A Christmas recap...

Seasons greetings, my dedicated (and few) readers! Christmas has come and gone, but fear not, Harper is still sportin' her seasonal gear. She received so many different Christmas-themed outfits that there simply was not enough time to get them all in the rotation by the 25th. Don't be surprised if you catch HP donning a tunic adorned with what might be a Christmas tree on into February...we're repurposing it as a Valentine's tree!

Our family had a wonderful Christmush. Four of them, to be exact! We kicked off the marathon on the 24th with my side of the family. I had high hopes of Harper enjoying her first Christmas, or at least staying awake for the occasion. We started the gift opening segment of the evening a tad too late, and Jeff had to step out and put the Punkie to sleep. Luckily, my niece, Audrey, made an enthusiastic assistant and helped me open all of her cousin's gifts.

The next morning we set off to Abilene to celebrate with the extended Peel family. (11:30 barely qualifies as morning, Jeff!) We had to rechart our course a couple of times as neither of us will ever be mistaken for Magellan. At last, we made it there, and Harper finally got to meet the whole Peel gang! She particularly seemed to enjoy being held by Jeff's younger cousins, aka "the M girls!" Despite the long drive and the numerous introductions to new relatives, Harper remained in good spirits throughout the day. She made her 'rents proud! We stayed at a hotel that night, and headed back to Waco the next morning.

We celebrated Christmas #3 late that afternoon at Nana & Poppa Peel's house. Harper stared with wide eyes at all the bright-colored wrapping paper and tissue flying through the air. I couldn't tell which gift she loved most, but I'm going to pick the suede mini-skirt and sock monkey slippers. Jeff loved the slippers, but I don't imagine he is a big fan of the skirt! In fact, I believe he said it would be used as a burp cloth in lieu of Harper actually wearing it! Cuatro Christmas took place the next day, same place, with Jeff's local grandparents. (I say local, but the truth is we all live in the same neighborhood!)

Needless to say, Harper racked up some serious Christmas swag. The kid has no concept of stuff, yet she managed to land a mountain of it! I wish she had gotten to meet Santa this year, but it just wasn't in the cards. Oh well, maybe she'll meet the jolly fat man next year. At this point, Santa is just another person for Harper to flirt with or spit up on…she wouldn't give preferential treatment despite his VIP status!

With barely a chance to wind down from Christmas, today is already New Year's Eve. We have yet to make plans to celebrate the stroke of midnight, but we shall definitely be breaking out the bubbly around lunch time! Our good friends, (Sara) Breyer & Coats, are scheduled to have twins today by c-section at approximately 1PM. We are all excited to meet the boys, Kase and Kyle! Harper is already at odds trying to figure out which stud muffin she should date first. ;)

I have a plethora of new pics to share, but I'm low on time this morning. Stay tuned!

Wishing you all the best in 2009,
Jenny