Noah was on Santa's Good Boy List

Noah was being funny on Christmas morning. He got this LSU basketball from Grandpa Pete and Grandma Shirley. Also this is one of the few photos I have of him looking like a big boy. I had the best Christmas outfit picked out, but the 75 degree weather ruined it! We headed to my parents house to do Christmas with my brother, Aunt Denisey, Grandma, and my parents. Noah was curious what was hiding under the blanket. Santa brought him a painting, coloring, desk combo to Mimi and Popeye's house. He has entertained himself for hours - its wonderful!

My brother, being an musician himself, loves give Noah the best musical toys ever. This hit the all time best gift yet. Parrian and Aunt Denise got Noah a piano. He played lovely for us on Christmas day - Grandma said, "He's a natural!"

The day after Christmas we headed to Biloxi to do Christmas with the Manuel's. (Unfortunately, we received horrible news that Ike's uncle is dying of cancer in South Carolina - so the festivities were very mellow down in Mississippi) Noah to the rescue. We laughed and played and finally started seeing smiles on the families faces. Noah asked if the gifts under the tree were his because he saw his name. Grandpa gave him a whole tool set and an electronic drum set! (oh, thanks!)

Overall, it was a wonderful Christmas. To see Noah's reaction to the Season and Jesus' Birthday was priceless. I wish he would stay this small forever!

WAITING ON SANTA

Noah was so thrilled while making cookies tonight. He couldn't wait to put them out for Santa. Then he said "What about his reindeer?" So we put out some carrots too. "Hurry Up Santa!"

I love it! The milk and cookies are adorable. The little pillow was cross stitched for Noah this year from his (7th adopted grandmother - Ms Paula Dietrich from the hotel)

SANTA TRACKER

This is a hoot. Go log into www.NORADSANTA.org and watch as Santa travels through the world delivering presents to good little boys and girls.

I cant wait............

Oh, what a Christmas...

The hotel had its 2nd annual Breakfast with Santa on Saturday. I was excited to see how Noah was going to be, he was a perfect angel! He walked right up to Santa and smiled. He loved decorating the cookies and playing with the other kids. I love the photo below of him cheezing! (sad to think 2 years in a row my son is wearing shorts during Christmas!) 45 minutes into Ike and Noah (along with about 35 other families) having fun, the hotel fire alarm goes off (of course when Ike goes down the hall to Starbucks and I am the hotel manager on duty.) I left Noah with another manager at the hotel making cookies. (its weird how i went from total mommy mode to manager mode so quick!) It was a fire on the 2nd floor of the parking garage. Most of you might have read or scene it on the news "Metairie hotel evacuates due to fire. It took 30 firemen to escort 100 guest to safety." hahahaaa...dont you love how the news embellishes? the real story is that an employee invited her cousin to attend the breakfast and her battery caught on fire. About 50 people (35 being workers of the hotel) were asked to go outside for their safety. It did take 4 firetrucks, 25 firemen, 4 chief of fire, and 1 hr 45 minutes to get it under control. The best part one of the chiefs brought fire hats and coloring books to all the kids who's Santa party was interrupted. Of course that is all Noah keeps talking about. The photo below is Noah having a "Terrible Two" moment at the hotel (but adorable!)

GOOSE BUMBS FOR LOVE...

I have to share what happened to me at the hotel today.

I have had this guest staying with me he actually is an older gentleman that is a bellmen for the Ritz in Florida. His son at 23 years old had a heart attack and is waiting on a transplant at East Jefferson Hospital. Daily we hear of the news and the staff really makes him feel at home while he deals with such a horrible tragedy.

Another family came to the front desk to share that they met a gentleman on the elevator. He was a kind man the mom said. They shared how the too were away from home during Christmas. The gentleman shared of his son's tragedy. The mother presented a beautiful gift basket to be delivered to his room, but she didnt know his name only the story. She said it was the least she could do during Christmas for him.

As my bellman headed to the elevator the father exited hanging his head low. He had received bad news of his son and was rushing to the hospital. My bellman said, please come see my manager. At this time the entire front desk and bellmen were at the desk and gave this beautiful basket to him. He was speechless. We begged him to open the card. He began to cry. The card was signed by the two young girls with wishes of his son's health and Merry Christmas. (OK, i was crying by this point). All I could say to him, "there are angels!" The family wanted to be anonymous...just wanted him to know that everything is going to be ok.

