Christmas, Christmas time is here!

You don't know how many times I've heard the kids singing the Chipmunks' Christmas song this year! :)

Our first Christmas at home and it was so much fun! We awoke Christmas morning to snow falling, but not a blizzard :) We started the day with bacon, eggs and star-shaped biscuits while we read the Christmas story in Luke. The kids were so patient waiting to open presents! We went to the living room to get started and Isaac graciously gave his presents to Samy and I, waiting to open one himself. I love seeing him grow and mature! This year we let the kids pick out presents for each other: Isaac got Samy Silly Putty, and Samy got Isaac a Beanie Baby skunk. They both loved their gifts! And Isaac had made two things for me at school: a little tea light candle holder and a sweet framed picture of him and his hand prints! He was so excited to give them to me :)
We adopted a new tradition this year (taken from the Girl Talk blog) of telling the person why we chose that gift for them to take some of the "my turn, me next" out of the morning. And also performing "Christmas services" for each other (something my dear friend Melissa had told me they've always done).
So we had a fun morning opening gifts and then Isaac and Daddy went out to play with the new remote control truck in the snow. Isaac's favorite part was letting Keith drive it while he threw snowballs at it :)

We headed out for Knoxville after church Sunday, only to drive right into another snow storm. It was way to reminiscent of last year, but thankfully it never got so bad we had to pull over and we amazingly made it in 8 hours!
It was a strange Christmas in Tennessee as my older brother didn't come in and my little brother and brother-in-law had to work, so it just felt a little disjointed or something, but a joy nonetheless! My mom and I went out shopping two mornings in a row and the afternoons were spent talking, playing games and of course lots of eating. Michelle and her girls got a seriously rockin' curling iron so almost all us girls got our hair all curled and pretty :) My hair that normally holds curl for about 10 minutes, held this one until I washed my hair two days later! And Samy was just adorable with her little curls!! Wish I'd taken a picture :)

We opened presents there the evening after we arrived. Samy was pretty tired and showed very little emotion during the whole process, but it was obvious that the stuffed Chipmunks and Chipettes were her favorites! She immediately had them around the manger so they could see Jesus :)

Onto to Grandan and Bubbe's where the weather was in the 60s! What a reprieve for us :) It was nice to get outside without shivering! Grandan had planned to set up a bed in the play room for he and Isaac, which of course Isaac was thrilled about! Jack and Sharon arrived the next evening while we were having dinner with Keith's grandparents. So afterwards we opened presents again. Linda restocked Keith's supply of Johnny Harris BBQ sauce, and Sharon and Jack selflessly gave Keith a UT hat that Keith had gotten signed by all the players his first year there (including Peyton Manning and some other big names) and gave to Sharon.  Then Aunt Sharon played some Polly Pockets with Samy while I put together Isaac's Lego helicopter and he played with Buzz Lightyear. After the kids went to bed we played a few rounds of Monopoly Deal and just laughed ourselves silly :)

We set off before lunch the next day and made a quick stop at Rock City to have some family time. Keith and I had both been when we were little, so it was fun reminiscing and seeing the kids excitement. And then onto Grammy and Papaw's for one more night. The kids didn't know we were going back until after Rock City, and boy were they excited :)
The worst part of the trip was not getting to see Keith's mom (she had to work). But she is planning to fly up soon and she left her gifts with Sharon and Jack. So we brought them home with us and videotaped as we opened (yet again!). It was so funny that after each time we opened presents the kids had a new favorite :)

What a joyous holiday indeed!  Now I'm still trying to get things put away in the midst of a cold.  Christmas tree is still up, as Isaac reminds me everyday.  Oh well, it'll be a whole year before we see it again :)