Holiday Catch-Up Part III: Christmas in Kentucky and Alabama

On Christmas Day we loaded our car with packages and made the eight hour trip to Kentucky. Our first stop was in Hopkinsville at my grandparents' house. Allie got to the car first to get her hands on Wilson and he said, "You beat Gigi!"... because that never happens. 

Mamu always has the best spread of Christmas appetizers and we filled our tummies and then opened some presents. Mamu and Grandaddy sure spoiled us all... I think Wilson got every monster truck out on the toy market right now. They also got him a new scooter which is still, I think, his favorite present from Christmas.

We drove an hour that night to my parents' house in Murray, Wilson fell asleep on the couch and we all got ready to celebrate again the next morning.

Do you think Bigs and Gigi love Wilson? He got a mountain of presents just to make sure he knew how much!

Mom puts on such a pretty Christmas with all her decorations and yummy food. We were so thankful to be there.

.... and it just kept raining monster trucks!

That day we spent some time outside learning how to tackle the scooter. W spent most of this day running it purposefully into the grass and jumping off like it was about to explode. 

We have a timid little boy when it comes to sports... here's to hoping he'll find his courage soon!

On the 26th, my other grandmother (also a Mamu) got to make a trip to come and see us. We always treasure our time with her and Wilson was so thankful for her gifts. (He plays with that mouse game at least twice a week, Mamu!)

My uncle Brad also loves to spoil Little Man and one gift he got him this year was two soccer goals and a ball! Prepare yourself for some of the cutest pictures you'll ever see.

He tried to invent a new sport by kicking the ball for a little bit and then rolling it around with his hands and we were just happy to see him enjoying a sport!

Our time in Kentucky was quick but really sweet. We are so thankful for my parents for being such gracious hosts... and I felt like I had such a break that week as Mom took care of Wilson the whole time (while hosting Christmas... how'd you do that, Mom?).

On our way back to Mississippi, we stopped in Birmingham for a night to celebrate with Patrick, Leslie & the kids... and Baba and Grandan! Somehow I only managed to get two pictures, which were on my phone:

The twins jumping a the same time... had us all laughing so hard

Opening MORE presents (this was day FIVE in a row for W to open gifts... yikes!)

Our time in Birmingham was also very quick but it was fun to celebrate, eat some good tacos, and take our annual fuzzy hat picture. Somehow I didn't end up with a copy of that, but you can see Coop sporting one of the hats in the picture above.... and crying... which is how most of the family feels about the fuzzy hat picture. :) WE LOVE YOU BABA!! (She makes us do it.) 

Holiday Catch Up Part II: Christmas in Mississippi

Last year we decided that we were staying put in the month of December until Christmas Day. Since it seems like the rest of our year is on the go, we so enjoyed this restful advent and decided to do a repeat of it this year. 

Also on repeat this year was getting our second REAL tree. I'm pretty obsessed with the concept of a real tree now... nothing artificial comes even close to its beauty and the smell, OH the smell. 

My morning (all-day) sickness was at its peak in December, which actually lent well to giving me freedom from the pressure to do all things at Christmas. We kept our advent simple: Lit a candle each Sunday, read a story from Jesus Storybook at night, and let every heart prepare Him room.



We also had some fun times with students (that I failed to get pictures of). One favorite was a carol singing night at our house, with a student at the piano and precious advent verses in between each song. It was so dear to us to celebrate our hope with these students who have become our family. And then we brought a few along with us to our annual tradition of the Lewis Lights. Wilson thinks they are all his big brothers and sisters and I really love that.

Andrew's parents came into Mississippi on the 22nd and we had a fun couple of days celebrating Christmas with them. Like last year, we treated the 23rd like our Christmas Eve and had some fun making sugar cookies with Little Man. 

Who am I kidding? He did maybe three before a combination of his disinterest and my controlling-personality (the reindeer HAS to have both of his feet) made him run off and play legos while the adults had fun with sprinkles. 

But he did get to pick out which cookies to leave for Santa that night (because Santa came a day early at our house).

He kept saying, "Just these three and then the rest he will not eat?" We've got a Scrooge-like tipper at our house, Santa. Sorry, Old Man! 

This is a "Mom if you have to take one more picture, I'm going to make you pay for it" face.

We finished the night with the advent calendar and a Jesus Storybook Bible reading.

The next morning we woke up to a lazy morning of cinnamon rolls and coffee and a little boy who didn't know it wasn't normal to eat a long, slow breakfast before running into the living room to open presents. How much longer do we have before that's over? I'm not sure, but I'm going to milk it.

Santa fills the stockings in our house and then Little Man gets three presents from Mommy and Daddy. I love the simplicity of that and the fact that he has full attention to really enjoy and appreciate what he gets.

New underwear!

Monster trucks were the theme of this Christmas

Monster truck legos were a hit and combination of his two favorite things

His "big" gift from us was a rocket ship. He hadn't asked for one but I had an inkling that he would love it. And he did.

Baba and Grandan got him the coolest fire truck sleeping bag and he really couldn't wait to sleep in it. 

That night we headed off to our church's Christmas Eve service which is probably the biggest reason we wanted to stay in town.  

We are so thankful for the time to adore Jesus, to ponder in our hearts what it means that He has come, and to watch and wait for His return to set all things right. All the bad is coming untrue, and this world will be made new. Amen and amen!

Alabama Christmas

From Kentucky, we headed south to Birmingham. By this time, I wasn't sure if we could fit anything else in our car and Little Man was coughing up the last of his poor little lungs.

But we wouldn't have missed a minute with our Alabama family. Each year (and each day, really), I wonder how I could get so lucky to marry into a family like this.

Madelyn and Brooks stole my heart before Wilson, and after Wilson these two little men came along and our hearts grew even bigger.

This trip we mostly just enjoyed being together. Patrick and Leslie's new Wii provided most of the entertainment.

On Saturday, we took a trip to the McWane Science Center. This was a big hit.

They had a train exhibit and I'm sure you can imagine how Wilson felt about that.

These two were pretty much inseparable the whole day. And I loved that.

On a side note, while at the McWane Center, I had a sweet girl approach me and say she recognized me from my blog (?!?!) Hi, Kassi! Her blog {here}. It was a funny moment of thinking my blog was a big deal to realizing it was not that big of a deal... she had clicked off of a friend's. Either way, it was fun to meet someone with sweet things to say, and an encouragement to keep writing on my {Art of Blooming} blog.

On Sunday we celebrated Andrew's  birthday a day early.

Wilson heard the word cake and came running.

I am thankful for another year with this man. Each year, I become more and more proud to call him my husband. He lays down his life for me every day and loves and pursues Jesus in a way that makes me want to follow him.

Afterwards we opened more gifts. We couldn't believe the generosity from every one in our family... we know Christmas is not about the presents (and hope to steer W's heart away from greed), but as we give and as we get it causes our hearts to ponder on the joy and wonder of that depthless gift of Jesus... who was, and is, and is to come.