Christmas this year was so much fun, to say the least!! While it was a crazy one, a very enjoyable one!! We left on the Tuesday before Christmas to go to my parents house in Hartselle. We had a great time visiting and the girls love playing with the "new" toys that Grana and Papa have that were mine and Amy's as a child! Amy and Margaret were able to come up on Wednesday and Trent came up Friday. Each night, the girls each got to open one present from Grana and Papa. It was very nice doing it that way because the I felt like the girls got to enjoy all of there presents for what they were. They weren't automatically moving on to the next present, but were able to enjoy it and play with it. Caroline and Aubrey got a gator from Grana and Papa which has proved to be quite a hit! It took a little while for Caroline to learn not to over-correct, but it didn't take Aubrey long to learn that when sister was driving, she needed to hold on! They love riding around our backyard.
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| Caroline "opening" her and Aubrey's gator. |
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| Taking the gator for a test drive. |
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| Aubrey, Margaret, and Caroline watching Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. |
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| Aubrey unwrapping a present from Grana and Papa. |
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| Aubrey with her Little People car. |
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| Caroline with one of her favorite presents of the year...a tape dispenser. |
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| An actual Christmas picture of the four of us!! |
Eventually, it was time for us to head back to Georgia. We left Christmas Eve evening heading back with two excited girls in the van. We spent Christmas Eve night at home, including cookies and milk for Santa and carrot sticks and celery for all the reindeer. Christmas morning we woke up and went downstairs to open presents from Santa and from each other. This was such a fun year. Caroline really understood Christmas and I felt like she was able to fully understand the birth of Jesus and more of the meaning of Christmas than in previous years. Aubrey was so much fun to watch open presents! Once we showed her what to do, she continued to go and try to get more to open.
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| Leaving cookies and milk for Santa on Christmas Eve. |
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| Opening stockings on Christmas morning. |
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| Caroline with her baby from Santa. |
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| Aubrey trying to get into Fumble's present. |
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| Caroline with her princess dolls from Mommy and Daddy. |
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| Aubrey feeding her new baby from Santa. |
After we opened presents and got ourselves semi-together :-) we headed over to Brian's parents house to celebrate Christmas with them. We opened presents and ate lunch together. It was a wonderful day of relaxing and enjoying family.
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| Opening legos at Grammie and Grandpa's. |
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| Aubrey "getting into" her present! |
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| Caroline and the singing bear. |
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| Aubrey entertaining herself with Caroline's present. |
The day after Christmas was a great day, especially for Brian. Every year, sometime around Christmas, Brian and his college friends get together with each other and their families to catch up and just spend time together. Unfortunately this year, Ryan and Rachel could not be with us, but we had a fun time catching up with everyone and reminiscing about what quieter times we had getting together before kids! Needless to say, with all the children running around, it was an entertaining night!
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| Brian and his college buddies. |
To finish out 2010, our community group got our families together for a fun night of food and socializing. It was a lot of fun just hanging out with everyone and their families. We ate, of course, watched football, played games, and had some fun with sparklers. It's always such a good time when we all get together!!
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| One of our yummy desserts of the evening, Banana's Foster...waiting to be set on fire. |
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| Julia about to light the bananas. |
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| The adults checking out the sparklers. |
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| Brian helping Caroline get started. |
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| Caroline sparkling. |
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| Brian and Aubrey with a sparkler. |
So in looking back over 2010, many parts of it really were a blur. I try to look back at pictures to remember the year, but as the kids get older, it seems to go faster and faster. It was a great year and I look forward to 2011 to see what comes with it!
Many Blessing to all!!!
