Weekend Rewind~White Christmas Style

Wow...what an amazing Christmas Break!!! Hubby & I spent so much time with both of our families & we realized throughout the course of 4 days just how incredibly blessed we are. God has poured out countless blessings & we are in such awe of how He showers us with love everyday. Thank you God for sending your precious baby boy to this earth. What a priceless, sacrificial gift!

So...now on to all the gatherings--Christmas Eve morning we have always gone to my mom's parents for presents in the morning & pizza for lunch. Things were no different this year and we headed down about 9:30 for our first of many Christmas's.

Romo--Nick & Millie's precious dog...he is too cute!!

My Grandpa--he's a huge Dallas Cowboys fan! Don't you love his new stocking hat!

Hubby & his St. Louis Cardinals garden knome...I think it will be staying in the house during the winter months.

Christmas Eve afternoon we headed back home to prepare for the evening's festivities. We hosted Hubby's parents, sister & brother-in-law, & nephews for our family Christmas. I made chili & chicken tortilla soup which resulted in super-easy cleanup! We had a great evening & the boys loved all their gifts!

Jackson...the box boy!

Uncle Nicky & Aunt L got Hunter "The Tickle Monster" book & Laugh Kit. It comes complete with a fun box & Tickle Monster gloves. I highly recommend it for any small child on your list!

I started out with the gloves...but then Hunter took over! Isn't he just adorable!!

and again...
and again!


In addition to the Tickle Monster we also had a Dr. in the house. Hunter loves to play dress-up so this was the perfect gift from Mamaw & Pappy!


Hubby also got a new golf bag--he was very happy!

The big gift of the night went to Hunter...his first power-wheels Artic Cat. He was so surprised & we had cleaned out our garage so he could ride around in it. The temperatures were below freezing so no riding it outside!

He loved giving his little brother a ride!

After all the family left, Hubby & I were left to play Santa for each other. We stuffed each other's stockings and I know that I went to bed with visions of sugarplums dancing in my head. I have never been able to sleep in on Christmas morning & as a 26 (almost 27) year old woman it's no different. I woke up before 7, but forced myself to stay in bed until exactly 7:00 am. It was then that I realized Hubby was actually awake as well so we pulled on our robes & went to the living room to exchange our gifts. This is one of my favorite Christmas moments--Hubby & I opening our gifts to each other with no one else around.

Hubby and his wonderful self! Clothes & shoes were on his Christmas list so that's what he got! Don't you love the tongue sticking out?!?


Just so Hubby isn't the only one with a pre-shower photo on here, I give you my lovely greasy hair, greasy skin shot; however, it was more than worth it.

As I was finished opening my gifts Hubby mentioned that there might be one more present for me hidden in the tree. With my "Eagle Eyes (as he likes to call them)" I located the little black box tied with a red ribbon almost immediately. While I was certain it was jewelry I was not expecting what was inside! It was my other wedding band to go on the other side of my engagement ring. WOW!!! I was seriously speechless! We had gone to the jeweler to try it on back in the Summer but I was certainly not expecting it now! What a fantastic Christmas morning surprise from my wonderful Hubby!

Christmas morning also brought more excitement as about 3-4 inches of snow fell overnight. I honestly don't know if I've ever seen snow fall overnight on Christmas Eve to wake up to a white Christmas morning. It was incredibly cold so the windchill was in the single digits but it was certainly fun to have White Christmas!

Due to the snow, our lunch plans with my mother-in-law's family were cancelled so we packed up the car, Bogey jumped in the back, and we headed down to my parents' house several hours early. We helped get dinner ready, wrapped some last minute gifts, & played cards until my brother & his wife arrived late afternoon. We had such a great time & shared lots of laughs!

My parents' Christmas tree...yes it's real & yes it's about 14' tall!

One of the stacks of presents...we opened presents for what seemed like forever, but no complaints here!


Me in some of my new attire by my parents' fireplace!

My dad playing Santa with Romo on the left & Josie on the right. Bogey was outside enjoying playing in the snow with his doggy cousins!

One of the many laughs from the night came from this package....this was a gift to me from my parents. Hmmm...I wonder what's inside?!?

The other hysterical laughter came from poor Romo. My mom bought him some doggy booties & he was so tired he just let Millie put them on him while he went back to sleep.

He was not quite sure about the boots and it was hysterical to see him walk around in them. He looked like he was walking on his tiptoes! Poor Romo!

Saturday afternoon we had my dad's family Christmas that was back at my parents' house. We had a great time & everyone was able to make it except for my cousin Kevin who was celebrating with his wife's family in Tennessee. It's always a great time when we're all together & this time was no different.

My two very mature cousins...remember the Tickle Monster book? My mom also bought it for my 4-year old 2nd cousin Alyssa. I think my cousins had more fun with the gloves than she did.

At least Alyssa was able to enjoy the book.

Josie turned one on December 26th so we had to have a candle!

To complete our Christmas weekend celebrations we headed to Webb City with Hubby's parents to have Christmas with my father-in-law's family. We had a gift card exchange & we ended up with gift cards to Lowe's & Target...not too bad if you ask me! We spent most of the afternoon just hanging out, eating yummy food, & opening gifts.

Jackson is also starting to take a few steps...we all clapped & cheered for him!

Hunter also decided he needed to wrestle with me--I had to break out my Tickle Monster fingers even though I didn't have my gloves.

Whew...well there it is! Our Christmas recap. It was a wonderful 4-day weekend that flew by in a flash but the good thing is we have another long weekend with New Year's coming up on Friday! Woohoo! It's back to the real world of work for me today and trying to play catch up. Hope you all had a wonderful Christmas & were able to spend some quality time with those you love the most!