Christmas 2014

We had a quiet Christmas this year.
Christmas Eve we spent the night with The Humphrey's eating amazing southern cookin' and being with extended family. I've spent many, many hours in their home in middle and high school and many since then. They always spoil our little Graham!

On Christmas we spent the morning at home with Graham. It was nice to have a lazy time just the 3 of us. I attempted to read from the Jesus Storybook Bible, "He's here, He's here!" to Graham about Jesus coming. I had to skip a bit for his 10 month old attention span but he heard most of it :).

Then we went down to my parents for a little while before loading up to go and visit my Papal Avery.  Bradley and Crystal also went. We took him Christmas yummy food and spent a while with him, sang Christmas carols and he opened some gifts. He wasn't feeling his best but it was a nice time to be with him. He has told us many times that if he got anything for Christmas, he would get an orange and a peppermint stick. He's spoiled us grand kids our whole lives.

I've also taken advantage of the time off work to catch up with friends. I had a Hannah dinner with college friends. That always includes Crystal, Brooke and Kristin. It was long over due and we spent hours just going around sharing our hearts over a meal.

The day after Christmas I got to see some wonderful New York friends. Sandi Taylor and her girls were in Charlotte visiting her mom. Plus, the Burke's stopped by and I got meet their adopted son, Beniah! On my way home I stopped by Concord Mills to catch up with the totally amazing Tracy Thornton. I sure miss those two friends and mentors. I hope to be like them when I grow up ;). They were brief visits but mean so much to me to stay connected to them even though I don't live in NY anymore.

I got to catch up with some UNCC friends this past week. Clay, Pamela and I survived being French majors at UNCC, studied abroad in Limoges, France at the same time and traveled all over Europe together. With me living in NY, Clay in Texas and Pamela in Chicago, it has been so hard to be all together the last several years. We finally made that happen.

Also this past Saturday morning Heidi, a friend Campus Outreach/UNCC days, came for a visit as well and got to meet Graham. Such a fun couple of days catching up with some wonderful friends!

On the Sunday after Christmas we cooked a big Christmas meal together with my brothers and their wives (Jeff, Jenn, Bradley, Crystal) and my parents. Jeff and Jenn spent Christmas up in Ohio with Jenn's family. It was nice to finally be all together for our Christmas. After eating we opened gifts and had yummy dessert. Graham got spoiled once again with some fun toys and cute sleepers.

 YUM!

Graham being twins with Uncle Jeffrey and Papa Joe! Silly boys!

Notice Bradley's sweater insert like cousin Eddie. The tree on the car and he's holding National Lampoon's Christmas vacation. "It's the gift that keeps on giving all year round, Clark." That movie is my family!

Baby's First Christmas!

Christmas means a lot to me. Growing up, both sets of my grandparents would come over in the morning as we opened gifts. Then we would have lunch with the Alexander's. At some point late afternoon we would join my Drake grandparents for supper in the house we now call home.

I've been thinking a lot about how chaotic the holidays can feel. This year was much simpler and I hope to keep it that way and to celebrate what really matters. Less running around, worrying about gifts and things. I really just want to soak up the people. I'm not sure why I was thinking about this but on Christmas morning I kept thinking, "We only get a certain number of Christmases." It is true. While this season can be overwhelming and take a lot out of us, I want to savor these memories. My Paw Gene got 96 Christmases. My Papal's had 87. My Nanny got 72. My cousin Darin got 37. I've had 36. My dad's had 67. Graham's had 1.

Christ the King as our Emmanuel, God with us. This is what I hope to remember on this 36th Christmas and always.





We are excited to celebrate and spend time with the Sylvestre's in a couple weeks! Bring on the New Hampshire snow!

Graham is 10 Months Old!

Happy 10 months to our sweet boy, Graham Drake!

Thanks to cousins Michele and Luke for the cute Christmas pj's!

Thanks to Bethany for the cute Christmas outfit for Graham!

Graham continues to love to sing and talk. He is standing some on his own and trying to take steps while holding on to furniture. He is sometimes successful.

Here are two videos. One of him laughing and one of him splashing. Enjoy!

We are praying this month that he will always know the real meaning of Christmas and the amazing grace that comes from the baby in the manger.

Merry Christmas!

Thanksgiving and More....

We had a lovely Thanksgiving with family and friends.

Here are some pictures from that week.

Yum! Thanksgiving feast!

Graham had his first taste of turkey on Thanksgiving. Baby food turkey but still turkey!

We got the chance to go by and see the Humphrey's one evening.

I went to my very first hockey game with Jordann and Corey. Corey's whole family have played and coached hockey for years.

We also went to see our Papal Drake on the evening of Thanksgiving.

Turkey Trot in Mooresville with Jenn, Jeff and Jordann. 

It was Jordann's first 5k! Way to go!

That weekend after Thanksgiving I went to Renee's baby shower...so fun to see all these great UNCC friends. Congrats to Renee and Ben!

Lastly, here is a video of Graham laughing at Zazu (Jeff & Jenn's dog) doing tricks. He laughs so hard.

Graham is 9 months old!

He is an expert crawler and can pull up on the coffee table and couches or our legs. He is so fast now! He has managed to open drawers and pull out everything in them. I can't believe he can do all of that being so young.

He loves his teddy bear and Winnie the Pooh. He also loves to eat and try new things like his new snacks he can pick up on his own.

We have joked about his "first word". When do you count it as his first word? Does he have to know what he is saying or can it just sound like a word or sound or what we want it to be? This has become a little game between my hubby and I.

Here are some of Graham's first "words":

hillbilly

kitty cat

hi ta (some Asian word he's made up ;)

baby (which may be his real first word)

baobab (as in the tree)

tee tee

He is so expressive and vocal. Sometimes he just sounds like Rosco P. Coltrane or like he is speaking Xhosa. He is very clear on what he is trying to say and mouths words like he is carrying on a full conversation.

He is so funny and so much fun. He laughs a lot and brings us so much joy. We had a low key Halloween but we did put this cute Care Bear outfit on him.

Here are some more pics from this month:

Three Drakes!

This was the first morning I went into his room and he was standing in his crib.

A little video of our Grahambo!

Praying this month that he will have patience like his daddy.