STOKER FAMILY

I can hardly believe that this was our third Christmas here in Georgia. The first Christmas it was Paul, me and Gavin. Second Christmas was Paul, me, Gavin and Sidney and now our third Christmas here we have Paul, me, Gavin, Sindey and Brynn. I would have to say that a lot has happened in these last 2 plus years that we have lived here.

Well here are a few photos of our third Georgia Christmas.






Brynn with her big silly grin at the ready.





I noticed awhile ago, way back when I was a teenager that Christmas did not feel same as when I was little. I know everyone feels that way, but the biggest reason for me that it did not feel the same was that when I was smaller it really did feel like it was more about Christ than it was about Santa. It seemed that Santa was over shadowing Christ little by little each year.


Now I am all for all the fun silly stuff that Christmas brings along with it, but now that I am a parent it seems that each year there is a new little (expensive) something that we have to have or do because everyone else is. Well this year it was the Elf on the Shelf. What is that! Well that is what I thought when Gavin asked if we could have that since all his friends had it. For those of you who don't know, it is all the rage this year, or maybe for a few year and I just did not notice until now.


Gavin asked if we could get The Elf on the Shelf just a few days before Christmas and I just decided enough was enough and we where not going to do it, but it is really hard to say no to my little man, so as a compromise, we made one. It is not as cool, I am sure, as the real one, but we had fun making it.

I am sure I will give in and get the real elf one of these Christmas's and I don't mean to offend anyone who has it and likes it. I just enjoy fighting against anything that is really trendy, so I can feel like I am keeping it real.

Each year Grandma Stoker buys the kids new pajamas. This is a tradition I love.

Here is the result of a lot of shopping and hard work.

And several hours of manual labor by Paul. I was so excited about this gift and Paul acted like we were not going to get it, but then he surprised me and got it anyway. He is soooo sneaky.

Sidney loved her new Mickey Mouse bike and sat on it half the day, since we could not go out and ride, due to the rain.

The aftermath.

Totally worth it.