as the world Turns...: Jesus' Birthday Party!

We had such a fun Christmas this year. Reilly is at a great age to really experience the magic of Christmas. She was very proud of the fact that she could tell you the whole Christmas story (the story of Jesus' birth). even now, a whole week after Christmas, every book she "reads", she ends up interjecting the Christmas story events! I was blown away that she actually let me videotape her giving her spin on the events as they happened. (as soon as I can get Blogger to upload the video, I'll post it! UGH!)

For the first time in almost 20 years, we did NOT celebrate Christmas Eve the way we've done all this time. Instead, we went to church with Grandpa and Nanny, came home to a great dinner, opened a few presents, and had Jesus' birthday cake with ice-cream. I must add a tiny detail that is quite ironic and pretty funny. My favorite kind of chocolate cake is "Devils Food cake"...b/c it's so moist and just yummy. Well, as I was planning on what we would have for Jesus' birthday cake, I thought surely He would haven liked the same kind of cake I do, so a "Devils Food Cake" is exactly what I made...for Jesus. Does that sound wrong or bad to you?? Maybe an "Angel food Cake" would have been a better choice?? Oh well. Maybe next year:)

We woke up Christmas morning and let Reilly in on the Santa secret. It was really the first time we ever told her about Santa leaving presents during the night. Don't really know if she got it, but I do know that after she came down and saw the presents that were out for her, she picked up her new "cell phone" and called Santa to tell him thank-you!! The most favorite gift, and the one that she hardly lets out of her sight, was a Dora purse with a pink cell phone and an EIGHT-pack of flavored chapstick!!! She even held the purse with both hands all the way to the beach!! We had a yummy french toast breakfast and then loaded up the car and headed to Ocean Isle Beach to be with my family at my grandparents' house. Memama of course made an over-the-top, awesome Christmas dinner. It was a bit sad and akward not having Mymike there for the first time, but it was very special to have almost our whole extended family together, in one house, with Memama. Here are lots of pics to recap all the happenings!