Our Carolina Christmas 2011

   Emmett's first Christmas was an eventful one!  Due to Clark's work schedule and the price of airline tickets, we celebrated the holidays in North Carolina this year (meaning 2011, even though it's being documented well after-the-fact).  We packed our holiday week full of dear friends, yummy food and our East coast siblings.

   Emmett and I got back from Utah in the wee morning hours of Dec 23.  It was a quick turn around to have all the preparations done for the next day's guests and activities.   Christmas Eve we gathered with some our ward friends for a turkey dinner and stunning nativity performance.

Clark was a superb sheep.

And Emmett was a rather pukey stand in for baby Jesus.

Handsome boys.

When we returned home we had a Schmutz crew there to greet us!  Annie, Yahya & Khalil drove down from NYC and Vaughn and Margaret came up from Charlotte.  Emmett got to meet his cousin Khalil (just 8 months apart) for the first time!

Emmett's 1st Christmas--4 1/2 months

 Emmett's first Christmas was a really great day.  I loved starting off the morning with an hour of church; it just set the right mood for the day.  Margaret and Vaughn surprised us with fun stockings; we lounged around visiting, eating yummy food and video-chatting with family.

Emmett kind of opened his presents...and then promptly put them in his mouth.

Between Emmett and Khalil, the babes were pretty much the center of attention the entire week.

Christmas dinner

These three spent a lot of time together.  Uncle Yahya was super with Emmett; and Khalil, well, Khalil and Emmett will play better together when they are older. 

There was some nice hand-holding...

that led to head touching and eye poking...

some kind rebukes...

and another go at it.  :)  Emmett was a trooper through it all!

The day after Christmas we all headed down to Charlotte where there was a little more space for everyone.  We had a relaxing week, overall.  Most of the week was dedicated to all things Sherlock Holmes (movies & BBC series), but we also found time for shopping and dancing.  Mostly it was nice to just be able to hang out together--something we don't get to do nearly as often as we'd like.  For some reason Emmett was a terrible sleeper this trip, which made for some long nights (sorry, everyone!).  Good thing he is one cute little boy.

Sweet Khalil--13 months

My very first trip to IKEA, kicking it off with some Swedish meatballs.  

 Sweetest pictures of daddy and son.

More happy (and tired) faces while at IKEA.

Let the dance-offs begin!

Look at that smirk...

 A photo with the professor.

 Our attempt at a cousins photo shoot.  It wasn't super successful and had to end once there was a sneaky ear bite attempt...but we got a few memorable pictures.

We sure do love our East-coast siblings.  Thanks for coming down and making the week so memorable and special.  XOXO.  And Amen from Clark.  What a great Christmas.