The front desk staff and this man - all we could do was smile and be thankful for amazing "angels" especially at Christmas time. This is truly my Christmas story this year. What a selfless gift to a perfect stranger.

Merry Christmas and God Bless!

Shepherd Noah found the babe lying in a manager

Noah's preschool put on a Christmas Pagent for the parents last week. It was adorable to watch Noah play a sheppard. If you look closely on the left hand side (next to the Inn leaning towards the middle) you will see my little star! Noah told me "You had no rooms for Jesus at your hotel!" Instead of there were no rooms at the Inn for Mary and Joseph.

This is Noah and his girfriend, Lilly posing with their teachers!

THE BIBLE NATIVITY STORY KJV Bible--Luke 2:1-38, Matthew 2:1-23
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them; and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not; for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger. and suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger. And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child. And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds. But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

The Manuel Family Holiday Decor

As I was sharing the other day, I have a few friends posting their holiday decor. It has been so cute to watch: a dating couple, a newlywed couple, a family with small children, a family with grown children and how each decorate SOOOOOO differently. This year, I kept it low key due to my surgery and the hotel is really busy too. I thought I would share with you our family holiday decor (thanks Mimi!)

Below is our mantle. I love this large oversize fireplace. This year I went with a red, white and silver theme and it turned out GREAT! The three photos in the center are myself, Noah and Ike at the same age (18 1/2 months old). My original intent was to have each of our first Christmas photos to hang up, but thanks to Hurricane Katrina we lost all of Ike's childhood photos. (Thanks to my dad scanning a few for our wedding, we have this one of Ike!) Oh, yeah Noah doesn't have two stockings, that's Ike Superman stocking that he ADORES! Since Ike and I have been married, I have continued the tradition of the Danos' family. Each year we purchase an ornament that signifies what we did that specific year. Needless to say for the first year of our marriage we only had 3 ornaments. Now with Noah and 4 years of marriage behind us the tree is truly filling out. This year I had to find just the right ornament for the NoNo-bear. And here it is................ How cute is the potty training ornament? I absolutely love it! Here is the overall tree. (Not nearly as GINORMOUS as the Ireland's- heheehee!) I am allergic to pine, so we are an artificial Christmas tree family. Ike and I bought this on our 1st Christmas together in Nashville. You can also see the beautiful rocking horse that my dad (Popeye) made for my brother and I to pass down for generations. At the bottom of the tree are the first two years of Noah's Christmas with Santa photos. Oh, I cant forget Baby Jesus. On my birthday when we were putting up the decorations, Noah was terribly upset that we didn't have a Baby Jesus. So my mom and dad found the most adorable manger and baby for us to put under the tree. We will slowly build our Nativity. But daily Noah goes to visit HIS Baby Jesus and tells him his birthday is coming soon and Santa is bringing his birthday present!!!

Since I was born on December 6th, in Catholic tradition, this is the original celebration of St Nicholas (and my patron saint that I am confirmed as). With that, my mom began my collection of old St Nicholas statues. On the far left is a Santa, this is a proceline letter holder and the two green angels on the right are my great grandmother, MawMaw Agnes, made and when she passed it was my one request to have! And of course Nemo's bowl was decorated by Noah special for the holidays!

To complete our holiday, Honeybee and Dox gave Noah (his first Christmas) a fun Advent calendar. Noah's favorite thing is to move the "dog angel" day by day!

Christmas in the Oaks

LIKE WE HAVE TIME...

A few (non-blogging) friends are mimicing the show/website of HGTV's "Rate My Place" and emailing their Homes for the Holidays. Its been a hoot! I have really enjoyed looking at interior and exterior Christmas decor and ideas. As soon as I can, I will post the Manuel family decorations. I would love to see what you have done too!

Big Dan (Sorry, Danielle Daigle Ireland) is one step ahead. She posted this morning her GINORMOUS tree (that was Nick Jr's word of the day yesterday!) I absolutely love that you went to a real Christmas Tree and Robert cut it down!!!

