Christmas 2008

Santa was good to the Campbell Clan! The children had so many wonderful celebrations and the entire month of December was magical. We kicked off Christmas with the arrival of Waddell, our naughty elf who came to our house for the second year. His job is to watch the children's behavior and report back to Santa.


The true spirit of Christmas came with the many talks about why we really celebrate Christmas and the children were surprised by our neighbors with a wonderful Little People Nativity that they could actually play with. The stable was complete with a star and a button that played "Away in a Manger." We heard that song more times than we can remember.

On Christmas Eve, we went to the candlelight service at church and Liam went with us. We sang wonderful songs and lit candles at the end. Liam enjoyed his experience in "Big Church" but, he was a little unnerved that we had to lift our flames in the air on the last stanza of the song. He's a very cautious child and that didn't sit well with him.


Just after we arrived home from church, Granddad and Mimi arrived for Christmas Eve dinner. The children even performed their Christmas boogie on the coffee table, their new stage! Some last minute play time with Waddell and placing a plate of cookies out for Santa ended the evening for the children. Off to bead so Santa could get the darn toys put together and wrapped.

We enjoyed a very lazy Christmas day full of food and toys! On December 26, we headed to Alabama to see Papa Buddy, Aunt Cindy & Uncle Mike, and our cousins, Monica and Alyssa. We stayed at the Marriott, which was an adventure for the children. We rented adjoining rooms and they loved running back and forth between the two. The best part was that we were able to go swimming in the indoor pool.


On Saturday, we were off to Papa Buddy's farm with a Big Bob Gibson Barbecue picnic. We went off roading through the VERY muddy pastures in Papa Buddy's truck to get a close up view of the cows... and the chocolate pies they leave behind. Liam enjoyed sitting in the big John Deere tractor and even got to crank it and lift the fork up and down.


Saturday night we enjoyed playing at Aunt Cindy & Uncle Mike's house. There were lots of hugs for Monica and Alyssa.

Liam's acting debut

December 14 was a big day for our star. He was a shephard in the Christmas Pageant at church in the morning and then as we told him "stole the show" in an adapted version of the Nutcracker put on by the performing arts school where he takes acting classes. Little did we know that Liam is a big HAM! He enjoyed saying his two lines and pranced around the stage as if he owned it. During the curtain call, he walked to the very front of the stage for everyone to see him. We laughed so hard we cried. Many thanks to Aunt Kathy and Aunt Kerry for making the trip from NYC to see the shows. Also, Granddad and Mimi showered our star with love!

Macy's Pink Pig

Begun in 1953 at the downtown Rich's store, the Pink Pig is an Atlanta Christmas tradition. On December 5, Liam and Hannah got their first glimpse of the ride. It was very boring if you ask Mom! After waiting in line out in the cold, they were very anxious to ride. Hannah was most excited. She yelled "pink pig" for the last 10 minutes. Luckily we bought 2 rides so the fun lasted for a little while! In the words of Priscilla the pink pig... "We'll see Y'all next year!"