Lulu for Christmas

My mom came to visit for Christmas. Sam loved all the attention! It was great having her here, and I really needed the help getting ready for Christmas.



Chris has been playing a trailer for Ice Age 3 for Sam on the laptop lately. Sam thinks Scrat is hilarious. He wanted Lulu to play it for him, but she didn't know where it was so she played some online Thomas games with him. Instant hit! The rest of the week it was, Thomas! Computer! We were surprised at how well he could play the games. He mostly pointed at the screen and we moved the mouse for him, though I helped him move the mouse a few times.



Lulu brought lots of Thomas presents for Sam. He opened Mr. Jolly's Chocolate Factory and the Sodor Dairy farm early.





Since we had company, I had a good excuse to make Nanner's spaghetti and meatballs. They tasted really good, but I'm still trying to find the right texture on the meatballs. Mine always seem more dense than Nanner's did.





We had a big gift exchange the last night that Lulu was here. Sam started early opening the Honey Depot. That kept him busy while we got dinner ready.





Momma got me the ornaments that I was missing in the Hallmark Snowtop Lodge, Yuletide Treasures, and Snowball and Tuxedo series. I love Hallmark ornaments!



Melanie got Sam a new pair of Thomas shoes that light up. His old ones were too small and he insisted on wearing them even though they made his toes hurt.





The new ones had more lights and are very bright. Sam had a lot of fun testing them out.





Chris was very excited to get coffe supplies and camera gear! Of course, Sam had to help open them.





Momma got me a water color painting by one of my favorite Mississippi artists, Jules Williamson. We tend to snatch them up as fast as she can paint them.



Melanie got Momma a new set of knives. Momma loved them!





We got Momma a new graphing calculator. We couldn't resist reenacting a little of the Saturday night live skit with John Malcovich .... a calculator!!!



Momma got Melanie a pair of pink cheetah-print Cuddle Duds long underwear for our ski trip.







This is Sam posing in front of the Christmas tree. He puts his hands on his hips when he dances, so this is a common pose for him.



Melanie was trying to convince him to do some fancy poses, but this is his interpretation.



Here are some cute shots of Sam and Cleo sharing the chair.