To back track and summarize the girls' amazing first Christmas, we started off on the 23rd with a Christmas gathering for Papaw Stanley's family at Grandma and Papaw's house. The girls were able to meet several of their newest cousins, and spend time with aunts, uncles, and cousins galore. The girls got their first official Christmas presents and we all enjoyed time with our very large family!
On Christmas Eve, we had our usual celebration with Grandma Pam's family at Mamaw Eunice's house. As always, this was a great time, and the girls got to spend a lot of time with Mamaw Eunice, cousins, aunts, and uncles from that side of the family as well. Makayla hung out for a while with Aunt Crystal, Macy hung out with cousin Hillary, and the girls spent more time figuring out their cousin Emmy Cate! Uncle Terry was the first brave soul to pose with all three of the little ladies at once! :)
Most of the best pics from Christmas morning were posted in the last post, but the girls woke up to find a nice assortment of gifts from Santa, Mom and Dad, Uncle Jared, Aunt Tonia, Connor, Uncle Jason, Aunt Jen, Reganne, and Riley! 
The big gift from Santa was a red wagon that they can ride around the neighborhood together in this spring and summer! They're a little unsteady in it for now, but it'll be perfect for them once they've mastered sitting up! 
After opening gifts and FINALLY getting a good nap, we headed to Grandma and Papaw Childers' house for Christmas lunch and to (very quickly) exchange gifts with Grandma, Papaw, Uncle Nathan, Aunt Lauren, and Emmy Cate. The girls got way too many awesome gifts, and we'll be playing with "new" toys for months to come!
The day after Christmas, we loaded up the 210 (airplane) and headed to Gainesville! We made what is likely to become our "traditional" trip to Mellow Mushroom, and then headed to Mimi's house! That evening, Great Grandma Carol and John came into town from Missouri as well, so we got ready for several fun days with the family!
Unfortunately, Saturday after Christmas, the girls' colds set back in with a vengeance. Poor Makayla completely lost her voice, and both girls obviously just felt pretty lousy. Despite the colds, they still tried to play and have fun with family, and still enjoyed "opening" lots of additional gifts. Everyone was so overwhelmingly generous, and we haven't even made a dent in all of the new clothes and toys to play with! (Unfortunately, being the worried mom that I was with 2 sick little ones, I didn't get as many good pics from the time in Georgia as I would have liked!) The adults had a good time too, with a fun game of "Dirty Santa", where the "hot item" was a gopher grabber. Since everyone else was feeding the girls, Whit was finally able to get in on some of the feeding activities himself! :)
We came back home on Tuesday, and by Thursday had decided that a trip to the doctor was necessary, since the girls both seemed to have eye infections and were pretty unconsolable with their cries and whines. Makayla was checked for ear infection, and, yep, she was having her first bout with that. We got some antibiotics, and by the time we got home we were sure Macy was having the same misfortune. Both girls are on the medicine now, and seem to FINALLY be doing better.
Because of the sickness, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day was completely uneventful for the girls, and Grandma Pam came and babysat so mom and dad could get a little bit of much-needed time out for dinner. We went with the neighbors to an awesome dinner at 131 Main, then came back to our friends Dave and Gina's to ring in the new year. Unfortunately, mom and dad were exhausted from multiple nights of interupted sleep (due to sick babies in the same room!)and Christmas travels, so mom was home and sound asleep before midnight...for the first time EVER! And Dad wasn't far behind...I think all was quite in the Ernst household by 12:20! Things are NOT what they used to be! :)
We've had such a wonderful holiday season, and Gary and I are so amazed at how much more awesome the holidays can be now! God has blessed us with awesome family, wonderful friends, and the most amazing little girls we could ask for! Now we look ahead to a new year as parents, and can't wait to watch the girls as they grow through their first full year of life! Happy New Year to All!