ANCHORMAN EVAN PREWITT

This is the son of Trisha Simpson and Stephen Prewitt (brother of Rebecca Prewitt Compretta). I just had to share the precious photo. Mom, baby, and dad are doing great. He was born on November 11th

DAD PLAYING AT THE HOUSE!

You can see Monty-puppy walking. he had no clue what to do in the snow!

Dad was cute taking pictures of the backyard at home.

THE HOTEL IS GOING CRAZZZZY!

Who would have thought you would wake up in New Orleans to snow? The hotel went from emptying for the weekend to remaing sold out due to the weather. These photos were taken at daybreak this morning. By now it is about 1/2 inch thick outside. My poor bellmen are freezing and throwing ice balls at each other. I hope you are all warm and cozy and loving a TRUE WINTER CHRISTMAS SEASON!

MAGIC REINDEER FOOD

Have you made your Reindeer Food yet or decided what cookies to put out for Santa this year? Well, Noah wanted to share with you his NEW favorite recipe for reindeer food. The tag above is what Noah reads on Christmas Eve (well, since the Christmas decorations came out on my birthday!)
REINDEER FOOD
1/2 c of chex mix (vanilla flavor or plain)
1/2 c of cheerios (Noah's favorite is the yogurt kind)
1 T of crystallized color sugar - red, white, and green of course (Noah likes the toppings for a cupcake sugar shaker)
1 decorative small cellophane bag
1 decorative ribbon

INSTRUCTIONS
dump it all in the bag. tie it up. shake it up. wait until Christmas Eve to throw it on your lawn for the reindeers. This is the added bonus to ensure that Santa arrives at your house - feed the reindeer.


Merry Christmas - 12 days left!

A Cajun Night Before Christmas

Grandpa Pete and Grandma Shirley brought Noah (and their two real grandchildren) to Christmas lunch with Santa (well kind of...) It was Santa's Cajun Cousin, Poppa Noel. Noah loved the arts and crafts. He also enjoyed playing with Payton and Parker. Also, Noah wasnt even scared to sit on Poppa Noel's lap this year!

Happy 29th Birthday Momma!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOMMA!

This was adorable! Noah sang Happy Birthday to me this morning. I had to share.
29 years ago, Lauren Marie Danos was born on this day!

I'M ALIVE!

Today I really feel like I am getting back to normalcy! I can actually sit at the computer without pain (we will see how long that will last! heheheee!) I want to give a special thanks to my parents. Each day since my surgery they have picked Noah up from school and then come to my house to take care of me. I am so lucky to have parents that live close and dont mind being around. To see Noah having a blast with them melted my heart! Not to mention mom and dad both cleaned, vaccumed, and had dinner on the table! (thanks Mimi and Popeye!)

I wanted to catch you guys up on what else is going on around here. First I have to laugh, we went to late Thanksgiving dinner with my brother "Parrian" and his new bride "Aunt DeniseY" this weekend before surgery. I miss him so much and get jealous that Ike gets to see Brian more than I do (they work for the same company). So the subject of my birthday came up, Mom made a comment that I am turning 26 years old. I died laughing. Nice that I had Noah, just purchased our first home, and bought a new Explorer at the age of 26. Mom and Dad both couldn't believe I am turning 29 on Saturday. I had to sit back and laugh too...where in the world did the time go? Well, at least I am not 30 yet (wowwwwwwwww! that sounds old!)

Also last weekend we went to Grandpa Pete's Surprise 70th birthday. Grandpa Pete is not any relation, except our precious neighbor who spoils us rotten. Have you ever loved the thought of having that neighbor when you ran out of coffee or a cup of sugar you actually could ask? Well that is exactly what they are. The go shopping for Noah and even brought dinner over for this week while I was out of commission. I love them dearly.

This was taken at the party. Look how adorable my boys are! I cant thank God enough for blessing me with a wonderful family and friends.

I'M A SURVIVOR

I cant thank each and everyone of you for your thoughts and prayers over the last couple of days. Monday's surgery was a success. Dr McClure showed my parents and Ike photos of the cyst and to Dr's amazement it was larger than she expected. I am in recovery and doing well. I took my bandages off last night and showered. Again, I thank God (my angels above) and you for loving me through this yucky surgery.

Love Danos