Christmas with the Forthman Fam

We celebrated Christmas with my family on Saturday.  Mom made a delicious meal.  The decorations were beautiful like always, and there were too many gifts.  We celebrated quickly, so that Mom could go take her shift at the hospital.  We appreciate Auntie Jan staying extra long at the hospital, so that we could have our time together.  Jeff was in Atlanta last year, so we weren't able to have our big celebration.  I think everyone agrees that having him home was the best gift of all.

The Forthmans

back row:  Fred, Dad, Jonathan and Jeff

front row:  Me, Mom, Emma and Jessie

Mom gave Fred a Dallas Cowboys Santa hat.

Uncle Jeffrey

Aunt Emma

MaMaw

Jessie is really excited about the books that Uncle Jeffrey and Aunt Emma got for her.

Jonathan and the car that Grady got him for Christmas

Hmmm.... I guess Dad and I didn't make the cut.  I'm not sure why there weren't any pictures of Dad.  He is going to hold this against me for sure.  Since I was the one with the camera, there is no evidence of me either.

Crazy Cousins

Fred's mom and her husband were in town for Christmas.  They arrived on Monday, December 21st and left on the following Monday.  We spent most of that week visiting with Fred's parents and his sister's family. 

The chaos on Christmas Day.

Jess and Lauren waiting for the presents to be handed out.

Kaitlin looking cute in her favorite hat.

Chris playing his six year old little sister's new game.

Jonathan scoring a new pair of comfy pants.

We played games, games and more games.  I think they were playing Racko in this picture.  Our most memorable moment was playing Catch Phrase.  It was girls against guys.  Larry (far left in this pic) was trying to get Fred and Glen to guess the word obscene.  Finally, he said "this is what it would be if I walked around the house naked."  I'm pretty sure that was one of those "you had to be there moments."  We laughed and laughed.  Fred laughed so hard that I was afraid he was going to start crying.  Actually, I think he did.

Jonathan and Kylie in his room.  Kylie is now old enough that Jonathan had a really good time hanging out with her.  At her house, they played Barbies.  I think he was usually a Prince from one of the Disney movies.  At our house, they played bionicles.  Either way, they kept each other entertained.

These three girlies had a great time running and playing together.

The Simmons family

The Whole Entire Gang!  I guess my Christmas tree didn't make a very good backdrop.  You can hardly see it back there.

We had a great time celebrating with Fred's mom and her husband along with the Simmons family.  We want to thank everyone for their generosity.  We all had a great time.

A Fortenberry Four Christmas

Jessie, Jonathan, Gracie and Mollie

Christmas pj's never get old!

Gracie wishes everyone a Happy Howlidays

Mollie just says, "Ho! Ho! Ho!"

The Loot!  Jessie's presents are on the left side with the ornament wrapping paper.  Jonathan's are on the right side with the snowflake paper.

Lights. Camera. Action.  Jessie got a flip video for Christmas.  She is taking Video Production in school and loving it.

Jonathan got his very first digital camera.  So far, the pictures have been very interesting.

The Fortenberry Four.  I guess Fred didn't get the memo that we were all wearing blue.  Who wears blue on Christmas day, anyway?

Reindeer Games

We went to Greenville on Christmas Eve to celebrate with my Mom's side of the family.  My Grandma was in the hospital again, so we had to adjust our plans.  We had a small crew this year due to weather, work schedules and other family celebrations.

My Dad was kind enough to stay with Grandma while the rest of us got to play our annual games.  It wasn't the same without everyone, but we made it work.  We were happy that my "little" brother and his wife made it in this year.  They are both in the Army, and we are so glad to have them in Texas.  They transferred in October to Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio.  Yay for us!

Jonathan and cute little Josie.  Since Fred and I had to work, Mom and Dad took Jonathan on Christmas Eve.  Mom and Auntie Jan were taking turns staying with Grandma at the hospital, so Jonathan spent much of his day with Auntie Jan, Uncle Joe and Josie.  Thank you all for taking care of Jonathan during this crazy time!

I really don't know... I think he was getting bundled up to go stay with Grandma.  Nice look, Dad.

Fred looking kicked back and comfy on Grandma's couch.  It felt awfully strange to be at Grandma's without her there.

Jeff and Emma.  It is so great to have them home!  They are just a short five hour drive away.  We can just pop in on them whenever we want.  He He!

Auntie Jan.  Do you see her face?  There is some serious plotting going on.  My cousin, Tammy, had another Christmas celebration to attend.  So, she gave Auntie Jan proxy to play for her.  That means that Auntie Jan was playing for herself and Tammy.  At one point, "Tammy" decided to trade her nice clock with Auntie Jan.  That Auntie Jan can be very tricky!

Here is Miss Jessica.

Aunt Judy and Mom.  Something was darn funny! Those ladies have their Christmas spirit going!

My two boys!  Jonathan brought this hot chocolate set, and he made sure that he went home with it, too.

Here is the big winner of the night!  Uncle Joe won/got stuck with this silver sequined bag.  We were all so jealous!

