Christmastime

The past few weeks have been really busy for us as it usually is this time of year. It seems like things start being busy at Thanksgiving and don't stop until New Year's! For my birthday this year, Kelli, Steve, Clarence and I went to Santa Fe to have dinner, and then we were going to go see the Christmas lights at Opryland. I say we were going to, because when we got there and realized they were charging $18 to park, we turned around and left.

Clarence and I at Santa Fe

For my birthday, my parents gave Clarence and I tickets to see the Trans Siberian Orchestra. I had seen them before, but this was Clarence's first time. When we left for the concert, it was snowing pretty hard. We didn't realize that by the time the concert was over that it was going to be such a mess! It took us an hour to travel what normally would have taken only 15 minutes. Trucks like Clarence's don't like roads covered in snow and ice! By the time we got to my parents' house, where our boys were, we decided that we would just spend the night instead of trying to make it across town all the way back home.

Clarence's truck in the snow

the best picture I got of the show from my phone since I left my camera in the truck

Later that same week, Alex had his Christmas party and concert at school. He was excited his brother and I were there, but he didn't want to sing in the concert. He finally warmed up enough and sang the last two songs.

Before the concert... I was trying to encourage him to sing

After the concert was over... all smiles!


Last weekend we and the boys assembled and decorated their first gingerbread train. They enjoyed assembling it, but left most of the decorating up to me. :)

Isaac helped with the peppermints

And finally...
Last night my mother and I went to see the Garth Brooks Rescue Party concert. It was awesome! I am so glad my mother and I were able to get tickets and that we could spend that time together. 9 sold out shows to benefit flood relief is amazing, and says a lot for our great state of Tennessee, not to mention those who came from out of state just to see Garth!

Garth did two shows a night. We went to the 6:00 show, and there was another one that was supposed to start at 9:00. But, I doubt that it did, because at 9:00 we were stuck on 5th avenue in the crowd of people trying to get in and out of the arena. It was ridiculous, like nothing we had ever seen before. I heard on the news people were comparing it to Marti Gras. All I can say is, if that's what Marti Gras is like, you can count me out! It was crazy! But, like everyone else there probably thought, Garth is worth it! :)

Tomorrow is Christmas Eve, and I hope everyone has a great Christmas spending time with family and friends. Here in Nashville, we're hoping for the first white Christmas in several years!

These are a few of my favorite things...

Just imagine Julie Andrews singing that song from the Sound of Music... ahh... love that movie. It reminds me so much of my grandmother. I watched it so many times with her. This time of year I find myself remembering all the traditions I used to be a part of and how things are constantly changing. While I love Christmas and everything about it, this Christmas will be different. A few weeks ago my godmother passed away. For me, it was sort of unexpected, just in the sense that I didn't expect her to get so sick so quickly. One of the Christmas traditions that I have been a part of since my birth is the annual Christmas ornament that my godmother and godfather gave me every year. Such a small thing means so much to me now that I am older and have my own children. When I decorated our Christmas tree a couple of weeks ago, I realized that I have 30 years worth of Christmas ornaments and this year I wouldn't have a new one to add to the tree. It makes me sad, but it also makes me thankful for all the wonderful Christmases I have had with my godmother and godfather. When both of our boys were born, my godparents extended their tradition to them too, so the boys have a quite a few ornaments of their own. Here are a few pictures of my most favorite ones.

This is the ornament I got the year Clarence and I bought our house

And this one we got the same year since it was our first Christmas as a married couple

This is one of the boys' ornaments, but still one of my favorites

the 'Joy' ornament is not one from my godparents but still one of my favorites

one of my very favorite, you can't see it all for the tree in the way, but it says 'Godchild' on the ribbon

two more of the boys' ornaments from my godparents

love this one...that's a real miniature bow and ribbon on the dog

love this penguin!

love the expression on the little one's face

Saturday is my birthday, and in true Clarence fashion, he bought me an early birthday cake. He says he likes to celebrate occasions early. Hey, I don't mind...more celebrations is a good thing! :) Isaac helped Clarence pick out the cake at Publix, and I think they did a great job!

my cup of hot chocolate cake :)

so cute and yummy! The perfect size for 4 people!

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone is slowing down enough to enjoy this season.

ho ho ho!

A few weeks ago, Santa made a visit to Alex's school. We took the boys to make sure they had a chance to talk to Santa to tell him what they want for Christmas and to have their picture taken with him. Here is our favorite one that was taken.

Merry Christmas!

December Already?

This year has absolutely flown by, and I can hardly believe it is December 1st already! In just a few short weeks it will be Christmas and then New Year's. This time of year is so fun for me. I love all the decorating for Christmas, seeing family that we don't make time to see the rest of the year (yep, I said it.), trying to make Christmas special for our boys, and trying to remember to take the time to slow down and actually enjoy everything. Between C's family and mine, it seems like we go non-stop while celebrating the season. Sometimes I let the stress of it all get in the way of enjoying it. Anyway... As I do every year, I put up our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. Now that Alex has his own tree, I put his up that day also.

A picture of Alex's tree that I took with my phone. Not a great picture, but he is so proud of it!

Our big Christmas tree. Also not a great picture, but I have some pretty new ornaments that I'll have to take better pictures of.

The day before Thanksgiving, Nana asked us to bring the boys to Portrait Innovations in Mt. Juliet on Saturday to have pictures made with the boys' cousins. I knew what to expect... the place would be packed and they wouldn't be on schedule. I knew we would have to wait. What I didn't expect was the complete rudeness of the manager of the place. After we had to wait 30 minutes past our appointment time, the photographer rushed through the 100 pictures that she took. Granted, she had to manage photographing 6 boys all age 7 and under. But, she didn't have to make us feel rushed. As they tried to move us along to view the pictures and place our order, all hell broke loose. First of all, we had a change of clothes for the boys, and the photographer had barely taken any pictures of the boys in those outfits. So, we told the photographer that we wanted to have some more pictures made. The photographer took our request to the manager who proceeded to tell us that they had already taken 100 shots and that should be enough. Nana, Kim (SIL) and myself then proceeded to take turns letting the manager know how displeased we were. The manager threatened to throw Kim out and after we didn't back down, he decided to let us have the shots we wanted. It ended up taking longer to argue with the man than it did for the photographer to take more pictures. Hmm... was it really worth his time to argue with us? Anyway, Nana ended up limiting her order due to her displeasure, and I vowed never to go back there again. It's just not worth the trouble! So, here are some of the best of the pictures that were taken.

My boys in their Christmas PJs from Nana and Pops

All the cousins:

Devin, Donevyn, Isaac, Jaylen, Alex and Camden

my favorite one of my boys



brothers: Camden, age 3 and Jaylen, age 7



Brothers: Donevyn, age 7 and Devin, age 4



Precious



My big boy