Searching for MELANIE!!! And a little bit of Christmas excitement :)

Dear Melanie,

You have a lovely nursing cover awaiting you.  I emailed the address listed on your profile, but haven't heard back from you.  Please email me at retrogalusa@aol.com.  I really want you to have your gift!!!

In other news, I am finally getting excited about Christmas.  This is where I will be spending Christmas morning!!!

P.s.  Dear Mama, I know we were supposed to skype when we got home from Walmart, but Caleb was almost asleep in the car so now he is napping.  We will call when he wakes up!  Sorry :(

Do any of you guys do "Elf on the Shelf" ?  My mom and sister have been doing it with my little adopted sister, Cammy back home.  Cammy is 4 1/2 and calls herself Calebs sister.  I was talking to my mom on the phone the other day and she told me the most hilarious story ever.  I will have to set this up for you a little bit.  If you know anything about the Elf on the Shelf,  you know that the Elf will come to your house and watch to make sure you are being good.  Then, he will dissapear to go talk with Santa.  Magically, he reappears in a new and different spot to watch you again, and this continues on until Christmas.  This year, my mom purchased the book with the Elf but last year, she had two elves already and kind of did her own version using those two elves.  Cammy was at my parents house and she was taking a bath in their bathroom.  My mom was in the bathroom doing her makeup and she heard Cammy talking to herself (which is the story of Cam's life, she is ALWAYS talking!!!).  So she hears Cam say, "I wish I could have two more elves!" Now, the tub is around the corner from the mirror, so Cammy could not see my mom, nor did she realize that my mom was listening in on her pretend wishing game.  My mom remembered the two elves that she had from last year and ran to put them out in the living room with the other "Elf on the Shelf".  Cameron got out of the tub and (as always) ran to "check the elf" to see if he was still there or if he had gone to see Santa.  You can only imagine her surprise when she finds two more elves by the tree!  She was so excited that she couldn't even talk.  She finally sputtered, "KK (that's what she calls my mom) This is jsut what I just wished for!  TWO more elves!!!" 

I can not wait to do Santa and the Elf on the Shelf with Caleb.  My mom still has letters that I wrote to Santa when I was little.  I remember laying in my bed and listening as hard as I could for the reindeer on the roof.  I would leave Santa notes begging him to come wake me up and let me ride with him to all the other houses.  I remember that some of my presents were from my parents and some were signed "Love, SANTA".  Later I realized the strong resemblance between Santa and my dad's handwriting.  Even when we were all grown in highschool and college, we would still have presents under the tree signed by Santa :)

 I am also looking forward to buying Caleb a nativity that he can play with and being able to tell him the story of Christ's birth and how we celebrate his birthday on Christmas day.  I want to be able to tell him that even though Santa Claus is a lot of fun, the real reason for Christmas is Jesus and that if Christ had never come, we would have had no one to die for our sins and no way to Heaven.  On that note, I love Target for putting "Merry Christmas" on the windows of their stores and not "Happy Holidays".  It is sad that other stores feel the need to be politically correct.  My late pastor back home (Dr. Jerry Falwell) founded Liberty University, the college I attended and for a long time he had a sign made and put at the entrance of the university that said, "Politically Incorrect since 1971"  Oh how I loved that man, and that school.

 This Christmas is going to be so much fun.  It is our first Christmas with our little baby boy and even though he can't understand any of these things yet, I think he will enjoy trying to eat some wrapping paper and climb in and out of the boxes.  Do any of you have Christmas traditions?

  After Seth and I got married, I mentioned something to him about having oyster stew for breakfast on Christmas morning.  He looked at me like I had three eyeballs.  That is when I realized that apparently, our family must be the only ones who do that! Haha... but if you do too, please let me know!!!

Where will you guys be spending your Christmas?