early arrival

Our friendly neighborhood elf Christopher brought us an early gift bag from Santa one night before Christmas Eve.  

We were all very curious as it is out of character for Santa to drop something off early.  

Each member of the family had a gift, with a tag that included their "Letter" so that Raughley could easily identify who the gifts belonged to.  

The bag also had a letter from the big man himself, telling Raughley what a good boy he had been and how he hoped this early gift would make a great family night for him and his fam.  The gifts included PJs for each of us, and a new Christmas movie, "Merry Madagascar!" But the biggest surprise was the new Melman toy that Santa had made up for Raughley to replace the one he lost at Thanksgiving!  That sure made this little boy very happy!

The Griswolds

We've Griswalded our yard up this year with blow ups and lights galore.  What a fun way to decorate for out last Christmas in this house!

Saginaw Christmas Party

This year the Saginaw Christmas party was a blast, and partly because of a special guest arrival by BIG AL himself!  Raughley knew he was coming and anticipated his arrival with gusto, only to be very shy once they actually met.  Liam on the other hand, had no clue, and treated the elephant like his very best friend in the world.  

Showing him the stuffed elephant R brought.  

THe party always includes the yellow sweater ceremony, where everyone who's worked for the company for 5 years gets a yellow sweater.  Well, Raughley broke the rule and wore his anyway.  

Another special treat this year was the arrival of the Hudson's crew from Boca Grande.  How fun to see them in Birmingham, mixing with the Saginaw family!

My favorite part of the day was seeing R dressed like his Daddy.  So cute.  

Richard was honored at the lunch, which was both sweet and funny, as he gave a wonderful speech, and ended the festivities in his new humongous tailgate chair!

History Repeats

I love it when the boys get to wear something that their Father or their Uncles wore.  Especially when I can get a snapshot like this one.  Check out the photo Raughley is holding.  Chase and Carl, in these same sweaters, around this same age.  Raughley had an epiphany when he realized for the first time that his daddy was the younger brother.  So the pictures I took were not as posed as these- I'm still figuring out how to get everyone to sit still for a posed shot, but how cute did they turn out anyway!