Christmas 2011

Warning: Picture Overload! I couldn't just pick a few. 

We had a wonderful, fabulous Christmas holiday.  We are so blessed and thankful for our family and friends. We got to see not only our family in Georgia & South Carolina over the holidays, but also some special friends and family that we had not seen in quite some time. Huge blessings.

We booked it out of town to Georgia as soon as Nate got out of school. Scott made the trip to Nashville by himself with the kids, where we all stayed the night and made the short trip to ATL the next day. It was pretty uneventful, thankfully.

Mimi recorded a book for Lila for her 1st birthday and I loved it so much that I asked if she would do one for Nate. I don't know about you all but I would love to have my grandparents' voices reading to me right about now. I know they will treasure the books always. Lila goes into her room and opens it up all by herself and lets Mimi read to her. So special. Nate's book has Mimi & Paka's voice, which makes it extra special. Thank you both for doing these for the kids - they will be loved for a long time to come.



By the beautiful Christmas tree before heading out to SC for Christmas Eve.  Love my sweet kiddos.

Lila wasn't really having pictures at this moment, but we suckered her in anyway.

The hooligans - they have so much fun together and the volume is always on HIGH:) Wonder when they will figure out that Nate doesn't know everything...when they do, I hope they don't tell him:)

Playing Aunt Amanda & Uncle David's piano. Remember that the volume was already on HIGH? Well it just went to extra HIGH.

One of our traditions is to do the first gift of Christmas on Christmas Eve, like in Polar Express. Nate was so excited to give Scott & I the first gift of Christmas that we had to have 2 ceremonies, because he just couldn't wait. I was proud of him for being so thoughtful. Yet, I think he thought we would speed up his gift if he gave us ours :)

The 2nd ceremony...ready for bed and Santa to come!

Fixing Santa & the reindeer's snack. Paka convinced Nate that he didn't actually have to have 9 apples for all of the reindeers. They used the apple slicer to make 8 slices and then cut one in half to make 9 pieces. Paka said 2 of them were on a diet. It worked, after we explained what a diet was of course.

Opening stockings on Christmas morning! I thought Nate would be up at 4 AM. But he slept until around 7 thankfully.

Little Miss - loved all the excitement but had not a clue.

She did love the singing Georgia cheerleader though! Guess it will come in handy for her now that Georgia & Missouri are conference opponents.

Santa knew that Nate needed a Cardinals jersey with his name on it. Scott wondered why Santa didn't bring him a Braves jersey too. I said that Santa didn't root for the Braves.

He looks so old here!! Nate, I mean.

Mimi reading Lila a new "That's Not My Princess" book. She loves these books and this guy that put touchy feely things inside a book and put "That's Not" in front of it is a genius.

My Christmas baby! I mean. 6 year old.

Opening presents with Mimi & Paka. Aunt Amanda in the background - unfortunately, this is the only picture I got of her!

Lila's new ride on toy from Mimi & Paka. She loves when it sings the song! This is in the middle of the day, but she was in pajamas - she had a wardrobe malfunction and the dress had to dry for later:)

Electronic gurus - sweet cousins.

Nate & Gavin enjoying some ice cream on Christmas night with Lucy in the background.

It was a truly wonderful holiday! We are safely back at home relishing in the memories. Thanks to the Boyles and Odoms for having us!