I'm a big Christmas Dork...

How great does our tree look!?  I'm so proud of it.

Well at least now I have a good excuse for being so behind.  Christmas!  I have completed all my shopping and have less than 10 boxes left to wrap.  I'm feeling really happy about that.  I love Christmas.  I'm cheezy, I know...and everyone makes fun of me for it.  You all know I'm 12 years old at heart.  So Anne's family commits the cardinal sin every year...they open their gifts CHRISTMAS EVE!?  Who's ever heard of such a thing!?  Santa doesn't come on Christmas freakin' Eve...he comes on Christmas morning.  For the love of Christ.  And it's his birthday...can't we pay the man some respect and celebrate it on the right day?  I've finally conceded and open  their gifts that night and give them mine...but I told Anne to give me one that night "if she has to" and hold the rest until JC's birthday.  Sadly, Tatum and Tinsley are still too young to "get Christmas" but nex year I think we'll be in the thick of it. I'm going to be the Dad who falls off the roof and breaks his leg while throwing pecans on the roof and ringing sleigh bells while yelling "HoHoHo."  I try so hard to get Tatum to understand the excitement of the holiday but so far, to no avail.  She does like peeking under the tree but has been great about not trying to open things.  So, this is an exciting week for me.  I love giving gifts and get criticised for going a little overboard.  It's not so much about the amount spent to me, but the number of gifts.  My parents always gave us HUGE Christmas mornings and it must have worn off.  Christmas are some of the best memories I have of my childhood and I want to make sure it's great for my kids too.  

Big news in the family...Cole and Tara had their little girl, Cannan.  I got a few pics of her.  She's so adorable.  A full head of dark hair.  She's a week old now and everyone is adjusting well.  We pull our hair out every now and then with 2 kids 2 years apart...they have 2 kids one year apart...WOW!  I'm envious in a lot of ways because they will grow up so close and have so much fun together...like Cole and I did (13 months apart).  I'm excited for them.  And I love her name...nice to see someoen in the family stuck with the "C" theme...Cord, Cole, Cross, Cannan.  

A cute picture of Cole and Tatum at the hospital.  He always makes her laugh and smile.

Cole had his 33rd birthday last week and Tara has her 32 birthday today (Happy Birthday Aunt Rara!).  Here's a pic of Tatum enjoying Cole's birthday cake.  

Friday night we went to the Trail of Lights.  Anne didn't go and it worked our perfectly.  Again, me being the tradition holiday spirited guy that I am, I've been dying to go and wanting so much to take Tatum.  Anne has agreed to go to please me but something she's been less than enthusiastic about doing.  It turns out I went with Tatum, my Mom, Cole and Cross.  We had a great time.  Tatum really liked the Christmas tree and kept spinning around and around under it and loved it when Mom or Cole held her in their arms and turned around.  I did it a time or two and almost puked so was happy to let them enjoy the moment with her.  We walked the Trail of LIghts and fought the massive crowd.  It's such a neat thing.  I just wish there were some night when you could pay a high price and have 1/10 of the people.  That's so snobby and not much in the spirit now is it?  My favorite part was one of the Winney the Pooh (no, I can't spell that) displays where they have all the animals and I'd ask Tatum "where's the donkey" and she'd point to him.  Where's the rabbit?  She's again point to the rabbit.  Each time she'd exclaim "I did it!"  She was so proud of herself.  That was a great moment for me...watching how she's learned so much so fast.  Their little brains are amazing.  She probably thinks I'm an idiot for explaining so much to her in such an elementary way.  

Mom with Cross and Tatum at the entrance to the Trail of Lights.  

It was cute...this afternoon we went to my Dad's house (he's been sick and Tatum took him some cookies and a flower) and on the way we drove past my Dad's office.  She said "PawPaw's office" as we drove by and then immediatly said "TayTay's bank" which is across the street from his office and where she has a little bank account.  Awesome.

Anne and Pippy took Tatum to the Children's Museum to make a Gingerbread house.  Anne said it was a riot because as soon as they'd put something on the house, Tatum would take it off and eat it.  I think she ate more things than she put on the house but what they created sure is cute!

This Wed. Anne took Tatum to BaLay class.  Tatum wanted to wear her black tights and Tutu...she LOVES her tights.  She also insisted on her pink boots!  I don't know that they let her wear them in class but she did wear them to class.  Too cute.

