Beckham started walking Christmas Eve and hasn't stopped since. Scott and I are elated! I think tears came to our eyes at the thought of not having to hold his hands and walk with him ALL DAY LONG!
(side note: please ignore my voice on the video. I have a really cheesy voice when I talk to Becks. Its quite embarrassing.)
This year we celebrated Christmas with my family the day after Christmas rather than rushing back and forth on Christmas Eve. Beckham got to show off his mad walking skills that he had been practicing at the Parker's for 2 days. We sat down to a dinner of sandwiches, fruit salad, and chips (which, let me tell you, was wonderful cause there was no cooking involved). We opened gifts afterwards, which was also wonderful, because we agreed to reduce the number of gifts this year, so everyone had about 2 gifts. The highlight of the evening was my nephew, Jakob, opening the Jungle Fury Power Rangers movie my mom got him and kissing it, he was so excited. He had been asking for it since his birthday in November and was very sad on Christmas morning when he didn't get it.
We loved having my mom's boyfriend, Wendell, there with us this year. But we missed my brother, Ben since he had to work.Our Christmas tradition is to attend Christmas Eve Mass with Scott's family and open gifts Christmas morning. This year, I stopped at my mom's house on the way to take her some dinner only to find out that. . . my car battery was dead. So, Christmas Eve Mass was replaced by Scott driving back to my mom's to jump my car battery. Oh what fun! Anyhow, it was a blessing in disguise. I had to work that night so the battery could have gone out when I needed to leave for work, or even worse, when trying to get home from work. God works in mysterious ways!! Well, rather than spending the evening singing hymns and seeing everyone in their holiday attire, we lounged around the Parker house eating hoagies, wings, and hot sausage. Yum! Off to work I went to sit around and twiddle my thumbs. No babies wanted to be born that night. I got back to the Parker's around 8am, just in time for everyone to wake up for present-opening. 
As usual, there were an enormous amount of presents.
Beckham had been up since 7am, so he was ready for breakfast. He wasn't much into the unwrapping of things this year.
Scott was slightly excited about some of his gifts this year. Featured is the Herschel Walker autographed helmet I got him.
After gifts, Thibideaux helped Tim make breakfast. He makes a hot breakfast for everyone every year. Delicious. I had to miss out this year, cause it was off to bed I went.
After visiting with Santa, we let Beckham sleep, then took him to Grandma and Granpap's for a slumber party. This was his first time sleeping over without us, so needless to say, we were anxious and EXCITED! Whoohoo! We got to stay out late and sleep in!!! We headed out to dinner at Copeland's after we said our goodbyes. Then we went home and all dressed up for our only Christmas party we got to attend this year. This was Anne & Justin's 3rd Annual Christmas Party. We spent some good quality time with our friends Katie, Jess, Allison, and Anne and Katie's husband, Nathan. Justin was busy being host, so we didn't get to talk a lot. We did get to visit with his step-brother, Cam and his wife, Molly (whom we adore) and Anne's brother, Daniel and his wife, Vanessa (whom we also love). We only ever get to see them at the Christmas parties since Cam and Molly live in Colorado and Daniel and Vanessa and us only cross paths when Justin and Anne have a get-together.
This year. . .
Every year my mom, sister, and I get together to make Christmas cookies. From the looks of it, we didn't bake at all this year. But I promise we did! On the menu were Wedding Cookies, Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies, Gingerbread Men (for the kids to decorate), Peppermint Bark, and White-chocolate-covered Pretzels. Now, it wouldn't have been a successful day if I hadn't screwed MY treat up. The peppermint bark was intended for Christmas gifts for my neighbors, but nothing I make ever turns out right, so the first batch got water in it and burned and the second batch wouldn't melt right. When the chocolate did finally melt, so did the peppermint chunks, leaving my peppermint bark pink and with a candy-like rather than melty-chocolate consistency. Yuck! Oh, well!
At least we had fun, enjoyed each other's company, and got a good sugar high! Here is proof of having spent a wonderful day together. . . So, Scott and I are not the fanatical decorate-the-day-after-Thanksgiving kinda people, but we do enjoy our Christmas decor in December. We got our tree up December 8th. We had fun decorating it together this year. As far as the rest of the decor, I got some cute ideas from Parents Magazine and made button snowflakes and pipe-cleaner garland to accent the staircase. . .
Scott and Beckham picked out the tree. Isn't it lovely? My boys have such good tastes. We got the tree up and the next day two of the four strings of lights burned out. Missy to the rescue!
Beckham loved the tree. We hung bells around the bottom so he could play to his heart's content, but his favorite ornament was a cat on a red cushion. He took it off daily and dragged it around the house with him.
This is our 2008 family Christmas ornament. The panda bears represent the one in "Just Like Daddy" that Beckham kisses every time he sees.
An hour after Emily left, Shanna arrived with Sofia & Oliver so I could go to the dentist. This playtime was a little different. Beckham spent most of the time warding off blows from his cousins rather than playing WITH them. But that's okay. He's gotta toughen up sometime, right?
Beckham got his haircut again in preparation for the holiday and his one-year pics. It was a nightmare! They had him sit in my lap again- the usual. I even came prepared with a sucker. The sucker ended up covered in hair- and so did Beckham and I. He wriggled and screamed so much that our gowns were moved completely out of the way and he ended up with 2 knicks around his ears! Oh, well. Better luck next time. At least he was handsome by the time all the family got their hands on him.
AFTER
We had such a wonderful Thanksgiving this year. We spent the day with Scott's family in Snellville. We watched a little football, played "Rock Band", and chased Beckham around to our hearts' content. Dinner was delicious. We had a baked turkey, dressing, mashed & sweet potatos, green bean bundles, cranberry sauce, ambrosia salad, and a debut of collard greens. Everything was Delicious- especially the pecan and pumpkin pies that were served for dessert! After our time was up at the Parker household, Scott headed to go hunt with his dad and Brandon. Beckham, Thibideaux and I headed to my sister's house for yet more dessert and family time (Mom & eventually Wendell, Ben, Rob's parents, and Shanna & her family). I endulged in one of my favorites- Blueberry Jello Salad (YUM!). Beckham took in some good quality time with his cousins then crashed on the way home. On Friday, I packed up the car and headed to Alabama for the day, to visit with my Nana and my Aunt Kathie (who was down from Chicago for the week- Yay!). We had the most wonderful visit. We all lazed around and watched Beckham entertain himself on the floor. I got to see my Nana and Papa's old house that my aunt is having renovated so she can move down here and live with my Nana. I CAN'T WAIT! It looks great. The finished product is going to be incredible!! Well, Beckham and I headed home around dinner time. He ate some chicken nuggets and his bottle in the car and crashed yet again. What a wonderful baby! I didn't have to deal with any of the backseat screaming that could have happened. Thank you everyone for helping to make our Thanksgiving holiday wonderful this year.
