6 Christmas in 7 Days!

Hello All! Sorry it's taken so long for the Christmas post...we took SO many pictures! We had to change the batteries in the camera TWICE! Haha! AL's first Christmas was absolutely unforgettable, but before I start with Christmas....AL is WALKING!!!! She started a week before Christmas, on December 18. She had been taking steps every day up until that point, but Thursday, she just took off & hasn't stopped since. I think she's on her feet most of the day, she LOVES it. Other milestones include saying "Doggie", "Woof" & maybe "Book". The jury is still out on that one.

On to our 7 days of Christmas! December 20th, the first of six celebrations, was with my Mom's side of the family. This was AL's first experience opening gifts. I thought she'd be most interested in the paper & boxes, but turns out she's a fan of ribbons & bows. What a girlie girl! She had so much fun playing with Caleb and Kristen & Brian's new puppy, Grey. AL spent the night with Mimi & Papa that night so Brian & I could get some stuff done around the house on Sunday.

Sunday was quite a busy day for us. To start off, we worked around the house. Brian's latest project is updating the stairs. Next, Brian & I sponsored an orphan from Russia for Christmas. New Horizons is the organization that helps these children travel to the United States & they do this every year. Each orphan stays with a host family for 1 month, from mid December to mid January. It gives these children the opportunity to feel a part of a family and to be loved, if only for a little while. A Bible study group threw a Christmas party for all the orphans & their host families, & sponsors volunteered to help celebrate by bringing 3 gifts to each child. We chose Stepan who was an absolutely amazing little boy. He is 9 years old, loves math & drawing, and wants to be a crane operator when he grows up. My heart aches to think of him and all his friends going back to their orphanage in another couple weeks. It was incredible to see how the simplest things that we all take for granted amazed him. You should have seen his face light up & his jaw drop at the sight of a COOKIE! He starred at it for a few minutes, mouth gaping open & his eyes were as big as they could be. Candles were part of the centerpieces at each table & Stepan must have sat for 15 minutes or so blowing on them. Not blowing them out, he liked to watch the flame dance. It was an amazing experience for Brian & I.

Stepan (sorry it's sideways, I'm being lazy)

Stepan & his host family

As a side note....when we got to the party Brian locked the keys in the car. So we had to call my parents who had to come rescue us. I just had to include that!

Finally, once helped arrived, we were off to our 2nd Christmas at the Sylvia's. Jim & Lisa are basically part of the family. This year instead of exchanging gifts, we all went to Target to buy gifts for the North Fulton Community Charities' Santa Gift Shop. I think I including this in a previous post. So Sunday night, we just ate dinner, drank some wine & played Dirty Santa/White Elephant. A very fun night!

Our 3rd Christmas celebration was at our house Christmas Eve. Mom's family came over for dinner. We'd already opened gifts from each other so we just ate dinner & opened crackers of course. Not real crackers, but those that you break open and toys & paper crowns literally fly out. After the extended family left, Mimi, Papa, Matt, Brian, AL & I opened gifts from one another. Our big gift was the oven/microwave, which was also our big gift from B's parents. THANK YOU!

Christmas morning, my Father, aka Campa, & my sister Ashely came over. We had breakfast & all exchanged gifts. AL played with all her new toys & Campa read her some books. Once they left, the three of us (Brian, AL & I) opened gifts from each other & Santa. I got an iphone, but I have to say that Brian was SO thoughtful & creative about giving it to me. He searched high & low for a magazine that had a picture of the iphone in it. He didn't actually buy the phone because he couldn't transfer my number. He finally found one, which happened to be in my favorite magazine. He wrote a note on the page & put the magazine in my stocking. I thought I had just gotten a subscription. He told me I had another gift, but that I had to find it in the magazine. Very Cute! Brian got a pair of cowboy boots & some sunglasses.

That afternoon we drove up to Mimi & Papa's to celebrate with the Combs family. We ate dinner & everyone watched AL open more gifts. (BTW - she got so many gifts, I'm just going to list them at the end of this post). AL had her very own 4' tree at Mimi & Papa's & LOVED it. She kept walking over to it to take ornaments off & then try to put them back on. She's so SMART!!!!

Friday morning, we drove up to Brian's parents. There, we had our 6th & final Christmas celebration. We had a wonderful weekend with the Middlebrooks family & a nice end to our week long Christmas. AL was worn out & actually slept until 7:45 Saturday morning.

SO, if you are still reading, AL got tons of stuffed animals, 3 babies, a carriage & a stroller, many, many clothes, shaped blocks, a talking dog, a Pooh mobile, a drum/instrument set, a talking book, regular books, 2 purses, a cellphone, "Horton Hears a Who" DVD, a backpack that has a "leash" & a talking/singing tiger! AHHHHHH! So many toys.....& AL's birthday is right around the corner. OMG!!!!!

We had the BEST Christmas! It was all that Brian & I could have hoped for & more! We hope all of you had a wonderful Christmas as well!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!

Much Love,
Brian, Lauren & Ansley Lawson

PS - This freaking post has taken me 3 days to do!! I promise next year, I will post in stages! Oh & yes, there are so many more pictures, 426 to be exact :)