Yesterday (Saturday) we took her to The Nutcracker.  We were so excited because she's been taking "Balay" (we've lost the Beelay, which I loved to much).  We went for the 2nd act because she saw the first act last year.  She seemed interested for about 10 minutes then became more interested in the extra seats beside us, pulling the sweater of the lady in front of us and talking to the little girl behind us.  Tatum was standing up in her chair because she couldn't see the stage and some crotched (sp?) old lady behind us said "can you make your daughter sit down, my grandchild can't see and these were expensive tickets."  I bit my tongue from telling her just how much we've contributed to the Ballet to let her know in fact it was more our privledge than hers to see the damn show...but instead decided it was time to go.  Tatum entertained everyone in the lobby by dancing around in circles and running from end to end.  I think she had more fun out there than inside.  It was still a great experience and one I'm sure we'll keep for years to come.  For the short term future I need to remember to buy the seats both in front of and behind us so we can enjoy the show a little more ourselves.

Here we are leaving for the Nutcracker.  I found Tatum a super cool Christmas skirt that was "approved" by Anne and even made the final cut to wear to the Nutcracker!  I was so proud of myself for my sense of fashion.  I get made fun of because I can't dress myself cool but I can make Tatum look good (which isn't hard!) . 

Tatum has really begun to love saying "that's my ____"  whatever it is. "That's my doggy" "That's my water"  "That's my moon."  Several days ago I was clutzing through the house and she was following beind me.  I tripped over the baby gate and fell down a small set of 4 stairs.  As I laid on the floor I just heard Tatum laughing and she points and says "That's my Daddy!"  She was proud of me and wanted me to know she'd still claim me even if I embarassed her.  It warmed my heart.  I'll have to remind her of that when she's 13 and I drop her off at school in a mini-van and I'm wearing shorts and black socks pulled up to my thighs.  

At Tatum's school they were doing some type of Christmas program.  They called Anne at 8am and asked if she could bring Tinsley up at 1:00 to be "the Baby Jesus."  So...Tinsely made her first appearance before a live audience and I hear did a wonderful job.  Anne was the Virgin Mary which I think is more than akward.  Anyway...I was so excited about Tinsley's invitation and told Tatum that "TinTin is going to be Baby Jesus!"  She went around all day saying "TinTin's Baby Jesus."  I'm not sure people at the grocery store found it amusing but I loved it.  Every now and then she'll still throw in a "TinTin's my Baby Jesus."  It's so precious.  

A few random pics from the past 2 or 3 weeks:

A night on the town with Anne, Kyle and Wiggles

In case you're wondering, Anne's not in the picture about!  Here she is...

Tinsley is the happiest little girl you can find.  She's just been amazing.  She's sleeping so well and when she's awake she's just smiling and cooing and trying so hard to talk and let us know what's going on.  She's just beautiful and a joy to have.  I love making her smile and hope to continue that until the day that I die.

If you haven't been to "The Hoppin' House" you must go.  It's a warehouse FULL of these jumping things that kids love.  Tatum's friend, RJ, had his 3rd birthday party there and she was crazy about jumping in all these things.  She was also super excited about her friend, Reese, being there.  She always loves saying Reese's name.  They are a month apart to the day so it's fun to see them together.  At the Hoppin' House I was in charge of running around with her and chasing her up the ladder and down the slide.  I had an absolute blast but boy did it tire me out!  If you have little ones, YOU MUST GO!  It's like $5/kid and worth every penny.  It's tucked away in Lakeway but worth the drive. 

I'm suppossed to play golf at 9am this morning (it's currently 1:45am)!  It's also suppossed to be 39 degrees outside.  Those 2 things don't go together in my book.  I've told my friend that we might just settle for breakfast tacos and hot chocolate.  We'll see how that goes.  I'm going to snuggle in my bed now and get myself warm so I don't freeze tomorrow.  

Happy Happy Holidays to all of you.  I hope you have a great time whatever you do and however you choose to celebrate.  We're going to have a big day around here and I bet 'ya I'm so excited I wont' be able to sleep!  If you need someone to come and throw pecans on your roof and ring some sleigh bells, please let me know!  I need some practice for next year!!  

Peace and Love to All of You!  Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night...

Love,

Cord