No apologies, no guilt

No apologies for not writing, for not keeping up. Sometimes life gets too busy, sometimes life seems overwhelming and putting one foot in front of the other seems like effort, sometimes you are just enjoying your life with the people you love and don't want to stop to take the time that blogging takes and sometimes you just don't feel like it. So......no apologies, no guilt.

Visit To Santa

Since we moved to Georgia in 2006, I have always taken the girls to see Santa on the Square in Marietta. I love the tradition of it. Standing outside bundled up, stamping my feet to keep them warm (40 degrees is cold to me now!), watching the girls play on the train engine in the corner of the square and waiting for when they will be ushered into the tiny little building that houses Santa and his workers.

Last year we ended up there on Christmas Eve with about 50 other families. I vowed that this year would be different, that I would take the girls right after Thanksgiving. It didn't happen. Time got away from me and before I knew it it was three days and then two days and then one day before Christmas.

And so this year, I broke with tradition and took them to see Santa near our home. And how did I get them to agree? I got them to agree by offering up Santa and a horse ride all at the same time. It seemed like a win-win proposition. The girls love horses and I needed a picture of them with Santa. When we got there Destiny decided that she was too old but I convinced her that she needed to at least stand in the picture.

The verdict. The picture was cute but Santa was just a tad bit lacking. Next year we are headed back to the Square in Marietta.

Christmas 2009

Christmas 2008

Christmas 2007

Christmas 2006

The dreaded question

More than, "Where do babies come from?" I have dreaded the question, "Is Santa real?" For 9 years I have escaped the question. I think this is partly because Santa isn't that big of a deal in our house.

We sit on his lap and take a picture and tell him what we want, we put out cookies and milk for him on Christmas Eve and then we find our one to two presents under the tree on Christmas morning. We don't threaten the "if you don't behave then Santa won't come" and we really don't spend a long time talking about him.

This year Abby posed the question for me. I could tell she was having doubts but I could also tell that she really still wanted to believe. As I struggled to find the perfect words, she put her fingers across my lips and said, "Don't spoil the magic." And the magic continues at the Gamblin house.

The missing tooth

Many times I have posted about how hard it is to watch my girls grow up. It is harder with Maddie because she is the baby, the very last one. While she was still in preschool, I could pretend that she was a baby but now...she quickly flew through kindergarten and now is halfway through first grade and will she slow down, give me a moment? Nope, she just keeps on growing and changing.

She was however (as she told me) "the only one in my class who hasn't lost a tooth." She talked about it every single day for months. She got upset whenever a friend would lose a tooth. She was so very excited several months ago when the dentist mentioned that her two front teeth were loose. She tried wiggling those teeth for weeks. Finally the other night, one of her two bottom teeth were pretty loose and so when her daddy offered to pull it for her, she said "let's go." I made them go to the bathroom because I couldn't stand to watch.

She came out 5 minutes later grinning. Not only was the tooth out but she had pulled it herself with a piece of dental floss wrapped around the tooth.

and so my baby lost her first tooth two weeks before Christmas. She was so excited to have the tooth fairy come visit and he didn't disappoint with 5 one dollar gold pieces and a note congratulating her. Wonder if I could hit her up for a loan?