Christmas Part One

Christmas has come and gone but no one is happier than me that the radio stations and CVS are still playing Christmas music! I guess "Let it Snow" could be considered a winter song? I'm just going to tell myself that so I can keep playing it in my office.

Kanyon's family started celebrating Christmas a little early when his oldest sister, Jada, got married about 10 (I think?) years ago so we had Kanyon's immediate family Christmas along with his two grandparent's Christmas-es all in one whirlwind of a weekend.

Sena, Daniel, Addalie and Asher were not able to make it since Asher was only about a week old at that point and Alan (Kyla's husband) is in residency and was unable to get off that weekend (the 17-19th). So we were missing a few but it was still a great time with family! Here are some pictures of our family Christmas:

 Emry's new silver shoes!

Vaughn got an iPhone from Kalith!!

 VeggieTales is always a winner.

 Harmonicas for all the kids? The parents thank you, Nana and Papa.

Doesn't Kyla look like she's thrilled Ava got one? Ha.

Like I said, we also had Meme and Grandad's Christmas that weekend - more pictures!

Some of the boy cousins and the 2nd cousins

And some of the girl cousins

Landon had to have shoulder surgery the week of all this but he took

it like a champ. We took it upon ourselves to recoup with him by laying around and 

watching all 6 Harry Potters with him. Its the kind of people we are.

Emry wanted to be in this picture so..

What the baby of the family wants, she gets.
Trust me.. you would not be able to resist that baby girl either.
Actually, she's not even the youngest. But she's smaller than the youngest.. yet she talks like
a 30 year old. Whatever. What Emry wants, I will give her.

Until recently, Micah was the baby of the family.
But Asher was born a week before! Pics of him coming later in another post.
(Gotta keep you wanting more, ya know.)

 All of us! (Minus the ones not there.. so not all of us.)

Notice someone (or ones) missing? Meme and Grandad came down with an awful stomach bug that week and couldn't be at their family's Christmas! It was very sad and we missed you both. That bug has been passed around our family all week.. And I have a bad suspicion Kanyon may be coming down with it. To be determined.

And now here are pics from Mama and Papa Brown's Christmas!

Kalith directing the Gift Exchange. It gets crazy.

Reese with her Uncle Nick. Check out those ankle warmers and tutu.

Kanyon and his dad. This picture makes me kind of emotional.. I'm becoming my mother.

Another emotion-inducing picture! Landon and Kanyon with their Papa Brown.

And all of us again! Notice the warrior in the bottom right.

Well, there's part one of our Christmas! We had part two the next weekend in Round Rock (where Sena and Daniel live) and Houston but since I've already posted pictures from Christmas Eve... it will be shorter!

But there's something else I needed to show...

My hair.

One day (last night) I went to my hair dresser (who I still love) and asked her to make my hair my natural color. She said my natural was so blonde still that I wouldn't tell a difference between what it already was and my natural. (See above pics for what it was obviously). So she said she would do it a couple shades darker blonde.

This is not blonde.

She said it would fade a lot after the first 5 or 6 washes.

But until then, if you say anything about my hair being b-r-o-w-n or call me a b-r-u-n-e-t-t-e, I will kill you.

BLONDE FOREVER.



Preparations

We are preparing for Mom's big Annual Christmas Eve Party and I thought I'd share some pictures!

Not quite best friends yet but getting there.. ha. 

Sniffing the flowers together, getting to know each other. Although Zeb is trying to move pretty fast for a first date.. if you know what I mean.

 Cooking all day! Mom putting parsley on the edge of the caviar pie.

Cole:  What is that for? 

Mom:  Its just for decoration.

Cole:  Decorative pillows and parsley - I just don't understand them!!

 Mom's beautiful Christmas tree and decorations.

 Christmas stockings and Star Wars on the TV. Notice Kanyon's recent addition stocking?

 Morning, early bird. (He got up at 11:15.)

