Favorite Pics from Christmas

We hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas this year!

Spending time with family

We recently returned from a week-long visit to Georgia where we were able to spend time with several of our family members. While it was difficult trying to remember to pack everything that we would need for a week away from home, we managed to do so and had a very nice time. JD got to visit his Nana and Paw-Paw, his Gamma, his Uncle Stephen, his Aunt Amy, his cousins Trevor and Taylor, his Aunt G-G, his Uncle D, and his Aunt Mamie. Those were just the immediate family members that he saw! I won't bother listing all of the other people with whom we made sure to visit, but I can tell you that JD loved all of the attention. He also held up very well for taking such long trips in the car, but there were a couple of times when he reached his breaking point towards the end of the drive and we had to get very creative in trying to entertain him!

All in all, we had a very good time, and we celebrated an early Christmas with family while we were there. JD Sr, JD jr, and I will be spending Christmas at home in NC this year so that JD can experience waking up in his own bed on Christmas morning. He has loved having the Christmas tree in the living room these past couple of weeks, but I have had to stay on him constantly about removing ornaments from the tree. Now most of our ornaments have been moved to the top of the tree, so it looks a little funny, but what can you do? :^)

JD jr's very first haircut!

So here's a neat story:
We recently made a visit to Americus, GA where JD Sr grew up. We decided it was probably time for JD jr to have some of his hair trimmed off, so while we were in Americus, we took him to the exact same barber that gave JD Sr his very first haircut almost 30 years ago! As if that weren't neat enough, it turns out that not only did JD jr's dad have his hair cut by that barber, but also his grandfather, and both of his great grandfathers! Obviously they weren't all toddlers when they had their hair cut by this barber or else he would be over 150 years old. However, it was very surprising to find out that he has cut 4 generations of hair in our family! We also learned that he has cut Jimmy Carter's hair, so that will be something interesting to share with JD jr when he's older.

As far as the haircut, JD did SO well!! I was already preparing myself for a meltdown, especially after our Santa picture experience. However, he sat in the chair like such a big boy and didn't cry at all. I was shocked but very pleased. I asked the barber, whose name is "Soapy", not to take off too much, as I love the pieces of JD's hair that flip out on the sides. He did exactly as I asked, and the whole experience was great. I only hope that his second haircut goes just as smoothly!

Getting ready for Christmas...

Here are some fun pictures we took of JD the other day just before taking him to the mall to have his picture taken with Santa. He found the blinking red rudolph nose in a drawer and just loved putting it on and looking at himself in the mirror.

As far as having his picture made with Santa, he was NOT a big fan of that at all! He started crying as soon as his bottom made contact with Santa's knee and did not stop until we picked him up again. We even tried to bribe him with a sucker, but that didn't help the situation whatsoever. We told the photographer to take the photo anyway as it will be a funny picture to show JD when he's older. So, we left the mall with a picture of JD wailing and leaning out away from Santa's body with a sucker in one hand. We put our poor children through some of the strangest things sometimes! :^)