Tennessee Christmas

Those are some happy faces, and I don't think the smiles were just for the camera. We celebrated Christmas in Tennessee last weekend and had a blast.

I took a lot of pictures to make up for my camera battery dying at Thanksgiving, and I think I got some good shots - like this one of Jeff, Michelle and Baby Stella on Sunday morning.

It was my turn to have a bad cold, so I had to keep my distance, but still managed to zoom in for some nice photos of little Stella Bella.

Camille still isn't too sure what to make of Stella. I think she finds her interesting from a distance, but is not pleased if Mama or Nana holds her. Camille is starting to learn Stella's name, and it comes out as something like "Te-la." We were upstairs playing Sunday morning when Stella started crying downstairs. Camille stopped what she was doing and listened intently for a moment, then asked, "Te-la?" Smartie!

People keep asking me if Camille is getting excited about Christmas, and I still think she's too young to anticipate some big man in a red suit breaking into our house Christmas Eve and leaving gifts. But, I do think she is really enjoying all the gift-giving and surprises. She absolutely cracked me up over and over again whenever she'd get a new toy, because as soon as she saw it her eyes would get big and she'd say either, "Ooooohhhhhh" or "Whoooooooooa!" She'd even say it when she saw a wrapped gift, even if it wasn't for her.

She got a lot of fun presents, but her favorite was the play kitchen from Nana and Granddaddy. She'd say, "Cook! Cook!" and stir imaginary food in the bowls on the stovetop. Much of the day Saturday she carried around her toy blender, and my usually generous baby refused to share it with any of us. If we'd ask for some, she'd shake her "no" and clutch it even closer.

It turned pretty cold on Sunday and we even saw a few snow flurries. The snow was so light that when we were walking to the car to go to church, Lee looked down at his black sweater and said, "How did I get lint on my sweater? I haven't been holding anything white..." Then he realized they were snowflakes, not lint. I still enjoyed seeing the little bit of wintry white, and the chilly weather gave Camille a chance to show off her new red coat.

And I just loved this picture. We were all in Granddaddy's office before church, and sat Miss Camille in Granddaddy's big leather chair. We handed her a phone, and she was ready for work. We're so silly!