I don’t know where to start when it comes to photos of my Christmas with the fabulous five!  I had them together for several days leading up to Christmas, but I think I’m just going to put up pictures from the night when we opened gifts, to keep things simple.

I invited a few people up and we had dinner before making a gingerbread house for dessert.  Everyone had a wall or roof to decorate!

My cousin Cate outdid herself with gifts for the girls.  It’s hard not to spoil them, because we all love them so much!

I invited my parents and step-parents to come down and everyone except my stepfather was able to make it (he had to work).  I rarely have my parents together in the same room unless I’m sick, so it felt like a Christmas gift to me to have everyone under one roof!  In the picture below, MacKenzie is sitting on my stepmother’s lap.  Cate gave the older girls Caboodle cases, which were quickly declared as their favorite gifts.

She also gave them a Justin Bieber board game, which is more of a joke among us than anything else.  Juliana, the four year old in our bunch, is in love with Justin Bieber and routinely goes around my house singing lyrics to his song “Baby.”  I honestly don’t know where she’s learned about him (I don’t play his music around them), but it’s hilarious to watch her blush when someone mentions Justin’s name.

I gave Cate a large trunk for her Christmas gift, which the girls saw as their very own large play toy.  Poor Cuddles!

Gosling was there, too, of course!  I gave him a painting of a little village in Mexico since I expect that he’ll end up spending a large portion of his life in small villages, working with orphans.  That isn’t prophesy on my part; it’s what he actually wants to do one day down the road.

My friend Katie came by, too!  I hate that the only picture I got of her was helping me carry the girls’ gifts from their bedroom into the living room.

Here’s a shot of the girls when they started breaking into the gifts I had bought them.  Keep in mind that they had already opened gifts from my family, my friends, etc.  It was crazy!  Also, that’s my dad on the left side of the picture.  He’s going to love that I put his picture up on my blog.  By “love,” I mean I’m in major trouble.

Almost all of the gifts I gave the girls were designed to be taken to their homes.  Only one of the girls has a lot of toys or room decor, so I made sure that the things I selected could help furnish their rooms at their real homes.

Both MacKenzie and Angelina received a digital camera from me, since they’re both very interested in photography.  Now we can go on shoots together!

Juliana was hilarious to watch… I think she was just completely overwhelmed!

My mom was there, but she was trying to sit at a lengthy distance from my real Christmas tree so she didn’t get in too many shots.

She spent plenty of time laughing at Gosling, however, which was fun to watch.  Look closely and you can see Aviean’s mom in the background, too!

Gosling tried, at my request, to share the Christmas story with the girls but their attention spans were rather short at that point.  We’ll plan better next year, Gos!

One of the little girls favorite gifts was pretend food for their kitchen!

Cuddles sat nearby, keeping a watch on everything.  And yes, I had him in a Christmas outfit.  Don’t judge.

After everybody else went home, it was just me and the Gos with the girls.  While I played with their new toys, the Gos and Olivia watched a bit of soccer on my computer.

I think everyone had a good night, except maybe Cuddles.

Oh, Cuddles, they only treat you that way because they love you, I promise!

Well, another Christmas has come and gone here in Tennessee leaving us with a blanket of snow still on the ground.  The girls and I celebrated Christmas a few days early as all five spent Christmas day with their grandparents while I headed home to see my family.  I cannot tell you how many times during our family gatherings I think to myself “If we had a reality television crew filming this, we would be millionaires.”  Don’t for a second think that I’m implying that I’m “different” or “better” than the rest of them; trust me, I tend to fit right in when it comes to the family holiday drama.  I like to think of the holidays as a refining experience meant to tame my tongue.

I have to admit that I’m a bit uncertain when it comes to family holidays, maybe because I’m still trying to find my footing in family gatherings as the single girl in her upper twenties.  I try to be cheerful and happy, but sometimes I slip and feel a bit wistful when I see my cousins with their husbands or significant others or my younger brother sitting across from me with his girlfriend.

I was relieved to avoid the feeling of jealousy for most of the holiday because I’ve given into jealousy one too many times in 2010.  I’d rather be wistful than jealous any day of the year, but especially on Christmas day.  I’ve known what it feels like to bring a significant other home for the holidays and I miss it, maybe.  Being single has its advantages, too, of course.  It’s just that holidays make me want someone to love and someone to be loved by.

This is rare, but I have this whole week off from work.  I’ll be doing some photography work (including flying to Chicago to photograph a wedding!), but I have a good four days this week that contain absolutely no commitments.  This never happens for me and I honestly don’t know what to do with myself.  Part of me wants to be as lazy as possible, but I have a feeling that the part of me that loves five little girls will win out over the laziness.  I’ve got a couple of ideas up my sleeve, so we’ll see if I can make them happen.  Secretly, I’m also hoping for a few hours just to play with Snuggles y Cuddles.  Goodness gracious, the fab five and I love those two little puppies.

Speaking of the girls, I know you want the goods: pictures of our Christmas together.  I’ll load them up for tomorrow, promise!

