My Crazy Christmas

I know I was really excited about Christmas, but I had NO IDEA how crazy it could get in a room filled with toys!!!  It all started off simple enough, with our stockings hung by the fireplace...(special note:  the fireplace was NOT utilized this year, because my 'rents CLEARLY have trust issues regarding me and open flames)!  There were stockings for Daddy, Mommy, ME, Mazi & Gracie.  Wow, that's a fireplace full!  Daddy says it's juuuuuust right.  :)

Since it was a special occasion, I thought I'd wear my special reindeer antlers to enhance the festive vibe:

My good friend Alayna gave me her pink kitchen set and baby cart.  I know it must've been hard to let it go, but I just KNOW I'm gonna have so much fun playing house with them!  She's so sweet!  I really like her!

Dr. McGee, my pediatrician, gave me some Dr. Seuss books, some cool book bags, a HUGE stuffed lizard, and a teapot set.  She's SUPER COOL...and very generous!

Mommy & Daddy got me a pink work station, a Dora chair, a Dora sit & spin and some play groceries. Grandma Judy even got me a really cool Dora book to go with my Dora collection!  I just LOVE Dora!

This is how crazy it looked when I got through unwrapping all my presents from everyone: See all those little tiny books?  Aunt Jill gave me a whole collection of mini Disney books! I read them every day!

There's my little riding car that I like to drive all around the house...and my keyboard that I love to play.  Daddy mentioned something about needing to rob a bank to pay for all the batteries I'll use...but it's all good.  I don't think he'll actually do it...there's always the Dollar Store!

Daddy had a lady at work knit these cute little hats for me! Aren't they CRAZY CUTE?!?!

I love wearing my monkey hat while I play my keyboard. I'm a keyboard playing monkey!

...and a tricycle riding monkey!

As you can tell, after breakfast, we took to the park to show off the hats that we all got...and my new stylin' outfit from Grandma Judy! It even goes with my monkey hat! HOLLA!

For dinner, we had a Sesame Street-themed candlelight dinner.  Can I get a "what-what"?

I ate like a Chicago Bears linebacker! Whatev's...it's what I do!  :)

I'm so exhausted...nothin' like chillin' with Mazi, watching some of "my shows"

 Whew!  That was one CRAZY Christmas! Nite nite, everyone!

A Hogan Holiday

With Meema safely back home, Mommy & Daddy turned their sights toward Christmas.  I LOOOOVE Christmas with all of its glimmer and shimmer...and all of the AMAZING tiny little things that for some reason seem potentially hazardous to Mommy & Daddy, and make them break out in a cold sweat.

So after hours of conversation and weeks of agonizing over whether to have a Christmas Tree, or not, the 'rents put their heads together and came up with a BRILLIANT idea: we'd have a tree...but it would be an OUTSIDE tree.  That way I could look at it whenever I wanted, but they wouldn't have to be Grinches for the entire month of December!  I told you it was brilliant!

So on a sunny day early in December, the big tree just outside our front picture window was donned with all things icy and sparkly.  Then came the lights...in the yard, up the tree trunk, on the railings and roof line...there were beautiful colored lights everywhere!  Every time Daddy plugged them in, I just had to giggle...they just made me happy!  Here's what the finished project looked like:

Mommy wanted to make a special wreath that celebrated Christmas, but also announced my arrival. So she thought and thought...and she planned and designed...and then we made the trip to Michael's to gather the supplies.  I couldn't get enough of glittery things, so Mommy put a bunch of things in our cart.  Then she found some wooden butterflies (since Daddy calls me his little butterfly), some glitter paint in really cool colors, and a big green glitter bow.  I loved it all so much I just couldn't help but squeal with delight while she was putting it all together.  Here's what her finished wreath project looked like:

But then Daddy had to hang the wreath in the eave of the house.  But how could he reach that high?  He puzzled and puzzled...and then he had a BRILLIANT idea:  he'd go up on the roof!!!  So while Mommy fretted and paced around the yard, yelling at him to be careful, Daddy climbed the big ladder up onto the roof just like Santa, and hung the wreath.  We caught him in action:

I just LOVED our decorations!  Every morning when Mommy & Daddy would open the shades I would look out the window and proclaim in awe-filled wonder the only word that appropriately captured the feeling:  "WHOOOOOA!"

This made Mommy & Daddy do the Happy Dance.

I'll tell you what made ME do the Happy Dance:  going to Christmas Town USA!!!  It was A-MA-ZING!!!  I've never seen so many Christmas lights in my whole life!!!  (I know I've only been alive for 2 years, but come on people, it's all relative!)  Here's some pictures of our trip to McAdenville, NC:

This is me and Mommy in front of our favorite house

in Christmas Town USA.  Isn't it crazy pretty?!?!

I know it's hard to tell, but this is me and Mommy up close...

Daddy was drunk on Hot Chocolate...so it's pretty blurry.  

He snapped it just before he fell into the yard in a sugar-induced coma.

Once Mommy administered first aid and revived Daddy,

we got our photo op in front of our favorite house.

Mommy says that some pictures just don't have words

that do it justice.  She thinks this is one of those times...

I love Daddy hugs...

...and Daddy kisses!

...and Daddy snuggles!!!

Mommy says this picture is "magical".

I'll take her at her word on this one...

She also says this one reflects 

the Spirit of Christmas...and something

else about child-like wonder.  

She also sighs every time she looks at this picture.

I think that's a GOOD thing.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!  God bless us every one!!!