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It’s a Stafford family tradition to celebrate Christmas at the beach before we all head to Arkansas for the holidays. Each year we eat a non-traditional dinner - this year it was stacks. For those of you who don’t know, stacks are a Mexican dish similar to enchiladas, only flat instead of rolled. And they are trouble. After gorging ourselves with the meat and cheese concoction and feeling unhappily full, the decision was made to not even consider stacks for next year’s meal!

This was the first Christmas with the two little ones, so of course they had to have matching outfits. Nan and I bought them last year, right after we learned that the peanut in my belly was a little girl. I misjudged the size a bit, so she’s kinda swimming in it, but it’s cute all the same. They also had matching reindeer ears that were super cute. Claire left hers on for a while, before conking out and taking a catnap. Cash was not a fan of his and I don’t think we managed to get one single picture of him wearing them.

Cash had a rockin’ Christmas - Uncle E and I gave him a super cool guitar and a rockstar outfit. He loves the guitar, but Nan is less than thrilled. I know I’ll regret this gift in a year or two when paybacks come around. Both kiddos received personalized ornaments from Grandma and Grandpa. Claire received tons of great gifts - a Raggedy Anne doll, a princess bible, an inflatable penguin and 2 cute outfits.

We took a ton of photos (by we I mean Eric - he gets a bit camera happy at Christmas time). You can see them all in the Week 26 (Christmas at the Beach) photo gallery. We’re in Arkansas now, visiting my family for a few days before we head up to Siloam Springs for 3 more Christmas celebrations with Eric’s family. Claire is officially 6 months old as of Saturday - her celebratory post is coming soon.

For those of you whom we don’t have addresses for….Merry Christmas from the Stafford family!

Our little munchkin will actually be 6 months on Saturday, but here are a few of the photos from her 5 month session with Andrea of Andie Lane Photography. I wanted to take 6 month pictures, but with her 1/2 birthday falling smack dab in the middle of the holiday season, we decided to break the norm and have a photo shoot a bit early. Plus, we had to get that family picture for the all-important Christmas card! Claire was uncooperative to say the least, making it difficult to get some good ones but Andie managed to capture a few of those sweet expressions, just not very many smiles. Here are the better ones from the session - to view more or to order, click here.

The Dillard Middle School boy’s basketball team had an extra special fan in the audience last night during their first home game of the season. Miss Claire made her debut, sporting team colors and proudly declaring that she’s the “Coach’s Girl”. Claire (and her outfit) was a big hit with the player’s parents and teachers, hamming it up with her big toothless grins. She sat in lap after lap, chewing on Homie and watching the game. She took a quick nap during halftime, then was back up, ready for more action.The only thing that would have made her first night of watching daddy coach better would have been a Dragon win. They’re currently 0-2, but I can smell a victory coming next week! Eric is doing a fantastic job with the boys - working extremely hard on practice plans, game plays, etc.  Claire and I look forward to going to TWO home games next week and watching the Dragons win!There are more pictures from the game and Christmas-related events in the weeks 24 and 25 gallery. We’re headed to the beach tomorrow for Christmas #1 with the Stafford family - look for photos soon!

Continuing our holiday-themed weekend, we took Claire to meet Santa for the first time on Sunday. Actually, we tried to take her Saturday evening, but thought the line was too long and decided to try again later. Little did we know that the line was actually short compared to what we found on Sunday. But, we had made up our minds that our child was going to sit on Santa’s lap - even if she really could care less.

We got in line around 1:30 pm and were promised that we would be served before Santa took his break at 3:00 pm. Eric was a real trooper and agreed to stay in line with Claire while I ran off to do some errands. I seriously have the best husband in the entire world!

While waiting in line, Claire fell asleep in the BabyBjorn, then was moved to her stroller, waking up about 20 minutes before it was her turn - and hungry! There was one family in line behind us (they cut the line off before Santa’s break), and we let them ahead of us so Claire could finish her bottle. Right as she gulped down the last swig of formula, we were informed that Santa had to pee. What luck. So while everyone else had plenty of time to be coaxed into smiling for the perfect picture, we had about 2 minutes to take a photo of a bladder-challenged Santa and a not-so-happy Claire.

We didn’t get great results, but Claire actually managed a smile or two when Santa started bouncing her up and down in his arms. Below are the two best photos that I took. The “professional” one was a bit better - not fuzzy like the one of her smiling below. So, our Santa experience summary: 2 visits to the mall, 1 1/2 hours waiting in line, a grumpy Santa, and $20 for a photo. I’m seriously considering investing in a Santa suit for Eric to wear for the years to come…

We kicked into Christmas high-gear this past weekend, giving Claire her first taste of the holiday season. Friday evening we ate pizza, listened to Christmas music and decorated the tree. I’m not sure Claire was impressed with the pizza or music, but she sure did love the tree!

She liked watching Mommy and Daddy hang the ornaments and was thrilled when it was her turn to get in on the action. Check out the video below to see where SHE thinks ornaments belong (hint…it’s not on the tree!)

She also found great joy in wrapping presents and looking through store circulars from the newspaper with Mommy. Who knew crinkling paper could be so much fun?

Each Christmas since we’ve been married, Eric and I have bought an ornament to symbolize something important from the year.  The first year was a bride & groom, of course. The second was a Santa wearing a NYC t-shirt to symbolize our New York City trip. And last year was a very cheesy expectant couple.

This year, we continued the tradition with buying an ornament of three snowmen. Yep, you guessed it - a mommy, daddy and baby, personalized with our names and year. And yes, it’s cheesy too. We also started Claire’s collection with her very own ornament, to be followed by many more as she grows. It’s a little girl snowbaby with the caption “From God” - because that’s exactly what she is - a gift from God.