 2, 3). The more I searched, the more discouraged I became. According to Wikipedia, the song isn't even shown in syndication and their performance was removed from the opening credits.

I began to wonder if either Pavarotti or Vanessa Williams' people didn't like the song and had SNL agree to never show it again. Maybe I had "good old day" syndrome and was remembering the song differently than it truly was. Maybe Pavarotti was ashamed and made sure the song would never be heard again. I could easily find him singing the song solo or a duet with Trisha Yearwood (yuck!). Why was this particular version so hard to find?

This brings us to this past Thursday. Saturday Night Live was again showing a Christmas special and for some reason I was optimistic. When I first heard about it several weeks ago, I put it on the calendar to remember to set the DVR. When Thursday rolled around, I made sure it was set to record and I waited in anticipation. 7:00 rolls around and it is showtime. I got busy taking care of Conor and didn't get a chance to start watching until 8:30 or so. I start at the beginning and fast forward through the whole show still keeping the dream alive until it got to 8:57, only 3 minutes left in the show. Commercials end and they start playing the closing song. The cast is bowing and thanking everyone-the show was over and they didn't play Adeste Fideles. I was crushed.

The next night it got to be 2:00 in the morning and I couldn't sleep. I decided to browse around on the internet just for kicks to see if I could find my song. I went to nbc.com and noticed that they had posted a few new "holiday" videos. It definitely piqued my interest. 5 new videos were on the first page including classics like "Schweddy Balls" and "Horatio's Christmas Treat." I clicked to go to page 2....and there it was! I had to read Pavarotti and Vanessa Williams a few times before it sunk in. Here was my song! It was just as I remembered, absolutely extradordinary and moving. Hopefully you all will enjoy it as much as I do!

Adeste Fideles

Christmas in Frisco - Safety Town

Saturday night we took Conor to Frisco Fire Department's Safety Town. It is a miniature version of the City of Frisco complete with miniature houses, a Walmart, restaurants, businesses, and even street lights and signs. The purpose of Safety Town is to teach young kids how to be safe everywhere they go. During December Safety Town is decorated beautifully with Christmas lights and there are fun activities for kids. Conor and Ava had a blast running through the streets of Safety Town with their balloons. It was a beautiful December night!

Ava's Birthday Party

Last weekend Conor's best friend Ava had her 2nd birthday party. It was really funny to watch a group of 2 year olds interact. None of them quite knew what they were supposed to do. Everyone was pretty shy...until the cookie decorating began. They had so much fun decorating and eating Christmas cookies, it was so fun to watch how each child approached this task. Some were incredibly neat (Conor), while others were extremely messy, and others didn't want to decorate at all...they just wanted to eat the cookies. Notice the Elmo and Cookie Monster cupcakes. These yummy treats were made by Ava's Aunt Jessica...is she talented or what?! Oh, and only a first time mother like me would let their kid eat a red Elmo cupcake in a white shirt...