Christmas in Troy

Sarah and I agree that this has been one of the best Christmas' yet. We picked out a tree and brought it home. We all had a hand in decorating it. Jude continued to redecorate the tree daily until Christmas day. We were always finding various trucks, cars, balls, tractors, and books stuffed in the lower part of the tree. In addition, he removed all of the lower ornaments and threw them into the tree where they were much less visible.




Granny joined us on the 20th, and then Brandon's family joined us on the 26th. Jude had so much fun with Granny and his cousins. When they first arrived, he had difficulty sharing, but by the end of the week, he had gotten much better. We were also joined by Sarah's lifelong friend Risa.






We celebrated Christmas Eve on the 23rd and Christmas on the 24th because Sarah had to work on the 25th. We began a new tradition this year. I made up several booklets that had the entire birth narrative compiled from Matthew, Luke and John. Interspersed throughout the narrative were the printed lyrics of several relevant Christmas songs. So we took turns reading and sang songs in between different sections.





























Everyone but Granny left on the 30th and so we went to the Memphis Zoo to cope with the loss. Unfortunately, due to my intentional and counterproductive detour, we arrived at the zoo just in time to watch them shut the gates. Fortunately, Sarah discovered that they would be opening again in 2 hours for night lights. So we went to McDonalds for some coffee and snacks and returned for the zoo lights. It was a great display throughout the zoo and we were still able to see several of the animals. We also got to ride a horse carriage through the zoo as well as a train. Jude had a blast. His favorites were the Panda that greeted us at the entrance, the aquarium, and the nighttime creatures exibit that had bats, cockroaches, an aardvaark, and many other interesting animals.