As I try to start this post, I’m not even sure how to put into words just how incredible this holiday season has been for us. We are SOO blessed!
We started the festivities on Friday morning when the girls woke up to find that their cousin, Emmy Cate, had come for a visit while they were sleeping! We all enjoyed a
livermush breakfast (a favorite of my little southern belles!), then the adults took turns running errands while the girls played, ate, and napped. Mamaw and Papaw came down to complete the crew, and it was a fun day at home.
As soon as dusk came, we made a trip to Zootastic, a small little farm in Troutman that goes all out with a drive thru Christmas lights show, then finishes with a petting zoo and Santa. The girls had a great time and loved the lights and animals, but unfortunately, it was a little bit rushed since we had a lot on the agenda for the night. Afterwards, we headed back to Mamaw and Papaw’s house for dinner and our
first round of
PRESENTS!! The girls were delighted with their
gifts, and I think the night’s favorites were a new baby, a singing microphone, and an adorable
backpack that Makayla proceeded to stuff with all of her goodies…and didn't take it off for about 4 days!!
The next day was Christmas Eve, and we started the morning baking our cookies for Santa!
After the cookies were done, the girls made a trip to Lowe’s and to eat lunch with Daddy, then they caught a quick nap before we headed to the annual Christmas Eve celebration at Mamaw Eunice’s house! The girls had a wonderful time playing with their
cousins,
aunts, and uncles, as well as their
Mamaws and
Papaw, of course!
It was such a fun night and the girls got sweet gifts from the family!
The highlight, however, may have been just before time to change into jammies! Suddenly, the doorbell rang, and by the time the girls were able to answer it, there was no one to be found…however, we figured out that it must have been Santa himself, since there were two Santa boxes sitting on the doorstep!!
The girls were delighted to find Christmas Jammies in the boxes, and
Macy got so excited that she forgot to put them on…instead, she did a couple of
streaks around the house, and caught everyone’s attention!! Such a crazy girl!!
We ended the evening with another late night, but still had to get home and do our duties to prepare for Santa’s REAL visit! We put out our
cookies, poured a glass of milk, and then it was time to take care of the reindeer! The girls had prepared some reindeer food at school the week before, and we complimented that with fresh
carrots and went outside to
sprinkle both on the sidewalk.
Thankfully, the excitement wasn’t enough to overtake the exhaustion from all of the festivities, and the girls were fast asleep before Santa even got close! It was a late night for Gary and I as we waited up on his arrival, but he
finally came and we all squeezed in some sleep…and the girls even gave us an extra Christmas gift when they slept the latest EVER…7:40!!! (It’s the little things that sometimes mean the most!! :)
Christmas morning was about as magical as I could have imagined. The expressions on the girls faces was something I wish I could capture to hold in a bottle forever!
We spent about 2 hours just opening the
simple little
gifts that Santa left under the tree, and the girls loved that he followed through with their only request, a
new baby and “
baby doll toys”! The
other favorite gift, I think, was the new Dora
umbrellas. They’ve been asking for umbrellas for over a month now, and they couldn’t have been more pleased that their wish was finally granted…and those things come in handy for keeping us dry EVERYWHERE (living room included! :)
We saved the best surprise until all the inside gifts were opened and “tested”, and then it was time to see what might have been left in the garage! The girls were so surprised that it took them a few minutes to even comprehend that they were the proud owners of a new
BOUNCE CASTLE!!! After they finally accepted it, the jumping was ON!! They didn’t care that it was cold, they didn’t care that lunch time came, they only cared about BOUNCING!!
They did take a quick break when I finished opening MY gift from Santa (a new Elliptical Machine which I am SOOO excited about) and realized how much fun this
HUGE box could be...but that didn't compare enough to last too long!)
Mamaw and Papaw came over to hang out for the afternoon too, and the girls loved showing off their new treasures, and then were as thrilled as Mommy to get their “main” gift from them as well…a keyboard!
We sang a few tunes and played
a few notes, and I selfishly enjoyed their gift for a while myself while they bounced around between all of their gifts.
We had a yummy dinner, and then closed out our day with a little birthday party for Baby Jesus! The girls had a blast, and it was a nice way to bring home the real meaning for all of the joy!
As the evening closed, it was almost bittersweet as Gary and I spent some time thinking about how truly blessed we are! I could have never dreamed that it was possible to feel quite as happy as I did this Christmas.
(As much as I wrote here, this only covers half of our Christmas...another post on its way to go through the rest of the excitement!)
