Isabelle's First Christmas

Our first Christmas with Isabelle was wonderfully busy and very memorable! It was a weekend full of family time and lots of gift-giving...although I couldn't help but marvel at our best gift yet! I found myself just stopping to stare at my beautiful little girl in total amazement. I realized that it was the same look my dad has given me throughout my life. It always drove me crazy (at the dinner table, or as I was working on some kind of project) and I would usually say, "stop staring at me, crazy!" or something along those lines. I definitely got the sentimental gene from my dad, who is known to shed a tear -of happiness- for (what seems to be) no apparent reason at all at many a family gathering. And now I understand that look. I give it to Isabelle because I sometimes can't quite believe that this is my life and that she is the center of it!

Our holidays are rarely relaxing, but always fun. We are so blessed that both of our families live in Charlotte, and we usually try to spend as much time as possible with everyone, which makes for a very busy day!

On the eve of Christmas Eve, Izzie and her new little cousin, Brooks, hang out.Christmas Eve...we spent some time at the Barksdales first.

Here are the babies with their hero, Butch.Izzie is always happy on Brun's lap.Then, off to my family's home. Isabelle was getting sleepy so we started off the evening with our family ritual, reading The Night Before Christmas. It wouldn't be Christmas without opening up the exact same book...I don't remember a year without this special tradition.

Always an animated Granddaddy Norfleet.

And of course a FLASHBACK! Here I am, age 8, with my dad and brother, Matthew.

Ah, yes, that was my year of the mullet. Sad but true.Uncle Matt!This Christmas we had the pleasure of sharing it with my Aunt Helen, Uncle Paul and cousins, Chris and Ginny, who came all the way from California to spend the holiday with us. Here we are, singing carols after a typical gourmet meal at the Pruden house. Christmas Morning! We headed straight to the Barksdale house as soon as Isabelle was fed. Having arrived there at 8 am we thought for sure we had missed seeing Lauren and Caden open their gifts from Santa. To our surprise, Lauren and Caden "shooshed" us in and told us to be very quiet because the adults were asleep and they weren't supposed to wake anyone up! They sat and played with Isabelle while waiting for everyone to get up...I couldn't believe it! (not as many pictures at the Barksdales without my snaphappy dad to take them!)
After opening lots of gifts and enjoying a yummy brunch, we were back to the Prudens for even more presents! Safe to say Isabelle was just a tad bit spoiled this Christmas.
Happily spoiled! She was a big fan of opening gifts. And an even bigger fan of eating them! She probably enjoyed the boxes and the ribbon more than the actual gifts. Just a few toys. The fatigue is starting to set in...
Of course Crockett is never left out!
After a little bit of rest, we headed off again...this time to the Tucks for the annual gift exchange and gathering with LOTS of family (and kids!). This family is growing at an exponential rate these days, making holidays very festive!
Frances and her little man, Brooks.The brothers having fun with HillSometimes the gifts are not exactly sought after. Who's gonna get the Shake Weight?!Janet and her new friend, Mickey.
Mac, the proud owner of a new singing tree hat.
Isabelle always gets lots of love and hugs from sweet Betsy Grace.
Baby was happily passed around all night....Loving the snow globe on Mary Lou's lap.
Helena's lap.Becky's lap.Ellie's lap!Finally we scurried off to Christmas dinner at my parents'. We are all members of the clean plate club!Cici can never get enough.I had such a hard time taking off that precious dress (worn only twice) to put Isabelle in her PJs. We finally shared some quiet moments together (this was one of about 50 pics...thanks to Santa for my new camera!).And the best part of the whole weekend...we woke up to a beautiful winter wonderland the day after Christmas!Isabelle's first snow day! What a nice way to end a wonderful (and very tiring) weekend. Oh, wait...I almost forgot. The weekend is never quite over without a cake! That's right, I slaved away the day after Christmas, finishing a winter wonderland themed SWEET SIXTEEN(!) cake! It was actually quite fun and the weather definitely got me in the mood...in between naps and stumbling over the jumbled mess of boxes and scattered toys all over our house, I had some fun sprinkling silver dragees and sugar snowflakes on a birthday cake.

Now if I could just sleep for an entire day...