Christmas and Snow!!

I seem to always get a little sad and down when Christmas is over, but then I wonder why because we always have such a great time with family, and we've received and given some wonderful things! It's definitely my favorite holiday and this year's was a blast! It was very busy, though, since we had 7 Christmas celebrations in just 1 week (5 of those in just 3 days!), but we wouldn't trade all of our wonderful families for anything!

It all started a couple of weeks ago when we took Jack to see Santa at the Bass Pro Shop. He loved all of the decorations and trees there (and he said "Tree! to them all), but when we got to see Santa himself, he wasn't so sure what was going on! The picture didn't turn out great either, since his jeans were pulled up once he sat down, but it was all part of the experience I guess! Daddy even put him on a fourwheeler afterwards to make him feel better. :-)

The weekend before Christmas we had a party with my friends from high school at Alana and Patrick's new house, and we didn't get any pictures (probably because we were busy playing with the 4 babies there), but we had a great time and appreciate Alana and Patrick opening up their beautiful home to everyone! That next morning we headed to Auburn for the Bass family Christmas at Granna and Poppy's house. We had a delicious lunch and played Dirty Santa. I came home with a very cool mini-vac for my car and Kurt came home with a gorgeous wall sconce! He was so excited. :-) Plus Jack got a very cute and fun V-tech puppy with a bone-shaped remote from Mawmaw and Pawpaw! So sweet of them and he loved it!

Here is our tree all full of presents! We finally finished wrapping late the night of the 22rd (we left for Auburn after work on the 23rd), and I couldn't believe all the presents! They all looked so pretty with the other decorations, so I had to take a picture before we pulled them all out to sort by houses and load in the car!

We had lunch at Granny and Granddaddy's on Christmas Eve to celebrate with Pops's side of the family. We had so much wonderful food, and Jack had a blast opening up his presents from everyone! He got so many wonderful things, including a musical work bench, "Jack" tiger shirt, AU football, remote control car, money, and his big gift was a new wagon! This is his very first wagon and he loved it!

Christmas Eve night we went over to Kurt's aunt Mary Kay's house for another delicious meal and to exchange gifts. Jack got a new keyboard, puzzle, and clothes from Mimi and those kept him busy while the adults opened their gifts! Jack and I even got a cute picture taken in the mix and had to share! :-) We had to leave early from the celebration to go get Jack to bed. He needed to get to bed early since Santa was coming, so we got back to Granna and Poppy's, put him in his Christmas pjs and Kurt read the Christmas story from his phone since we forgot the book. Even without pictures, though, Jack sat quietly and listened intently to the whole story! Sweet boy! He then went to sleep without a fight! He must have known Santa wouldn't come unless he was asleep! :-)

Christmas morning!! This mama woke up at 6:45 and was too excited to go back to sleep, and had to wait on sweet Jack to wake up at 8! We are grateful he slept so long, but I was ready for him to open his stocking and gifts from Santa! Once he woke up, we let him walk in the living room to see his stocking on the couch, and he was still pretty sleepy, so the main thing he wanted out of it was his new sippy cup (with a straw!) for his morning milk! We started opening presents shortly after, and we all got so many wonderful things! Jack got some great new clothes, his very own cell phone, musical keys, another new AU ball, and his big gift was a big-boy slide!! :) Once he opened all his gifts from Granna, Poppy, and his aunts and uncles, he opened his gifts from Santa! He got a new dump truck, another cell phone, a laptop, and a sit-n-spin! Video of him trying out his new gifts will be at the end! :-)

After opening so many gifts at Granna and Poppy's house, we had to get cleaned up and head to Birmingham for dinner and gifts at Papa and Sherbo's house. On the way there, though, it started snowing in Alex City, then kept getting stronger and thicker the closer we got to Birmingham! Jack loved it and wanted to keep the window down so it could blow in, but of course that was too cold! He still loved looking at it.

We opened presents first at Papa and Sherbo's, and of course got so many wonderful things there, too!! Our big couple present there was a Las Vegas/Arizona trip package of goodies, including new shirts for both of us for the trip, plus a gift card to a nice French restaurant there, a Tiger Pride gift card, and a Visa gift card to use out there as well! Such a fun and creative gift! We loved it! Jack also got some fun and great gifts, too! He got another fun cell phone, plus some new books, a lawn mower that blows bubbles, an activity ramp toy with cars, some blocks, and his very own rocking horse! Dinner followed and was delicious, and then Jack got very sleepy around 7:30 (only 1 one-hour nap all day!), so we headed home, unloaded the car, set up his presents (minus the slide and a couple other things) and went to sleep! Such a great Christmas Day!

We woke up the morning of the 26th and it was still snowing! It was so gorgeous outside, so we all got bundled up and went out to play! We had to change Jack into warmer clothes after only a few minutes outside, plus his first ones got too wet after he fell a couple times! He loved the snow so much, though, especially when Daddy made him his first snowball! It was so cold in his hand but he didn't want to let it go! He barely even wanted to throw it! They also made a snowball together and had a great time!

We still had one more Christmas celebration at Mama Becky and Daddy Mer's house that night, so after all the snow play, we let Jack nap and then headed over there. We did stockings first (since they were covering the table where we were eating!), and got so many great things, just in our stockings! We then had a delicious dinner, changed into our annual Auburn t-shirts, had Jake read the Christmas story, and then opened gifts. We got so many wonderful things, but our big present as a couple was our Auburn vs. Oregon National Championship tickets! Very exciting! We can't wait for our trip and we are SO GRATEFUL to Daddy Mer and Mama Becky for giving us their tickets for our Christmas present! Jack got some wonderful gifts, too! He got some new clothes, a puzzle, a truck with cars, bath toy boat, and an animal sounds toy! After gifts we took family pictures, then Mama Becky read "Twas the Night Before Christmas" to all the kids, and they all stayed still and listened!

The next morning Jack LOVED playing with all his new toys! He kept going from one to the next within minutes just because he kept realizing everything was new and a lot of fun! Daddy finally set up his new slide while he napped and it took a while for him to get it, but he loved it!

We are so grateful to all our families for such a wonderful and memorable Christmas! We had so much fun with everyone, and we appreciate all ours and Jack's gifts so much! Everyone went over and beyond to make everything so special, and we thank you and love you all so much!