 Hello, Holly Belle!

 The food table midway through preparations.

And the caviar pie. Mom said I should start making it and taking it to all the Welch parties. Sure, lets further reinforce my city girl history by bringing caviar to all the parties in the country. Psh.

Merry Christmas from the Browns

A List

What I've been thinking about this morning..

1. Top of my list: Why the heck am I (or anyone else) at the office today.. I have been reading HP all morning and making my round of blogs. There's.. nothing... to... do. Oh and have I mentioned that all the ministers have mumbled something about some errand that they have to do and snuck out the door? You can't fool me. I know you're going home and watching a Christmas movie and drinking hot chocolate, ignoring your conscience making you feel bad for leaving your support staff at the office.

Huff.

Alright, glad I got that out. Moving on.

2. Zeb is getting huge. And I gave him an intense bath last night which means he is at home smelling wonderful and super soft while I am here. Oops, sorry, I thought I had moved on.

3. This beautiful snowman that I got this weekend! I wish I could be crafty. I'd rather skip the frustration that will inevitably come with my using a hot glue gun and just buy it.

4. I reached a goal that I am particularly proud of: I have listened to over 40 hours of Pandora's Christmas Station this month. Yeesh. It asked me to pay 99 cents to continue listening past my free limit. Which is probably their way of saying "Are you crazy? You've listened to almost two days straight worth of Christmas music in 20 days. You have a problem."  

{I still paid the 99 cents,,}

5. Walmart's Paula Deen's "Fried Apple Pie" candle burning two feet from me. YUM.

6. Kanyon, Landon, and I have been having a Harry Potter marathon the last few days and we are on the sixth one tonight. 

I know what you're thinking. "Aren't you reading HP right now, too?" Yes. Yes, I am. 

Anyway, I know I have made a fan out of Kanyon, who said he would not watch the movies this time a year ago, and I think it is safe to say Landon has become a fan too. I am slowly converting Welch!

My brother dressed up as Horace Slughorn for the midnight showing of the 7th movie.. I would show a picture {if there was one} of him dressed up to embarrass him but .... its not possible to embarrass that kid.

And if you have no idea who Horace Slughorn is.. your life is sorely missing something. 

7. Again.. why am I at the office?

Cowboy the Snowman

Before I get into a big long post about Kanyon's Family Christmas-es that we had this weekend (three of them!), I wanted to show everyone this AMAZING gift my mom sent up to Welch with Kanyon's aunt.

One of my mom's best friends, who is also one of my best friend's mom, and was also my Young Life leader in high school (i.e. she is very important to me if you're not catching that), Diana Wisdom, made this gorgeous snowman for me!! I was sooo excited to see it when I opened it up!

It's so beautiful and completely hand-made by Diana. She made it specifically for me and Kanyon and customized it. See the cowboy hat..

The details just floor me. I spent a long time examining it last night, looking at all the amazing details, like the red thread ornaments and stars and the beautiful stitched horse.

And the cowboy Santa with his cowboy boots!

 And she also replicated Kanyon's tractor for the back of the Snowman's coat!!

How cute is that!?

I love everything including the bird on his shoulder and the bells and berries on his arm! And he even has a carrot nose, of course!!

Thank you so much Diana for putting so much love and work into this awesome gift that I know I will cherish for so long!

And don't worry. I trained Zeb good and long last night. I threatened him with no treats ever again if he came within ten feet of it.. But I decided to put it in our bedroom anyway where he can't get to it (he doesn't go on the carpet in our house). He is just a bebe still after all..



Tac's First Birthday

Tac (Taegan Allen Crisp) turns one this month! Al and Kasha threw a birthday party for him on Sunday night at her parent's house here in Welch.

 Want some cake?

I am so thankful for Kasha! She has become my best friend from the get-go out here. I am so blessed to have so many close girlfriends out here already.

 Tac likes our gift! Whew.

 Happy Birthday, little cowboy :)