The Rollings

An attempt to preserve the moment and celebrate family ~Heather

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Santa Gets to Greenville!

** Two new posts below this one. I know, I'm slack.

What a difference a year makes, huh?? A year ago on Christmas we were rushing Winston to the hospital because he woke himself (and us) up choking and barely able to breathe. Such a wonderful gift to spend this Christmas in the same place, with most of the same wonderful people, and have healthy little boy to share it with!

We got to Greenville Christmas Eve to make it to the Christmas Eve church service. I haven’t been to this in YEARS so it was awesome being there to celebrate with my new family! The children’s service was surprisingly quick (Normie actually referred to this as “the Christmas miracle”)

Christmas a.m. having pumpkin roll for breakfast and knowing that it's probably never going to happen again.
Singing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus Christ on Christmas morning and trying to explain (the best one can explain to a 1 year old) why we celebrate this special day. Checkin' out the goods! Santa was very nice to our healthy little fella this year.
He LOVED it!
Santa was also good to Chap. Brought him a gold mining kit (minus the gold, sadly) that the boys got to test out later Christmas Day down at the river. Too cold for me, no thank you!
Me and my Christmas cutie got to deliver some goodies to the neighbors.
Later on the kids (Normie and Chap) had an impromptu dodgeball game, in the living, with Winn's toys. Pretty sure I heard my dad say, "Alright guys...that's enough" a few times when the game got a little heated. Oh boys :)
Someone spies his airplane on the Christmas Tree...
The next morning, we had lots of snow in Greenville!! Such a wonderful ending to a perfect lil' holiday weekend!
This little boy makes me smile so much. I couldn't ask for a greater gift!
Opening LOTS of gifts from Aunt Mandy and Uncle Normie. Too many. They are officially on gift restriction.

Reading Winn's new book to him "Tree of True Gifts", made by his mommy. Gotta love those last minute ideas that take WAY more minutes than you really have! It is a very special book though, that I'm kind of proud of. It has all the people that love him unconditionally (his"true gifts") with their pictures so he can practice saying their names with their faces every night. Multi-purpose is my middle name :)
Our Christmas parade to bed singing the Marine Corps Hymn (in honor of my grandfather). He loved every minute.

I've often hoped and wondered how I could make my children's Christmas's mornings as special as my parents made for us? Even after I was married I still felt the magic of their love in Christmas morning. They've always put great care into making mine, and my brother's, holiday traditions perfect, comfortable, effortless, and memorable. The same is true of this year, which means even more because my son got to feel the magic I've felt for 30 years now! I can't thank them enough for the wonderful example they set. I know that with their help, their traditions, and their spirit, we'll be able to pass the wonderful feelings they started with us, onto the next generation of our children.

As written in Winston's "Tree of True Gifts" book,


Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for all of our true gifts. A family’s love is the best feeling anyone could ever have. We celebrate Jesus’ birthday because he is the one who taught us this.
We love YOU and are grateful for all your many blessings.

Love,
Mommy, Daddy, and Winston

7 comments:

Katherine said...

I LOVE that Winn got a toilet bowl scrubber from Santa (that is what I saw in the pic, right??)!! Too funny!! So glad you got to have a real Christmas with your little man this year--I remember how tough it was for you all this time last year. Yea for both our happy, healthy, and spoiled toddlers!!!

Chap and Heather said...

Sure is, Katherine! Cheapest, most entertaining gift ever!! And, its clean (as opposed to the one he fights for in the bathroom!)

Cookie and Poppy said...

What a great Christmas! Our little Winn is such a blessing. Just for the record, I think pumpkin roll for breakfast on Christmas should become a tradition.

Anonymous said...

LOVE the book you made... miss crafty pants. :) What a great idea. Glad you had a wonderful (and healthy) Christmas. We are very jealous of your (day after) white Christmas. :)

roxanne said...

Had to wait until the tears dried and the blurry eyes cleared. You all will never know what a beautiful Christmas gift you gave to US this year by sharing your Christmas, and our healthy grandson, with us. We will always remember it as one of the best Christmas's we've ever had. Our family is our life, and we look forward to many more celebrations and continuing all the wonderful traditions!

High Cotton said...

Love your True Gifts book to Winston - so special and meaningful!

Amber said...

love the tree of true gifts book. I want to see it. also, would love to know how you incorporate more "Jesus" on Christmas because I want to do more of that.