Ahh..the way kids' minds work

Emma never quite fully understood the "Santa" idea. We got to see him at the mall and at parties, but you have to be asleep on Christmas when he comes. The one time he comes to your house and you've got to be in bed or else he won't leave any presents. That makes no sense to a 3 year old.
"But I want to hug him, Mommy."
"I want to tell him thank you."
"If I stand up in my bed I can see him."
But I'm convinced the greatest part of Santa is the ability to scare your child to death with threats that she won't get any presents if she isn't good.

Here's my favorite conversation from Christmas Eve:
(Brad and emma are on the way home from church on christmas eve)
brad: emma, if you keep acting ugly i'm going to have to call santa and tell him not to come
emma: do it, daddy. call him.
brad: OK. (brad calls santa) santa, please don't come. emma isn't been good. (brad hangs up)
if you're good, i'll call santa back later and tell him to come.
(later than night as brad puts emma to bed)
emma: daddy, don't forget to call santa back and tell him i've been good.

gosh, i wish santa were year-round!

Sadly, both kids were sick on Christmas...


Poor Liam had (has) bronchitis, which big sister brought home from school.
It was pitiful to watch him. It just made you want to take all of the pain away from him and put it on yourself. Both kids had fevers and felt terrible. But even with them feeling terrible, I felt blessed to know that it would pass. We've had so many friends lately whose kids have been diagnosed with extremely difficult illnesses...just knowing that Liam and Emma would be well very soon made it so much easier to handle.
And it really didn't put a damper on the day.



Emma still loved getting her kitchen, pots and pans and all...and Liam had a blast climbing on boxes, eating paper and ribbon (all the usual things 8 month olds do on Christmas).

Now, it's time to take down all of the Christmas decorations and get ready for a new year...2007 has been a great year. I can't wait to see what's in store for 2008.

Tis' the season

Our days have been filled with Christmas shopping, Christmas parties, sending out Christmas cards...all of the usual stuff that goes along with the season. Today was Emma's Christmas party at school. She had a great time playing and getting away with some things I'm pretty sure they don't let her do normally..or at least I hope they don't let her do.

I'm happy to say that I'm done with all of my shopping...not sure Brad can say the same. Now it's time to start planning Emma's birthday party. She can't seem to decide who's birthday it is..somedays it's her's, somedays it Jesus'...all she cares about is that there will be a big jumpy house!
So, we're anxiously awaiting Christmas day and can hardly believe it's less than a week away.
We know Liam has no idea what's going on, but it's still so exciting to watch him soak in all of the new things around him during this time..Emma loves pointing out the lights and decorations on everyone's house..her favorite seems to be the blown-up Grinch down the street. As much as I have loved every Christmas with Brad and Emma, it is just so much fun to have Liam to share it with this year, as well. I couldn't ask for a more incredible family. Hope you feel just as blessed!

Everybody's doing it!

Ok. So, I guess we're giving into the usual idea of "everybody's doing it." It seems that everyone we know has a blog right now, so we thought we'd join in the fun. I'm not exactly sure who will read this, but I think it will be fun to share all of the exciting things going on in our lives. With an almost 3 year old and an 8 month old there is definitely a lot going on in the Elliott home. Liam is crawling everywhere, and Emma loves telling me everything he's "getting into". I don't think she's quite used to the idea that he's not stationary anymore and can go wherever he pleases.