{"id":1737,"date":"2008-12-29T21:26:42","date_gmt":"2008-12-30T03:26:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mandmpond.com\/blog\/2008\/12\/29\/let-christmas-begin\/"},"modified":"2008-12-29T21:26:42","modified_gmt":"2008-12-30T03:26:42","slug":"let-christmas-begin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blog\/2008\/12\/29\/let-christmas-begin\/","title":{"rendered":"Let Christmas Begin!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_36411.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px\" height=\"394\" alt=\"IMG_3641-1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_36411_thumb.jpg\" width=\"545\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a> <\/p>\n<p>Christmas Eve morning &#8211; our first day in Jacksonville!&#160; One of Noelle&#8217;s favorite traditions at Poppa and Rara&#8217;s is that she gets to ring the dinner bell when it&#8217;s time for a meal to start.&#160; She can&#8217;t wait to ring the bell!<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_3665.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px\" height=\"390\" alt=\"IMG_3665\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_3665_thumb.jpg\" width=\"291\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_3669.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px\" height=\"390\" alt=\"IMG_3669\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_3669_thumb.jpg\" width=\"253\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Our Christmas gift exchange took place despite living half-way around the world from the Eberts.&#160; We draw names each year, and it&#8217;s always a fun surprise to see who everyone had.&#160; We mailed the presents ahead of time and started the exchange via Skype (it was 4:00PM Christmas Eve here and 7:00AM Christmas day there).&#160; <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_3663.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px\" height=\"405\" alt=\"IMG_3663\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_3663_thumb.jpg\" width=\"545\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Everyone saying hello to the Eberts! <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_3671.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px\" height=\"407\" alt=\"IMG_3671\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_3671_thumb.jpg\" width=\"294\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_3676.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px\" height=\"407\" alt=\"IMG_3676\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_3676_thumb.jpg\" width=\"246\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>John gave Mike a really cool shirt that says, &quot;That&#8217;s how I roll.&quot;&#160; Mike can&#8217;t wait to wear it to gym class.&#160; Noelle very proudly showing the Eberts her new My Little Pony. <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_3677.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px\" height=\"405\" alt=\"IMG_3677\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_3677_thumb.jpg\" width=\"545\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Michele opening her Secret Santa gift from Dad&#8230; I love how Drew is on the side helping! <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_36911.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px\" height=\"416\" alt=\"IMG_3691-1\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_36911_thumb.jpg\" width=\"545\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Andy gave Mom this gorgeous basket, and Michele gave me this beautiful basket as well.&#160; It looks gorgeous in our house! <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_3688.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px\" height=\"405\" alt=\"IMG_3688\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_3688_thumb.jpg\" width=\"285\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_3705.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px\" height=\"404\" alt=\"IMG_3705\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_3705_thumb.jpg\" width=\"257\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>We gave Fancy Nancy her very own Fancy Nancy book, &amp; John and Nancy gave Noelle her very own princess cash register &#8212; definite hit! <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_3699.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px\" height=\"385\" alt=\"IMG_3699\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_3699_thumb.jpg\" width=\"545\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Noelle reading Fancy Nancy her new book! <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_3703.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px\" height=\"431\" alt=\"IMG_3703\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_3703_thumb.jpg\" width=\"545\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>About to open the cash register, her very first present.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_3710.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px\" height=\"383\" alt=\"IMG_3710\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_3710_thumb.jpg\" width=\"545\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It&#8217;s a winner! <\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_3643.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" style=\"border-top-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px\" height=\"370\" alt=\"IMG_3643\" src=\"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blogimages\/LetChristmasBegin_E925\/IMG_3643_thumb.jpg\" width=\"545\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Mike and I worked on this puzzle for at least an hour the morning of the 24th!&#160; My Aunt Lexie made it for us, and Noelle took it apart before we were able to look at it first.&#160; Let me tell you, I would&#8217;ve never figured it out without Mike Pond.&#160; Such a fun mid-day activity waiting for all the hustle and bustle to start. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Christmas Eve morning &#8211; our first day in Jacksonville!&#160; One of Noelle&#8217;s favorite traditions at Poppa and Rara&#8217;s is that she gets to ring the dinner bell when it&#8217;s time for a meal to start.&#160; She can&#8217;t wait to ring the bell! Our Christmas gift exchange took place despite living half-way around the world from [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1737"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1737\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.pondfam.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}