It's Really Christmas!

Except that it's not in these first photos because I forgot to put up photos from Jamie's wedding on November 15th. :) So here are a few of our lovely evening. The captions are above each photo:

This first picture is the "kids' section," It was originally supposed to be an outdoor wedding and when the weather went sour, we were a bit squeezed in the beautiful refurbished mansion. No one seemed to know what to do or where to sit. Two ladies took charge (are you kidding? of course I was one of them) to sit the kids down so they would be able to see and so that they would be out of the way. They ended up having front row seats for the procession of the wedding party, so it worked out well.

Don't they look CUTE??

This is Shiloh dancing with Luke. I REALLY like Luke. He is a polite, happy, handsome boy who willingly gave up his seat to Adah so that she could sit with the girls in the dining room at their house. His mama is teaching him well.

Shiloh danced the night away, and Nathaniel got in on the action. That Nathaniel is a handsome young man as well. He really liked his tie.

Hey, now there's a handsome man! My man, dancing with my girl. What could be better? We stuck around longer than we planned in order to hear another slow tune because Adah REALLY wanted to dance with Daniel. He even took his shoes off in public to dance. (The mansion staff announced that if we wanted to dance we had to take our shoes off. We thought they were kidding. They weren't. See the guy behind Daniel with WHITE socks on? :) It's okay, though, because it was Jamie's dad and he had been wearing cowboy boots.)

Abigail was making up some...innovative...dance moves. They were all very sad to leave the reception. :) Looking at this picture makes me hum, "I could have danced all night...I could have danced all night..." (My Fair Lady)

This is Jackson. Jackson's face is saying, "Please take me home. I will smile for you, but I really want to go home. Now."

This might be my favorite picture from the trip. Jackson bunked in the boys' room when we stayed with a family. He started off in a bunkbed. I'm not sure how he ended up on the floor or why Joe is mauling him in his sleep, but we found them like this when we went to bed that night.

AND NOW FOR THE CHRISTMAS PHOTOS! ALL FIVE OF THEM! I was having too much fun Christmas Day to take many pictures, and now I'm sad about it. I don't even have a picture of the tree all decorated. I'll try to get one with the kids like we did last year before we take the tree down. But here's the story I promised:

Early Christmas morning Daniel awoke to a noise and thought it was Roscoe chewing on some candy (the kids' stockings were out in the hallway). The noise stopped, but he got up anyway to go into the bathroom. Our bathroom wall adjoins the girls' room, (Shiloh loves those 5:30 showers she hears every morning) and he heard banging in there. He told them through the wall to go back to sleep, but he heard more noises. He went to their room to investigate, and then I heard him laughing and saying, "CASEY! You've got to see THIS!" Then he opens our door and in come the children...Shiloh and Cora dressed identically (they were supposed to be reindeer) and pulling a plastic storage bin to which they've been tied with ribbon. Abigail and Adah prance in dressed identically with homemade elf hats on. JACKSON is inside the bin dressed as Santa Claus with our stockings in the bin behind him, and he's saying "HO HO HO, Merry Christmas!" I started making a choking/laughing sound and said, "How did you think of this? When did you do this? What's going on?" Shiloh said they'd been planning it since THANKSGIVING, and they had gotten up at 6:00 to get everything ready. They stored everything in a bin in the garage, and she had snuck down that morning to get the bin. They fashioned a beard, hair, and cuffs from quilt batting, and put Jackson in a pair of red tights and his wellies. And WE HAD NO IDEA they were planning this. It's impressive...and yet a little scary that we got no wind of this scheme for over a month. Jackson said at one time that he was going to be Santa at Christmas, but I had no idea he was serious. We were highly impressed with our children's ingenuity, and it was a great start to the day!

This is Jackson/Santa, and the look on his face seems to say, "I cannot believe I let them put me in tights."Ah - there's a smile. He's a pretty cute Santa.Cora the reindeer, Santa, and Adah the elf.The mischievious crew:
(I believe Nathaniel was not included because he would not be cooperative in any way in a complicated endeavor such as this. Maybe a year or ten and he can participate. :) )The whole crew later that day. Abigail came close to needing a nap since she was awakened at 6:00 to get ready. She almost backed out but pulled through for the team. We are so blessed by our children. They are certainly entertaining!

That's ALL, folks. I am signing off for the year 2008. I am officially caught up on picture organizing (I swear I won't procrastinate again, I swear I won't procrastinate again...) and now I need to go let my carpal tunnel heal. Thanks for coming along for the ride of the first complete year as a family of EIGHT. It has been a busy, fun, challenging, sometimes exhausting, but always blessed year. I am looking forward to what God has for the Houseworths in 2009!

God Bless!