Christmas in Dixie vol. 5

We had the best time celebrating the rest of Christmas in Alabama!

(for our Tennessee Christmas visit click here)

We started off the celebrating on Christmas Eve Eve--also known as Ham Day!

The kids and I brave the crazies, the traffic and this year the weather to pick up holiday hams for everyone in Joseph's offices. 

then Joseph and Jay go around and give them to all of the staff. 14 hams this year!

We spend Christmas Eve at our house. 

We got ready for church at 2. It was fantastic, then home to celebrate with family.  

We also had a delivery of beef this year, which is why Lizzy is in a cooler!

Waiting for our guys to go to church!!

 We hosted Joseph's parents, sister and her family on Christmas Eve. We served ham and rolls, meatballs, rotel, cheeses, veggies, spinach dip, pickles, apples and peanut butter dip. Lots of sweets.

 The kids played and played and we even played a few rounds of Bingo and Uno before calling it a night. 

I just love Christmas Eve!!!!

 Santa came and was so good to everyone. 

Jay and Lizzy were so tickled that they got exactly what they asked for! Lots of Frozen toys, a Minnie mouse house and more for Lizzy. Jay got a train, planes 2 toys, a digger and Santa even put up a treestand in the dark, cold rain for this guy!!

A treestand with a bow. How cute, Santa!

We got ready (mostly) then high-tailed it to Joseph's parents for more presents. Presents galore. and a huge Christmas dinner. We forgot to shoot these rockets before we left our house and somehow told them it was okay to bring them with us in the car. I blame the overload of cookies and the lack of sleep and caffeine. 

We also failed to take a single picture at Joseph's parents house. 

The day after Christmas I was taking the garbage out and Jay disappeared. two seconds later I found him like this. I am so thankful this Santa gift has gone to the hunting club where it will be much more useful and safely supervised!

Liz and I made it to the mall on Saturday for some shopping and one last whirl on the merry-go-round in the sleigh. Its her favorite!

This Christmas has been absolutely magical. The kids were overjoyed with every single gift and shouted "I can't wait!" (Lizzy) and "This is just what I wanted!" (Jay) more times than I could count. Most importantly they learned a little more about the birth of our Savior and the huge gift we've been given.I prayed today that these memories would stay with me forever and the love and lessons we shared with Lizzy at 2 and Jay at 4 will build a foundation for their faith that will be ever strengthened and shield them from any hurt or doubt in this life. 

I also prayed that I will never forget that last night Lizzy told me about Baby Jesus and that he lives in a nest. Ha!

Merry Christmas to all!! 

Country Christmas vol. 5, Christmas pjs

We made our annual trip to Nashville for Christmas yesterday and spent the night at the Gaylord Opryland again this year!

First stop-Mimi's for munching and gifts with my siblings, niece and nephews.

Then it was off to the hotel to check-in and soak up some Christmas fun!

We took a Delta Riverboat ride and checked out the decorations. 

Now, THIS puts me in a Christmasey mood for sure!

Then Charles, Karla, Kelsey and CJ came by for some snow tubing!

The hotel was super busy and fun and photo attempts were few and less than stellar!

We said our goodbyes and made our way to our room to check out the sights from the balcony.

(Our Christmas pjs are Marthie and Jane. They will also be our playoff jammies and hopefully National Championship jammies too! Roll Tide!)

And play a little hide and seek-ha!

We got up this morning, had breakfast and made our way home--checking out more sights as we left.

Great trip, two tuckered out Christmased-up kiddos napped in the back seat the whole way home! Lots of fun memories made in Nashville this year.  I'm so glad we have this fun family tradition every year! 

I'm linking up with the #hollyjollypjparty on Instagram and on the blogs. 

Thanks for stopping in and Merry Christmas to All!!

Friday Favorites-Pre Christmas Favorites

Here we are on the Friday  before Christmas! I'm linking up for Friday Favorites again and for the first time, High Five for Friday.

We have a ton of Christmas celebrating to do starting today and I'm so ready to get this day started!

1. Amazing Ornament

I opened a Christmas card from my sweet friend and photographer Miriam and found this sweet surprise!

I absolutely adore this ornament--and the dear friend who sent it. We used this picture on the front of our Christmas Card this year. I shared some more of my favorites from this session here.

2. Christmas Cards

They are my favorite. Sending and receiving them. I literally smile the while time I'm addressing (120 this year) and love getting them in the mail. As much as I love technology and social media nothing beats real Christmas cards for me.

3. Merry-Merry-Go-Round

Our Christmas Carousel continues to entertain the kids all day and all night. It's their absolute favorite decoration. 

They love the trees too, but I think they will be sad to pack this one away. If you want a peek at the rest of our Christmas decor then this post will show you around a bit!

4. Early Gifts!

Yesterday was one week til Christmas and I let the kids each open a gift. I bought two for sharing since u knew at some point I wanted to give them an early treat. We have been dancing to "What does the Fox Say?" and dressing up our Melissa and Doug Santa all day long!

I picked up both of these at VonMaur in the children's department! 

5. Coffee anyone?

I love this little coffee spot still! It's a cozy corner of Christmas cheer to keep us going strong all day! 

Ho! Ho! Ho!

Christmas Cards 2014

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Joseph, Allison, Jay (4) and Lizzy (oh-so-2-and-a-half!!!)

I'm linking up again this year with Faith's Christmas Card Carousel!

Click on over to see and share in this fun blog tradition!

If you're stopping in from the carousel, Welcome, thanks for visiting and Merry Christmas!!

And just for fun here are our past cards--

2013

2012

2011

Christmas Trees 2014

Just a peek at our home with the halls decked! Tis the season to be jolly!

 Our living room is home to our only live tree. This year she's a real 'beaut. 

It was my turn to buy the tree this year and I like Douglas Fir trees. 

This one is whopper. "Little full, lotta sap" was said in my mind as we rearranged the whole living room to make room for the tree. Clark W. Griswold would appreciate this one for sure!

The rest of the downstairs decorations include...

 this area behind the sofa with our Christmas carousel and all of the kids pictures with Santa. 

 We use a stocking holder (the holder for our old fireplace tool set) to hang our stockings in lieu of a mantle in new house. 

We're also practicing using an Advent wreath at home this year. We (usually) light it at dinner and it sits on our table all the time. I filled a tray with greenery and pine cones we collected. we've had some good discussions about hope, joy and peace thanks to it being right in front of us. Hopefully this is something we can continue every year. 

Upstairs there is a tree on the landing....

....and a tree in Jay's room with collections of Hallmark ornaments that were given to Joseph over the years

mostly crayola, NBA/MLB/NFL, vintage trucks, trains, and some new ornaments of Jay's this year we added a minion and Dusty Crophopper. :) its his tree, he can do what he wants, I suppose!

Lizzy got a new tree this year and shopped with me for more decorations--

It definitely has a "Frozen" feel with snowflakes, pink, orchid, turquoise and lost of shimmer. Her choices worked well with what we already had for her smaller tree and we topped it with her big bow we used to welcome her home from the hospital . This might be my favorite tree this year. 

There you have it! 

4 trees, 2 great kids and a zillion memories in the making!

Merry one-week-til-Christmas!