Bananas in Pajamas are Coming Down in Pairs....

About a month ago our friend, Sarah Schutz, informed us that they had adult sized footie pajamas at Target!  So a week or so ago when we were down in Knoxville we decided to look.  It was so cool and they were on sale for $10 a piece!  So as an early Christmas present to ourselves, we decided to all get some and as Edy and Sarah didn't want skulls on their PJ's we did matching boys and matching girls PJ's.  The best part about it was that we didn't even realize until a couple of days ago that we picked festive colors (ignoring the skulls and monkeys of course).  See we're just so unified with the Christmas spirit!  HA ha!  Anyway this will be our E-Christmas card this year (well one of the poses will be anyway.)  The kids, and John and I thought this was AWESOME!  Try it sometime (being like a kid that is) Boy are they warm!

 No Eden is not yet taller than Iman.  

She, in a couple of the pics, is stepping on her tip toes!!

Excitement, Some Arguing, Memories Refreshed, and......Harry Connick Jr.

Reminds me of my childhood Christmas Tree decorating experiences too, aside from Harry. 


Our friend Lorraine told us of a guy not far down the road selling nice 6-8 feet trees for $35 and as we were due to get ours we couldn't resist.  We precariously drove home with the tree not really tied down to the van very well, carried it in the house, and started to right away unwrap the tree ornaments.  However I couldn't really get into the Christmas tree decorating spirit until we broke out the Harry Connick "When My Heart Finds Christmas" CD.  


When John and i met/dated/were engaged i had never really listened to Harry before, but being married to John meant that it was inevitable and i LOVE his Christmas albums.  So our first Christmas (which because we got married December 16th was technically before and after we got married) we at the end of November decorated our first tree together with my best friend Tamara Robertson.  The thing i remember most about decorating our new REAL tree (always real) was John dancing away to Harry.  I actually video taped it and can relive the memories over and over again.  So like many things we Morgans do as Christmas tradition, listening to Harry while we decorate has become one of them.  My favorite is "I Pray On Christmas."  


On another note, it was reminiscent of being a Frost as i found my children critiquing (along with myself of course) where each other had placed their ornaments.  Sarah would put the matching ones all in one place, and none of them could remember that the heavy ones needed to be put higher up.  I thought of my brother Jamie and how i think he almost cried every year as we'd secretly (but not too secretly for him not to find out) moved the ornaments to a better place.  So about half way through i stopped critiquing and said, "what the heck, who cares right?!"  If my ornaments aren't perfectly balanced will anyone care?  Yes.....my kids will, because that's how they wanted them in the first place!  ;-)


The best part is of course is all the memories that go along with each individual ornament.  The years certain ones were bought, the ones we made, the ones made in school, the ones John and i received for our first Christmas together, the ones my mother passed down to me from my childhood........the list goes on.  I have an affection for angel ornaments, so i've posted some of them to show off too.


Enjoy, as i share my special memories with you.  Merry Christmas!

 On the way to get the tree....

 The perfect one!

 So handsome!  :-)

 Jack LOVES Jesus and carried him around the WHOLE evening.

 See Jesus in his hand, so sweet!

 Favorites we bought our first year together....

 John decided that it would be fun to have everyone pick out a favorite ornament and place it on the tree as their first.  This was Iman's pick.  It's one i Modge Podged for him in 2006 with his picture on it.

 My first pick.  A new one for me Amanda gave to me before she moved.  

I miss my chickens.....   :-(

 Sarah's first pick....a monkey.  

Nana gave her this one a about 3 years ago i think.

 Edy's first pick (the blue one - see previous pictures for a close up)

 John's first pick, one we had personalized when we were first married. 

(see below for close-up)

 Ah, the Choking Angel!  There's a story behind that one too.......

 Immanuel made me this angel this year in Cub Scouts.

 The first ornament i gave to John.

He loves cats and i love angels, so it's perfect!  ;-)

 No they are not angels, but i posted this because Jack insisted on having them this close to each other so they could talk to each other.  So funny!

 This one was given to me by my mother when i was about 16.  

It's was my first angel ornament.

 First time we have a fireplace now that we have our whole family.  

We used to hang them from the stairs banister.

 John and i got stockings for ourselves when we were first married and decorated them for each other.  The children's stockings are gorgeous and were given by their great-grand parents, John's mother's parents, the Birdsalls.  They are personalized too.  This year after Jack's obsession for horses surfaced, i realized as he pointed out to me that he has a horse on his.  Grandpa Birdsall didn't even know how perfect this one was for him when they sent it for his first Christmas. 

I LOVE them!

 Angels and Elephants, a perfect combo!

 After it was complete!

 Sarah thought the tree should have been bigger....however the Choking Angel was past the ceiling fan, so i think it was sufficient!  ;-)

 My Darlings....

 Sisters

Happy Birthday Edy Beady!

December 4th, the day before her 8th birthday, we celebrated Eden's birthday with a party.  She had two main requests (aside from endless ideas for gifts of course) and that was 1.  A three tiered cake with horses and M&M's on it, and 2. a pinata (obviously we weren't inclined to get one before as pinata's don't normally happen in December).


She got her wishes and i think with all the wonderful friends there she had a great time.  They also played "pass the parcel" a game we played at parties in England when i was a kid. They also played Simon Says and Musical Statues.  I LOVE Musical Statues as the kids can be quite funny while dancing, especially as they catch on to the fact that it's best to dance as slooooooow as possible in order to freeze more effectively.


When i asked Eden what was her favorite part of the whole party, she simply replied, "my presents."  Well, should i have expected a deeper answer from an 8 yr old?  ;-)  Thanks to everyone that made it possible, it was a fun day for all.

 The Three Tiered M&M and Horse Cake

Yes, these are Jack's Equine and he actually kept referring to the cake as "my zebra cake."

 Musical Statues.....

 I love Mallory's Hair in this shot and that Jack looks like he's snapping his fingers like he's a Jet from West Side Story.

 Singing Happy Birthday....

 Blowing out the candle.....

 Eating the birthday cake....

 This was the Taylor Swift CD she wanted...

yes she is actually screaming here.

 waiting in line for the pinata....