Baby's first Christmas.

Christmas was so much fun this year! It's always fun, but having a baby around makes it a hundred times better. Elliott wasn't too into opening gifts, or even playing with them, but having him there with us for all of the festivities added so much joy. We got up early, in true Elliott fashion, and took him to see what Santa had left for him. After he had dumped out his stocking and turned the living room upside down, we opened gifts from each other as a family, before heading to my parent's house to open gifts with them and my siblings.

It started raining early Christmas morning, and it turned to snow by dinner time. This is the first snow in Little Rock on Christmas day in 80 years, so you can imagine how excited we were, until... the electricity went out. We lost power around 4:00, right as we were getting ready for Christmas dinner at my grandparent's. We quickly grabbed as much as we could before we lost daylight and headed to my parent's, who thankfully had power, to get ready.  We enjoyed a very quick dinner with my Dad's side of the family before heading back to Mom and Dad's in about 5 inches of snow! When we arrived they were without power too, but we lit the fireplace and put E to bed, and enjoyed a glass of wine by candle light before the power came back on around 10:30.

Our neighborhood wasn't so lucky, our house was without power for 48 hours, spoiling everything in our refrigerator and freezer. So, we spent 2 days at Mom and Dad's, and were forced to miss Christmas in Arkadelphia with Gary's family due to icy roads. But that didn't stop Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt Gina and Uncle Zach from seeing Elliott. They loaded up and headed to Little Rock, booking a room at the Peabody since we were still without power. Right about the time they made it here, our power came back on and we were able to spend 2 days with them before they headed home to Texas.

It's been a whirlwind week, but it's one we'll never forget... baby's first Christmas and first snow in one day! I had to wait 27 years for a white Christmas and he gets one on his first year! What a lucky little boy. Stay tuned for some super cute pictures of our little snow bunny.

'Twas the Night Before Christmas...

As a little girl we spent Christmas eve at my grandparent's house eating dinner and opening gifts, but a few years ago, my grandparents retired Christmas eve and my Mom took over. She cooks dinner and we watch family videos from Christmases past. This year, we needed no entertainment, as Elliott provides it. It's fun to watch 8 adults sitting around staring at one baby, like it's the first one they have ever seen. What did we do before he came along? 

After dinner we came home and got E in his Christmas PJs and Gary read him the Christmas story before bed. This is another tradition from my childhood. Every Christmas eve, my Dad would read us the Christmas story and my Mom would film. It's been so fun the last few years to go back through and watch them. I look forward to watching Elliott, and our family, grow in the videos over the coming years.

Long after Elliott and Gary went to bed, a certain little "elf" was up sewing stockings in the workshop, but finally, around 3am, "the stockings were hung by the 'chimney' with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there."

Merry Christmas!

One of my favorite Christmas traditions is sending and receiving Christmas cards.  We hang them on a clothesline in our living room around the door frame, and by Christmas day it goes completely around and touches the floor on both sides! It brings us so much joy to see the faces of our sweet family and friends (many who are far away) beside our Christmas tree. Here's our card for those of you who read faithfully. I wish I had all of your addresses to send you a little Christmas cheer in the mail, but this will have to do. Thanks for following our family this year. Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Elliott meets Santa.

We took Elliott to Garvan Gardens in Hot Springs last week to see the Christmas lights and visit Santa. It was cold, but we bundled up and had a great time watching as he took in all of the lights, sat on Santa's lap and enjoyed his first candy cane. (It was pretty dark and we're still figuring out our new camera, so I apologize for the poor lighting in a few of these.)

Don't tell anyone, but Santa told me Elliott was on the "nice list" this year, so we should start making space in our house for lots of new toys. ;)

Motley's Tree Farm

I'm behind on blogging. We've been so busy lately, I just haven't been able to keep up.  I did, however, want to share a few pictures from our trip to Motley's Tree Farm a week ago. 

We started going with the Gunnels to get our trees three years ago, and this year we got to bring Elliott. He loved taking it all in from the Baby Bjorn. I'm already looking forward to next year when baby Gunnels will be with us! 

We got the perfect tree which is now happily residing in our living room covered in our favorite ornaments and filling our home with Holiday cheer.

Christmas 2011.

We had a very busy, wonderful Christmas filled with lots of family time and good food. This year we got to see almost everyone on both the Grant and Jenkins sides of the family.  

We made the rounds this week, enjoying our last Christmas as a family of two.  Thursday evening we had dinner and games at my Grandmommy and Papa's house (my mom's parents) with my aunt, uncle and cousins.  Friday we drove to Arkadelphia to see the Grant family, including Gary's parents, sister and brother-in-law, who drove in from Texas, his grandparents, and all of his aunts, uncles, and cousins.  Christmas Eve was spent with my parents and siblings, eating a wonderful home cooked meal made by my Momma, and playing Catch Phrase.  

Christmas morning, as is tradition, Gary and I woke up early to read the Christmas story and exchange gifts with each other, and let me just say, my husband is an awesome gift giver.  I gave him very little to work with in way of a Christmas list this year, because all I could think about was getting through Christmas and getting to Elliott's birth day. However, he surprised me with new running shoes to train for my half marathon after baby, new Toms, and a hand stamped ring with Elliott's name on it.  Love him.

After we finished exchanging our gifts, we went to my parent's house to exchange gifts and eat breakfast casserole (my favorite!) with my siblings and grandparents.  This may be our last year to spend Christmas morning at my parent's house since Elliott will be here next year, so it was a special time for us.

Gary's parents, sister and brother-in-law, drove up from Arkadelphia to exchange gifts and spend the afternoon with us at our house.  We enjoyed lounging on the couch, watching a heartbreaking loss for the Dallas Mavericks, and eating leftovers, before they headed back to Arkadelphia and then to Texas.

Our final stop was Christmas dinner at my grandparent's (on my Dad's side) house with my aunts, uncles, cousins and great grandmother.  

Me [and E] with my brother and sister on Christmas Eve.

Me and Gary at my parent's house Christmas Eve.

My beautiful family.

Christmas morning at our house.

The boys in their new shirts from my sister.

The girls in our Christmas PJs Christmas morning at my parent's.

My Grandmommy and Papa Christmas morning.

My in-laws opening gifts at our house.

The Grant family at our house Christmas day.

We feel so blessed to have so much family to celebrate with each year.  I'm thankful we were able to see and catch up with everyone but Gary's mom's side of the family, whom we got to spend Thanksgiving with in Texas.  The gifts are wonderful, but the time with family and the memories made mean so much more this time of year.  We're looking forward to having a little one toddling around this time next year.