December 2012

Following Thanksgiving, we decided to really get in the Christmas spirit with a trip to see Santa!  Jude was a little apprehensive about sitting on Santa's lap, but we went at a time that Santa was not too busy and was able to spend a little bit of time chatting with Jude about all of the things he wanted for Christmas.  Eventually Jude did sit on Santa's lap long enough to take the traditional picture with Santa. 

Channing, on the other hand, seemed content sitting with Santa and even sat with him by herself for her own Santa picture!

 One Friday evening in mid December 2012, we were able to meet up with Nana, Papa, Dallas, and Jesse for dinner at Jason's Deli!  It had been a while since Jude and Channing had seen Dallas and Jesse and they were excited for some special cousin time together.  I brought along the camera and had the hardest time trying to get a picture with all four cousins looking towards the camera.
Dallas (12 years old), Jesse (9 years old), Jude (2 years old) and Channing (1 year old). 

 Jude simply adores these two (Dallas and Jesse) and so do I. 

Another fun adventure we had in December 2012 was a trip to Mocksville, NC to visit with my good friend, Julie!  Julie and I were room mates in college and did just about everything together.  During this particular visit, we ate lunch at Miller's Pizza Barn, spent time playing and visiting with each other at Julie's house, and ate dinner at our favorite little spot in Mocksville called Miller's Restaurant.  It's a little local restaurant that serves a huge variety of foods (mostly country cooking) and has great prices. 

Here's a picture of The Walker Family in Mocksville, NC in December 2012:

Following our dinner at Miller's Restaurant with Julie and her boyfriend, Drew, we visited with Julie's sister and her family at the Clemmons Fire Department.  Julie's brother-in-law, Bob, is a fireman in Clemmons and invited us to come and check out all of the firetrucks! 

Jude was absolutely in awe climbing in and checking out all of the fire trucks and the ambulance.  I am positive that this was the highlight of Jude's day (and Jude loves spending time with Julie, so that shows just how much he enjoyed the fire trucks!)

Here's a picture of Channing trying on the fireman's gear!  She was just a little bit too small! 

Thanks for the visit, Bob!  We really had a great time and Jude is now convinced that the driver of EVERY fire truck or ambulance that we may see is Bob.  Ha ha!   

In the spirit of Christmas, both Jude and Channing made hand print ornaments in their classes at Duke Children's Campus!  These are the first of what I'm sure will be many handmade ornaments from our children over the next few years.  I will always cherish these ornaments as I remember their tiny hands.

Channing's hand print ornament, Christmas 2012

Jude's hand print ornament.  Christmas 2012.

 Christmas is always a time to visit with family and friends, and this Christmas was no exception.  We enjoyed a visit with our friends, Libby and Jason Hooker, who live in Charlotte.  During our visit, Libby helped Jude and I decorate a gingerbread house.

Libby and I have been friends for 30 years (since we were 2 years old!).  Our mom's are best friends as well, and Libby's step-dad is my dad's best friend (my parents set up Libby's mom and step-dad).  Here's a picture of Libby and I when we were about 3 or 4 years old:

And here we are this past Christmas, at 32 years old:

During the Christmas Season of 2010, Ian and I did a Christmas photo shoot with Jude and got some really great photos.  Jude was 7 months old.  We decided to recreate this photo shoot this past Christmas with our dear Channing, who was 13 months old.

Here's a few pictures from our 2010 Christmas photo shoot with our 7 month old Jude:

Here's a few pictures from our 2012 Christmas photo shoot with Channing, who was 13 months old:

A few days before Christmas, we received a package in the mail.  We weren't expecting anything to arrive, so we had no idea what it would be.  Upon opening it, we discovered these little treasures:

 

They were homemade Christmas ornaments from Dallas and Jesse, our adorable nephews!  I was smiling from ear to ear when I thought about how sweet it was of them to think of us and send us this treat.  Jude was thrilled to place them on our Christmas tree and loved rearranging their places on the tree throughout the rest of the Christmas season. 

My dad plays the tuba.  He began playing the tuba during his high school days and continues to do so in his church orchestra.  Jude has always been enthralled by music and was thrilled when Papa Joe let him have a go at his tuba!

As usual, our month of December was filled with love, laughter, and adventures.  I'll do a seperate blog post featuring the Walker family's Christmas 2012.