The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

This was the first year we spent Christmas just the two of us (plus Lion-O).  Because of doctor's orders, I am too far along in my pregnancy to travel.  It was a good year to stay in Savannah because Curtis was very busy with his sermons.  Not only did he have two sermons to preach on Sunday, but he also had one on Christmas Eve. 

We made s'mores in our fireplace.

It was really fun and memorable!

On Christmas Eve, we drove around looking at Christmas lights.  We even decided to take Lion-O with us.  He loved looking out the window at all the lights.  He acts very similar to a dog!

Curtis and Lion-O in the car

On Christmas Day, we were ready to open gifts!

But first...Curtis read to us from Luke 2 to remind us of the best gift of all.  God sending His son! :)  We're hoping to start this new tradition with our family.

We tried to get some family pictures, but Lion-O wasn't cooperating that well.  Our picture (at the top of this post) was one of the best ones, but then you don't get to see the pregnancy bump!

Lion-O jumped down right when this picture was taken.  I thought this picture was funny!

We finally got a good shot (without Lion-O).

Although we didn't travel, we had family come to us before and after Christmas.  Curtis' dad, Curt, was able to visit for a few days before Christmas.  We had a great time, but we forgot to take pictures with him.  :( The day after Christmas, my parents came to visit.  My mom helped me prepare the nursery for our little bundle on the way.  She helped me wash all my newborn and 0-3 month clothing.  She will definitely have plenty of clothes!

We tried to take a picture to show our new Christmas ornaments that we obtained to commemorate 2012.  It's hard to see, but Curtis has a little snowman that says "DAD" and mine is a diaper bag that says "New Mom."  We are getting excited that she will be arriving soon!

We enjoyed our time with my parents.  I think they had a good time too.

Lion-O's gift to Curtis was snuggling up on a cold night. :)

It's hard to believe that this will be the last Christmas that we will have without our daughter!  We look forward to celebrating next year (and many more years) with her.

A Curtis Style Christmas

Here's our McDaniel family Christmas 2011 picture:

I mentioned that our Christmas was "Curtis Style" - in case you didn't know this, my maiden name is "Curtis" - so, we spent Christmas this year with my side of the family, the Curtis'.  Before I go into all of the Christmas festivities with the family, I will start with the cat family...

 Here we have Buddy Curtis (left) and Regis Curtis (right) meeting Lion-O McDaniel.  We say these are his uncles.  Regis was my cat when I was living with my parents, but they didn't let me keep him when I moved out and got married. 

 I thought this photo was just precious.  Buddy is checking out the toilet while Lion-O is hiding in the bathtub.

 Here's a picture of my mom holding Regis.

Regis must have remembered me because he snuggled up to me while I was on the couch and made himself at home.

In this photo, Lion-O is wearing a Mexican hat that he received from my parents for Christmas.

Here we have Curtis & Lion-O taking a cat nap on Christmas Day.

 OK, so on to the rest of the family:

 We spent Christmas Eve going to a candelight service at Pinewood.  Afterwards, we headed over to Uncle David's house for a nice family dinner.  In the above picture, we have all 3 of the Leinecker kids.  Uncle Rick, my mom and Uncle David.

 Here's my grandmother, Margaret (Marge) Leinecker.  I was named after her. :)

 Here's my grandfather, Richard (Dick) Leinecker.

 Here's a good picture of my cousins, Jason & Jennifer, sandwiched in with my parents.

 ...and here we are with my cousins, too!

  Aunt Ginger & her dog, Lucy.  Ginger is also carrying a baby that is due in May.

The next day, we woke up very early and opened up gifts.  We had a nice breakfast and then we went to a Christmas Day service at Pinewood.  It was very encouraging - they even spent some time talking about dealing with loss during the holidays.  It was very emotional for Curtis and I, but we are so glad that we made the decision to go!  

Curtis and I also had the opportunity to skype with his family in Pennsylvania.  We would love to be able to celebrate the holidays with both sides, but it can be so difficult when they live so far apart.

Later on, we had almost the entire family on my mom's side come over for a Christmas dinner.  Everything was tasty!  Afterwards, we had some entertainment for the whole family with a Wii game called "Just Dance 3" that Curtis got me for Christmas.

Here I am trying to emulate the dance moves on the screen - it was more difficult than I thought!

 Here's my younger brother's attempt!

 Curtis did a great job.  We even have some of his footage on youtube, if you are interested, click here.

 Ben & Uncle Rick - dancing together!

 Jason, Curtis & Ben dancing.

 My mom, Jennifer & Jason getting down.

A father-daughter dance!

Curtis & I danced to "A Crazy Little Thing Called Love."

 We had a lot of fun!

Two days after Christmas, we headed to Melbourne to visit some of my dad's side of the family - two uncles, an aunt & a little cousin. 

Here I am spending time playing with my cousin, Elle, in a tube!  She was so cute and we had a great time with her.  We even played on her playground outside.

 Here's Curtis & I on the swing!  We bought Elle a Looney Tunes mix-and-match game for Christmas.

 We immediately started playing the game.  I think Elle really enjoyed our gift!

Curtis and I were able to see most of my family on both sides - we were missing my older brother and his family (but we got to see them for New Year's - post will come soon), 3 of my cousins, and one aunt!  Now that we are all getting older and moving all over the country, it can be difficult to get everyone together.  I'm very thankful for my family and the new memories that we made this year.

Christmas Time 2011

It's almost that time again!  Christmas - when we remember that our Savior came to this earth as a man.  As Hebrews 2:17 says, "Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people."  If Jesus hadn't become a man, he would not be able to sympathize with our weaknesses or understand what we are going through.  He was able to live on the earth, be tempted as every human is, and yet able to be without sin (Hebrews 4:15).  It is so encouraging to think that we have Jesus interceding on our behalf to God our Father!

We had lots of Christmas parties to celebrate - Progressive Dinner with the youth group, one with all the reformed pastors and their wives in the area, an open house at our senior pastor's house, a youth ministry leadership team party, a shepherding group party, and our young marrieds' small group (see more by going to Laura's post).  One of the parties at my house was a Park Lane jewelry party.  Here's some of my decorations:

Of course, the Christmas tree :)

 Kitchen towels

 Bathroom towels

Our stockings - Lion-O, Curtis and mine

We are now "partied-out" and ready for Christmas!  We look forward to celebrating with my family!