The world's longest Christmas post

Bear with me - this is going to take a while ...

Jinglers update
It's funny how Maggie appreciates more the silly things Jinglers does, rather than the gifts he sometimes leaves her. The other night, he put candy canes all over our Christmas tree (and left her a box of small candy canes ... the girl LOVES candy canes).

Preschool fun
Wednesday was Maggie's last day of preschool until after the new year. I've noticed that this year, in general, she comes home with fewer cutesy art projects and more "real" school-like stuff (letters they've written, for example), but lately she's come home with all sorts of cute Christmas crafts. I love hanging her homemade ornaments on the tree!

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Last week's letter of the week was J, and they did this Baby Jesus ornament as part of their J- learning. (In case you're wondering, the role of Baby Jesus is being played by a wooden ice cream "spoon.")

My scanner cut part of this off, but it's a laminated poster that says "Maggie" and then "My Little Angel." Those are her handprints (duh).

Bravery
On Tuesday night, we met some friends at the mall. There were a couple of craft projects for the kids, and Chick-fil-A was giving away kids' meals to kids who were wearing their pj's ... not that this was great incentive for vegetarians. The highlight of the night for me was that Maggie agreed to have her picture made with the mall Santa. In the past, she's been a little wary of him; she stands at a safe distance and tells him what she wants, but she'll get no closer. (Notice how she's not actually sitting in his lap here.) Still, if I'd known she was going to pose in such a decent way, I'd have dressed her in something cuter!

Holiday lights
On Friday night, we went looking at Christmas lights. It's become a favorite tradition of mine - we pack snacks and a thermos full of hot chocolate and drive around looking at lights. We have our favorites, including a couple of houses in North Georgia. There's this one ...

And then there's this one, simply known to locals as The Christmas House. There are so many decorations that visitors are invited to park their cars, get out, and walk around. This is a close-up of the house ...

Nothing too fancy, right? Allow me to zoom out just a bit ...

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When you get up closer, you begin to see just how much STUFF is in this yard!

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Even the front porch is full of stuff:

Maggie loved seeing an inflatable Santa rise in and out of a chimney.

The home's garage is decorated floor to ceiling ... it was hard to get good pictures because of the crowds, but hopefully you get the idea ...

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This tree was decorated in candy. Other themed trees included an angel tree, a Peanuts tree, and a Santa tree.

We didn't even make it to our favorite house in Hixson (that's not my video clip, by the way ... it's amazing what you find when you google). Trust me, the Griswolds have nothing on this house! Maggie started complaining of a stomach ache and wanted to come home. That should have been our first clue ... more on this later.

Christmas, Round I
Today after church, we celebrated Christmas with Bobby's dad. Bob's brother and his kids were there, we stopped and grabbed pizza for lunch, and a good time was had by all. Here, Bobby dutifully puts together the Bitty Baby crib Tony gave Maggie.

Incidentally, I don't know if you can see her well, but the green-sleeved girl behind Maggie is Bobby's 16-year-old niece Ashley. Not only is she now DRIVING, but today her boyfriend Jordan joined our festivities. My earliest memory of Ashley is that of a cute, curly-headed 4-year-old handing me a flower she'd picked herself amongst the Olive Garden landscaping (just as I'd thought, "Aww, how sweet, she likes me") then glaring at me and telling me to "stay away" from her Uncle Bob. So maybe you'll understand JUST HOW STRANGE it was to see her driving her very own car AND bringing a boyfriend to a family get-together? I so wasn't ready for this.

Maggie and her cousin Sierra:

If you could see the rest of the couch in this photo, you'd see Sierra putting one sock on Maggie, and Uncle Tommy putting on the other. What a life ...

Maggie and Papa Tony:

Fevers aren't fun
I first became suspicious when Maggie didn't want to eat anything for dinner. And even more suspicious when I mentioned going upstairs to get ready for bed and she immediately complied rather than engaging in her usual arguing and foot-stalling. When we got upstairs, I took her temp ... it was 102! Not good! I guess I'll see how she does tomorrow and then get her into the doc on Tuesday if it continues. Their usual rule is three days for fever (they want to see you if the fever lasts three days or more) but that puts us right at Christmas Eve! I really don't want her to be sick on Christmas!