From my little house to yours…

Merry Christmas from the fabulous five — and me, too!

Love,

amy beth

(and snuggles y cuddles, too!)

I usually don’t post this kind of stuff, but this one is too wild to keep to myself.  An email I received at 12:44 p.m. today, mere hours after posting pictures of the girls’ bedroom at my house:

(click on image to view screen shot of the actual email)

Or, here it is typed out for your reading pleasure:

“I am a long time reader of your blog and I know you will probably not appreciate what I am about to say but as long as you are filling your life so full of a pretend life, with pretend kids you are not allowing God to lead you to the man of your dreams.  Face it, right now you are not datable.  Those girls can be gone at anytime and then where will you be?  Please allow 2011 to be of balance.  You can still share part of their lives but there is no man going to get near you with 5 gilrs (sic) with you at all times.  You have made these girls your idol and we all know what the Bible says about idols.  I would hate to see you devote so much time into these girls that you forget your own hopes and dreams.”

Gee golly, “Michelle,” thanks so much for emailing me!  This whole time, I’ve been thinking the reason I’m still single is because I’ve got a butt that’s bigger than my hair but it turns out it’s just because I’m taking care of some needy little girls, four of whom will not see their mothers’ faces this Christmas.  I am so glad you were able to clear the whole singleness thing up for me!

– — –

Alternate post titles:

“An example of why Christianity sometimes gets a bad rap.”

“Here is why I seriously consider, at least once a week, shutting down my blog.”

“I’ve got a big butt and I cannot lie.”

I’ve been purposely waiting to post pictures of the finished product that is the fabulous five’s bedroom, mainly because it isn’t exactly finished.  I’ve been working on it for months now, buying pieces of furniture, bedding, toys, etc. as I could afford them and I’m not quite done (paycheck by paycheck, people!).  I’ve got two more quilts to buy as well as a few small accent items before I can genuinely say that I’m “finished” with the room… but since I’m so close and since it’s decorated for Christmas right now, I couldn’t keep myself from giving you a little peek at the room!

Picking out five stockings for the girls this year left me deliriously happy — the only other experience that came close to being as amazing was the day I went to Target and bought multiple Easy Bake Ovens for their Christmas gifts!  I ended up getting all their stockings at Hobby Lobby; this first one is for Angelina (notice the hair color matches!).

And this is MacKenzie’s stocking (matching her hair color, too!).

I have them on silver stocking holders that are temporarily attached to the railing of the top bunk bed.  So cute!

Across the room are three more stockings, for Aviean, Juliana and Olivia.  Aren’t they darling?

Here’s a view of one side of their bedroom when you walk in the door and turn towards your right.  The Christmas tree is the first Christmas tree I ever bought for myself; I was in grad school and desperate to make my apartment feel a little bit like a home.  I bought little ornaments shaped like lollipops and cupcakes and other sweet treats having no idea that a few years later they would be loved and adored by five little girls.  Oh, how I wish I could go back to the night I bought them and tell myself how treasured those little ornaments would be in a few short years.

(Click on this picture to see it in full size!)

The picture above shows the quilt I’m going to use for all three beds; right now, I’m just using warm blankets for whoever sleeps in the bunk bed.  Speaking of the bunk bed, do you love the pink and white tent above it or what?  It’s one of my favorite parts of the entire room!

(Click on this picture to see it in full size!)

On the left side of the room, I have some file “boxes” that I use as mailboxes for the girls; I’ll have to do a post sometime about how we use them.

(Click on this picture to see it in full size!)

I couldn’t fit all of their gifts under the tree, so they’re stacked up here as well!

(Click on this picture to see it in full size!)

Do you want to come and live in their room?  I sure do!

Last night, I drove up to Knoxville for an early Christmas dinner with part of my mother’s side of the family.  We didn’t finish until late, so my cousin Israel (Aviean’s father), Brooke (Aviean’s mother) and I decided to spend the night at my mom’s house.  After mom went to bed last night, I told Israel and Brooke that I had come up with the ultimate prank: we go to the grocery store, buy a package of bacon and adorn her Christmas tree with the uncooked strips of delicious goodness.

For the record, we didn’t do it because you don’t mess with my mom’s Christmas decorations.  Unless you’d like to die at the hands of the anti-swine leader of the free world.

I’m not kidding you, as I was typing that last sentence, my cousin Israel just walked by me and said “Man, I’ve still got bacon on the brain.” 

But back to my mother.  Historically, my mother is one of the hardest people to buy Christmas gifts for each year.  I mean, how do you wrap up a full-sized live Christmas tree?  And how do you keep packages of raw sausage from spoiling under the Christmas tree?  I think you can see the dilemma I find myself in each Christmas.

This year, however, the people behind Pork: The Other White Meat have come through for me.  They recently offered several free cookbooks on their website, all of which will be finding a place under my mom’s Christmas tree this year.  I mean, with covers like this, how could I stop with just one?

