Merry Christmas and Charleston tidbits

We had a great Christmas and holiday break and we love that Scott essentially gets 2 weeks off. Here is a little of the fun:

Q loving the advent calendar with a little gift everyday

Showing off her Santa dress

Stockings

...And Q making sure Jocelyn got her stocking.

Nana & Papa came on the 27th bringing a stuffed version of their little dog Moki.
Now stuffed Moki is almost a member of our family too.
(In the Past when I send pictures to Nana Q wants to make sure Moki sees it too:)

Sister love

We took Mom and Dad Richens on a walking tour of Charleston (so cool) and it was a little rainy. No problem though...unless Quincy was running into everyone with the umbrella.

And my favorite Christmas morning picture. 

We had a nice time having our own little Christmas together. Christmas Eve we watched the Nativity movie from LDS.org, and some of their other short Christmas movies Then talked again about the story using the pieces from the Little People nativity and read a book. Hope we got the feeling of Christmas in our home. All of the magic of Christmas really comes alive when you have a little one.

Christmas morning was taken nice a slow,  in 3 different present opening sittings. We played with almost every toy after it was opened before opening the next. Quincy thought that in addition to her own. she should open all of Mommy's, Daddy's, and Jocelyn's presents. We had a nice breakfast before Scott took some neighbors to the airport and came back for round 2. Santa surprised me with a pair of Chaco Sandals, and shelving unit for the garage; Scott with a new Cleveland LeBron shirt and White Collar seasons 1 and 2,  and a great game, Bonanza; Quincy with a tree swing, Pjs, and Legos, and Jocelyn with a ergonomic Lillebaby carrier. We had lots of love from our families too, thanks for everything!

While we loved having our own Christmas it was great to share the holiday with some family too. Mom and Dad Richens got in on the 27th . The girls were of course spoiled with love and we had a fun time going downtown on our walking tour, attempting to visit the Hunley sub, playing a different game each night having willing babysitters so Scott and I could go on an Anniversary dinner (happy 5 years!) to a great Thai restaurant and we were also able to go another night to the Columbia temple.

Quincy was terrified of meeting Santa but once we left the ward party where she saw him she said she wanted to sit on his lap. Every time we talked about him coming to our house I'm sure she just assumed like he would come for dinner or play like her friends do. It's mid January and she still talks about him coming to our house. Q woke after we took down the Christmas decor and she asked, "Where'd Christmas go?"

New tidbits I learned about Charleston: Most of the cool old houses downtown are past down within the family, through the women- a king (without right to the land gave it to all of his mistresses). although these families don't have mortgages they have lots of costs to keep the homes up (we are talking pre-revolutionary war homes). We saw the home of the con-artist from Catch Me If You Can. The homes. The homes/buildings like on Rainbow Row were colored such so that you knew what was sold where: blue- fish, green-produce, pink-beef, yellow-pork(?). The SC state flag is symbolic, the palmetto tree represents the palmetto trunks that were used as a fortress to defend Fort Moultrie and the crescent was worn on war uniforms and the guide said something about it not being a moon but rather a picture of something they wore around their necks to prevent decapitation. On a happier note here is a pic of Rainbow Row.

Rainbow Row Christmas 2013