We had a great time.  We wished that Tammy, Randy, Cheyanne, Corey, Lucy, Sue and Jackie could have been with us.  We especially wish that Grandma could have been there.  Grandma's apartment is very close to the hospital, so we ended up celebrating at her home.  Her presence could be felt everywhere.  It was felt when Auntie Jan creatively traded with Tammy.  It was most definitely felt when Aunt Judy didn't pass the bags right during the Right/Left game.  I wouldn't say Grandma was a cheater when we played games.  She just wanted to make sure that she brought home the good prizes!  When you are the Grandma, you can get away with this type of behavior. 

This Christmas we celebrated the upcoming expansion to our family.  Don't worry, I'm not contributing to the expansion.  Jeff and Emma are having a baby at the end of May!  My cousin Corey and his wife Lucy are due in August.  I can't wait to love on these little babies, and then give them back to their parents. Now that my kids are older, I have decided that being an aunt to the 6 and under crowd is an awesome job!

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Who would have guessed that we would end up with a white Christmas?  While we were at work on Christmas Eve, it started to snow.  I had to run out and get gas on my lunch hour.  Afterwards, I spent a few minutes driving around and looking at the beautiful snow.  At that point there was very little accumulation.

I drove through a park close to the office.  The scene above was just before the snow really started sticking.  I'm sure it was even more beautiful later in the day.

When I got home at 3:30 p.m. on Christmas Eve, this is what our front yard looked like.  We grabbed Jessie and headed to Greenville.  After celebrating Christmas with my Mom's family, we skated home.  The beautiful snow started freezing, and made for quite the drive home.

This is Jonathan looking out the window on Christmas morning.  He had spent Christmas Eve in Greenville (where there was no accumulation), and it was late when we got home.  He didn't realize that we had a winter wonderland in our front yard.

Shortly after the gifts were open and breakfast was made, Jonathan and Mollie went outside to play in the snow!

It was Christmas, so I didn't complain when he went outside in his pj's and crocs.  He did eventually come in and change shoes.  However, the pj's stayed on.

I wish that some of those snowflakes could have found there way to Greenville for Jonathan.  He made up for it by truly enjoying himself on Christmas morning!  What a wonderful memory for him.

Celebrating Kylie's Birthday

Our sweet little niece, Kylie, turned 6 on the 23rd.  We were so happy that we got to spend some time celebrating with her.  The birthday girl chose Red Hot and Blue for her special dinner.

Nothing like having your 14 year old brother's hand in your birthday picture!  That's what big brothers are for, right?

The whole family enjoying some delicious dinner and celebrating a special girl's birthday.

Christmas with the Girls

What would Christmas be without a nice quiet dinner with the girls?  Tanya S. was so sweet to have us all over to her house.  We were treated like queens!

Heather, Angela, Tanya S., Daisy, Gracie and Tanya

Tanya's beatiful table.  We were honored to be the first to use her beautiful new dining room table.

The cute little place setting.

We had so much fun.  There was lots of girl talk, a white elephant exchange and delicious food.  Angela G., we missed you!  Thanks ladies for a wonderful time.

I'm a Big Kid Now

On Saturday, I took Jessie and two of her friends to the mall.  As we entered the mall, we began to plan for the trip.  First we exchanged cell phone numbers. Then we synchronized our watches and made sure that all three were clear on the meeting place and time.  I saw Jess' eyes light up as she figured out what was going on.  She couldn't believe that I was going to turn them loose at the mall.  She grinned and sang the Huggies pull-up song, I'm a Big Kid Now.  The girls stopped to strategize on how they were going to spend the next two hours.  With a stiff upper lip, I turned and walked away.  I didn't turn around.  I just kept walking.  It was a little bit scary, sad and thrilling all rolled up into one. 

I wondered around the mall trying to kill time.  I ended up at JCPenney, so that I could take advantage of their big and tall department.  I was standing in a rather long line.  There was a little girl in front of me.  She had blond curly hair, glasses, and looked to be about four years old.  It was clear that her parents had drug her around shopping all day.  She was restless and somewhat loud.  However, I thought she was just precious.  Mom and Dad were running low on patience and didn't think her behavior was all that precious. I found her to be quite entertaining (I remember when Jonathan was the one "entertaining" everyone).

This sweet little girl kept getting reprimanded over and over.  At one point, Dad pulls out his cell phone and tells the little girl that he was going to call Santa and let him know that she wasn't obeying.  They finally get checked out and turn to leave.  Dad looks at those of us in line and says, "this is the reason that she is an only child."  As I watched this family, I felt a lump forming in my throat.  Don't worry... I didn't cry or even tear up.  I was sad for these parents.  One day this precious little girl is going to be a teenager, and she will be fighting for a little bit of independence.  They lost valuable time with her, because they were tired and impatient. 

I wonder how many moments I lost with my precious little girl, because I was tired and impatient?

O Tannenbaum

Before church on Sunday, we gathered around the Christmas tree and took a few pictures.

Here is our crazy little tree.  I'm not happy with how it turned out this year.

Donna, Jonathan and Jessie

Jonathan and Jessie - do they really have their arms around each other?

Jess

Jonathan

The pile of presents.  I know that the big green present on the right doesn't match the color scheme.  It is really a birthday present.