Christmas in Biloxi

We celebrated Shelby's first Christmas here in Biloxi. Derek was on wards for the month of December (which means he's on call every fourth night), so he couldn't take leave. But we will be able to head back to GA after the New Year to spend a little time at home. We were sad to miss Georgia's first white Christmas in over 100 years though! But we weren't sad for too long b/c we remembered that we had more than our fair share of snow (remember the Blizzard of 2009 and SNO.M.G. in February of 2010) last year in DC..actually I think we had enough snow to last us a lifetime!

This is the first time in my life (at least that I can remember!) that I haven't spent Christmas at home in GA or up in St. Louis (where my mom and dad's side of the family is), so we were thrilled that my parents and sister offered to come join us in Biloxi! It certainly made it feel a little more like home...and I'm pretty sure they enjoyed getting some baby time!
Due to work schedules, it had to be a short visit. They were scheduled to leave Christmas afternoon. So my mom made a yummy Christmas Eve dinner, and then we opened presents that night.

Then on Christmas morning, we opened our stockings. (My parents made an impromptu stocking out of a gift bag for my sister, so she could open her stocking stuffers with us.)

After opening stockings we ate a big breakfast cooked on Derek's new griddle, then my family had to hit the road back to GA. We cleaned up the mess from Christmas and caught up on laundry while Shelby napped. When she woke up, we bundled her up and hit the road as well..but we we were on the road to look at Christmas lights! :)
But the best light display of all was right in our very own neighborhood! Down the street from us, there is a house that has lights synchronized to music for a 30 minute show! It was quite impressive!
All in all, it was a wonderful Christmas! But we can't wait to go home and celebrate more with our families in a few days! We hope you and your family are enjoying this special time of year together as well!