It’s the hap, happiest time of the year…

Most of my college girls have left for a couple of weeks of Christmas break in their hometowns, which means I will spend the next two weeks sending them the following text each evening: “I hope you know that you’re never allowed to leave town again.  This is ridiculous.  Get back here, stat.”  They never listen to me and insist on doing ridiculous things like going home to see their mothers and fathers for Christmas.  Whatev’.

Before they left, a bunch of them came over for a little Christmas celebration at my house.  I had them over three nights after getting out of the hospital, so I kept things pretty low-key as I didn’t want to, um, go back to the hospital.  I settled on a movie night with them where we watched The Young Victoria (which happens to be my favorite movie).  We had a blast!

I wanted to give them a little something to take home with them, so I made “smores-to-go” kits.  I put graham crackers, chocolate bars and marshmallows in little to-go containers, tied them together with ribbon and added a pretty little ornament on top for decoration.  They were so fun to make!

For food for the party, I did a big basket of all different types of movie theater candy.

I served sparkling water and other drinks out of pretty glasses.  Do you think it’s weird that I’m not a drinker but I have various wine and margarita glasses around my house?  Me too.

And, of course, plenty of popcorn!

We had the best night together!  It’s making it a bit more bearable to have them gone for their Christmas holiday.  But still, they’re never allowed to go home again.  Except maybe for Easter.  And the fourth of July.  And Thanksgiving.  But they can forget the big holidays, like President’s Day and Martin Luther King Day.

Gentle blog readers, may I ask you a question?  If you were given the nickname “Gosling” because you resembled the actor Ryan Gosling and you resented the fact that your dearest female friend repeatedly called you that nickname on her very public, very hot pink blog, would you show up at her house in this outfit?

It’s like The Notebook has come to life in my very own kitchen.

Look who fell asleep in my desk chair the other night?

They’re all so cute, I’m in over my head.

Coming this week on this little blog: a peek at the Christmas party I gave for my college girls, a look at the five cutest stockings you’ve ever seen in your life and plenty moments of Christmas with the fab five.  It’s going to be a very, very good week here on the blog.

But, for now, I’ve got to go make cinnamon rolls to feed some hungry little girls.

This past weekend, our young Gosling graduated from college.  The morning of his graduation, the Gos wearing a “dress” was all the little girls could talk about (they had seen a picture of someone else in a graduation gown and believed it to be a dress).  We got ready a bit more quickly than I planned that morning, so we swung by Starbucks to grab some breakfast and espresso for Gosling and then went over to his apartment to surprise him.

What wasn’t a surprise?  Oh, the fact that young Gosling was still asleep when he was supposed to be up and putting his dress on for the big graduation day.

After waiting outside his door so he could put some clothes on, we were ushered into the apartment of the Gos where we enjoyed some precious moments of listening to Juliana repeatedly ask him why he didn’t have his dress on yet while Olivia tried to break each and every item in his apartment.  It was magical.

Take a wild guess which three year old was not happy with me when I snapped this photo?

As it turned out, she just wanted a picture of her alone with Gosling.  He tends to have that problem with the ladies, you know.  That’s what happens when women mistake you for the lead actor in The Notebook.

After Gosling’s graduation, we headed over to a new French restaurant to celebrate with his family.  This was my first time meeting Gosling’s family and I absolutely loved them.  The girls were invited to come, too (MacKenzie and Aviean had other plans, unfortunately), but I think introducing his family to the fabulous five in small doses is probably the best plan for all of our sakes.

This is Gosling’s mother, whom I now adore.  She sent me an email yesterday that was one of the sweetest things I’ve ever read.  Even better?  She now sends me texts that say “Miles of smiles!”

I didn’t know what to get Gosling for graduation, so I ended up getting a shadow box and roping one of my crafty college girls into helping me make some things I had collected for him look presentable.

Meanwhile, Olivia took my cell phone and began having an imaginary conversation while everyone at the table fell in love with her.  And yes, that’s an owl hair clip in her darling little head of hair.

Also, I feel the need to tell you that I dressed the girls in coordinating pink and black outfits since we were going to a French restaurant.  I don’t know how you real mothers do it, because wrangling those girls into coordinating outfits took at least three years off my lifespan but my goodness, they looked adorable.  Am I biased?  Well, you be the judge.

After the party ended, the girls and I went to the grocery store so I could pick up a birthday cake for my friend (and college roommate) Katie.  Katie recently moved back to the area, so I was excited to meet up with her and a bunch of our good friends to celebrate her birthday that night.

When Katie and I lived together, she had an obsession with a cartoon that was on when we were kids, Jem and the Holograms. She had various Jem items in her room and it wasn’t uncommon for me to hear her talking to her Jem-themed alarm clock while I would get dressed in the mornings.  I would love to write what Katie used to say to “Jem” when she woke her up each morning, but this is a family friendly blog.  I will tell you, however, that one of my favorite memories from college is listening to Jem-the-alarm-clock being berated because she had the audacity to wake Katie up in time for class.

So, naturally, I had the bakery write “Happy Birthday, Jem!” on Katie’s cake.

And I didn’t hear one word of complaint from Katie.  Or, for that matter, Jem.