Christmas Time is Here

Another December morning here, and it looks like another gift from Santa Buc-ee!  Maddie raced down the stairs this morning, mostly because she was late, but she still managed to go through her routine of getting the latest Guardians of the Galaxy LEGO Advent object, and then heading downstairs to see what she got under the tree from Santa Buc-ee.  Of course, our Presidential elf is there, along with Jingle Bell and Snowflake.

Ah!  Hot sauce.  Not just any hot sauce, of course, but Buc-ee's hot sauce!  What else would Santa Buc-ee be bringing, right?  In fact, here's some of the items she's already received thus far:

We said our prayers and this morning we said them with Emma, who dropped by the house.  She was there to pick up Maddie so the the two of them could go out for coffee together before chapel.  Don't worry though:  Mom and I have plenty of coffee at the house.  Here are just two of the themed coffees we have to try out this month.

Okay, I love this flavor.  The almond smell and taste is just perfection.  But there are so many other flavors here too - we're trying them all one at a time, and there's not a bad one in the batch!

Delicious!  Mom and I picked up Maddie a little later on, and after that, the three of us had a mission at the church, picking up a few items and dropping others off in order to go to Braselton campus.  That was great, but of course while in Braselton, the latest rule is that we have to go to the Cracker Barrel there.

Maddie had this herb chicken that was delicious, and I had to get some chicken dumplings, because today was a cold and miserable sort of day that is perfect for chicken dumplings.  Mom got pot roast for exactly the same reason.  Maddie and Mom were quite happy with their special orders because they got the special plates!  My food was good too, of course.  We went and shopped around a bit afterwards, and Mom had some discounts and points saved up for some store credits - that's why when she saw a new cowboy hat, she got it.  It'll be great for the Christmas party.  She got a new sweater too, one with a reindeer on it.  Really nice!  Maddie got some candy which she was nice enough to share with Mom afterwards.

  

Here's Mom finding a tree skirt for our KidPak tree.  We got to the Braselton church of course and did our thing there, and then pretty much drove home right afterwards.  Although we did stop by to get some printed photos.  One of those printed photos was of Maddie and Santa - our official Santa picture was taken pretty early this year.  Try April 3rd!  Yeah, that was the earliest I think Maddie's ever posed with Santa.  Here's a quick snap of the new Christmas frame we got, and the new picture of Maddie with Santa for this year.

Of course, Maddie had to get ready for taekwondo tonight.  While she was preparing, Mom got me this absolutely amazing gift.  

It's a vinyl record of the soundtrack to the Guardians of the Galaxy Christmas special!  We listened that that one right away.  It's got that great opening song, and even the song with Kevin Bacon taking the lead.  The cover art and the album itself look amazing!

So tonight we were at taekwondo of course.  It's cold out there, the kind of day that takes forever to get your feet warm.  But slowly and surely, we'r swarming up.  Maddie's warming up quicker of course, by helping out with the little ones as they do their kicks.  One more taekwondo tomorrow... one more session as a second degree black belt.  And then it's time to move on to third degree testing.  Wow, so soon!

Tonight's movie was "Nativity!"  It's really good, a gem of a Christmas movie because I don't think enough people have seen it.  We enjoyed that one, and then of course we read from "Hogfather," where Nobby Nobbs finally meets the Hogfather, perhaps, and the God of Wine finally sees some consequences.  It's a fun book.  We said our prayers after that, and then it was time for some rest!