I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas and holiday weekend! I have to say that this has to be my favorite Christmas of all and that's saying a lot since I am a total kid at heart when it comes to the holidays LOL. Seeing Lucas really understand what was going on was priceless. Mike and I wanted to make sure that we really did a lot of fun Christmas events this year and we definitely did that!

The fun began the weekend before Christmas. On Sunday, we hosted a holiday brunch. The whole family--both sides came over--including my younger brother who has been away at boot camp for the Army. We hadn't seen him in 4 weeks so it was great to have him home!

On Monday, we went to a Stone Mountain Christmas where Lucas had a lot of firsts. He met Santa Claus for the first time. Wrote Santa a letter. Rode a train for the first time. Met a Snow Angel. Saw a fireworks display. And so much more! If you are ever in Georgia for the holidays you should definitely check Stone Mountain Christmas out. It is a truly magical event!

On Wednesday I cooked and baked for my parents Christmas Eve party. On the menu--spanikopita, zuccotta, French apple tart, caulifower gratin, and homemade creamed corn {recipes on all coming very soon!}. I even managed to bake the neighbors some pumpkin bread. By the end of the day, I was totally wiped, but then we packed some snacks and coffee and the three of us hopped in the car to check out the Christmas lights around town. I couldn't believe how into it Lucas was. Every time he saw lights, he would say, "Mama look! Wiiiites {aka lights}!"

On Thursday the three of us went to breakfast and when we came back home--we decorated Christmas cookies for Santa Claus.

That night, Mike's parents came over to give Lucas their special Christmas present. A train table. I can't tell you guys how much Lucas loves this thing!

Afterwords, we all headed to my parents annual Christmas Eve party. As always, it was awesome. Good food. Good company. Good times. We didn't get home until 1 am!

When we got home, Lucas put out the cookies we baked for Santa and of course--we also left Santa some milk and even put out carrots for the reindeer! Mike and I--of course--still has a lot to do after Lucas finally went to bed. We had to get all of the presents from the basement and put them under the tree.

Friday--Christmas morning was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. We actually ALL woke up pretty late--almost 10 am! The first thing Lucas remembered when he woke up was Santa's cookies. He wanted to check if "Santa Craws eat coooeeeeesss n milll" yet. We went downstairs to check and he forgot all about the cookies and milk when he saw all the presents under the tree! He literally squealed with delight LOL. After building a fire and baking some biscuits, we took our time opening presents. Lucas was really good--he opened a couple and then played with his new toys while Mommy and Daddy opened their presents.We went back and forth like that for hours--it literally took hours to open all the presents LOL.

Mike was very happy because Mrs. Claus {aka ME--his lovely wife} got him a blu-ray dvd player and a bunch of blu-ray dvds! I didn't put the box under the tree. I hid it. In a little gift bag, I placed a teeny note that said, "If you want this gift, you will have to find it." No clue or anything. He just had to search LOL. It was hidden under a couch in the living room. I also used some of Lucas' artwork as a gift tag.

And, I got some awesome gifts too! A canning set, a bunch of specialty baking supplies, enameled cast iron cookware set {SO EXCITED ABOUT THIS!}, a bunch of new cooking and craft books, a cozy chenille wrap, and more. One of my favorite gifts are these awesome embroidery kits by Sublime Stitching. I have always wanted to learn to embroider and these are just the thing to get me started! Honestly, I have been embroidering all weekend LOL. It is so much fun!

I can't believe this Christmas has come and gone. Time passes so quickly. Too quickly. By next week it will be 2010. Amazing.

This week we will be spending it trying to get ready for the new year. We will be cleaning and organizing. Out with the old to make room for the new so to speak. I will be blogging for the most part--limited at times since there is so much to do and I want--as much as possible--to enjoy these last few days of 2009 with Lucas and Mike and maybe even a little bit of embroidery LOL.