Things That Make Me Smile

I'm still working my way through the plethora of Christmas pictures and came upon several that just made me smile. Since smiling is top on my list of things to do in '10, I thought this grouping might spread some cheer :-)

On the Sunday before Christmas (while Davey worked), my parents and I watched Miss Tay sing Christmas carols during big church. They practice on Wednesday nights throughout December and then visited a nursing home to share Christmas with the residents. This was the encore performance and Miss Tay did great. 

Editor's note: The lighting in our church is very dark, which is great ambience most of the time but not necessarily when you're trying to photograph your singing child. You should get the main idea, though....

Anyone who's been reading this blog for long know that Taylor is all about hats. Any excuse to wear one is good enough for her and Christmas is certainly no exception. We actually have a couple of installments of this type of goodness to share. This was one of my favorites.

She even got Dave in on the fun. Apparently the lighting in my parents' home is pretty dark as well because all of my pics have this gold glow to them. Oh well, it still makes me smile. And laugh a bit too.

After opening presents on Christmas Eve, Tay and I put together this gingerbread Christmas tree. Truth be told, I'm still scarred from the homemade gingerbread house my parents and I made when I was in junior high. Let's just say it took more than one attempt, was traumatic and is now known as the "Gingerbread Incident."

Needless to say, I bought a Wilton pre-made kit so that we would enjoy the experience instead of referring to it years down the road as some type of "incident." It was a lot of fun and we even got to eat some errant icing so SCORE!!

Later Christmas Eve night I moved on to making the snowman cake that was on December's issue of Good Housekeeping. While they claim it is "super cute and easy," I can't say that I concur with the easy part of the equation.

It was difficult and messy but the end result turned out pretty cute, I think, and Tay was ecstatic. She had requested this dessert but didn't exactly play a hands on role, if you know what I mean. I've since found a mold so you can bet your britches that the next time this ol' cake makes an appearance on the blog, it was with much less pain and effort because I will not - WILL NOT - ever make it without a shortcut again.

That being said, it brought my child joy and that's all that really matters, right?

Right!
And now I bid you adieu...