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.) 

Kentucky Christmas

After dodging tornadoes, replacing a flat tire, and outrunning a blizzard, we finally arrived in Kentucky on Christmas day. We went straight to my grandparent's house. I was kind of delirious from the ride and overwhelmed with all the people and I took no pictures. (I'm sorry Mamu! I hope someone else took some!) It was so fun to be with everyone and Wilson basically got a whole toy store. I love my family.

We drove the hour back to Murray and went straight to bed... waking up the next morning to Christmas #3. I pulled out my real camera for the first time in maybe a year and finally took some non-grainy pictures.

If trains were all he got, he would have been a happy boy.

His face when Mom pulled out his big present (a balance bike)... Meh.

By this point he totally had the whole unwrapping thing down and loved it. After each present he would say "Wanna open it?" Like... Why aren't we playing with these toys after we see them?

Our big present from Mom and Dad was a portrait lens (maybe it will motivate me to use my camera more?), so we had fun playing around with it.

Dad (Bigs) with his new spyware

Opening presents is hard work!

Did I mention it snowed on Christmas night?! We woke up to a winter wonderland on the 26th and shortly after opening our gifts, we bundled up and ran outside. 

We didn't stay out long because we Mississippi folk were COLD and I couldn't find W's gloves I had packed so he was rocking some sock hands. It was much cozier inside.

Allie and Andrew spent most of the day playing each other in Ticket to Ride on their phones.

Wilson finally took some interest in his new bike. We watched some videos of kids doing wheelies and other tricks on balance bikes so we are hopeful this will add to his coolness factor.

On the 27th my other grandmother (also a Mamu... I was the creative namer of both) came to celebrate with us.

Will he always be this cute?! Pictures like this make me want to pause time.

I got to meet the neighbors' new sweet baby, Lilly. My parents' neighbors have become like family to us. They have a little boy who is a year older than W and he looks so forward to playing with him each time we visit.

Opening presents with Mamu

Mamu got W a train... a good move.

So thankful for the blessing of being in her family line. Mamu is such a sweet example to me of a woman of grace and a life evident of someone following Jesus.

We were so thankful to have been able to spend another Christmas celebrating in Kentucky. Next stop was Birmingham...