Christmas 2013

Better late then never right?! We had an awesome Christmas this year. The older Bryson gets, the more fun it is. This year we crammed all of our Christmas parties into one day and it was crazy, but fun. We woke up early to the smell of a yummy breakfast casserole I put in the crock pot the night before. It was my first to make and it wasn't as good as I hoped it would be. I followed the directions but I personally think it had too much onion and tomatoes. Next time I think I will cut both of those out.

Me and Robert kept waiting impatiently for Bryson to wake up, but it seems like he's going to be just like me. I always slept late on Christmas morning and so far he's been doing the same. When he finally woke up, we were all so excited! He was so happy to see everything that Santa brought. He enjoyed playing with those new toys before opening his gifts from us.

It took a little longer than normal to open his gifts this year. Not because he got so many but because he actually wanted to play with them this year. He usually just opens them, throws the paper and the gift to side and moves on without even looking at what he got. This year he wanted to stop and play with every gift before opening another one. It was so cute! There are so many things that he enjoys playing with this year so he got a huge variety of gifts from all of his favorite characters. Jake, Caillou, Despicable Me, Monsters University, Daniel Tiger, Thomas, Lego, and Play-Doh. It was so easy to shop this year because we could go into the store and just pick out anything and he will love it! He's really into movies and board games and has been talking about Hungry Hungry Hippos forever! He was so excited to get that. We also started adding to his movie collection. Our goal is for him to own all of the Disney movies, which is hard because they are not all sold in stores or online. We have to wait for them to be released from the vault.

 When we finally finished at our house, we headed to do Christmas with my family in Trussville. We wanted to eat first so we would still eat at my Aunt's house but it was so hard to keep Bryson and Will from wanting to open their gifts first. They did so good watching each other open gifts. They patiently waited their turn so we could see what everybody got. I think Bryson's favorite gift was his trampoline. Out of nowhere, and after all the gifts had been bought, he started talking about Santa bringing him a trampoline. Thankfully my dad found one just like he wanted. My favorite gift was our awesome new Keurig. Everybody that knows me knows that I am a huge coffee drinker, but Robert never has been. But since he works in Montgomery and has to drive back and forth everyday, he has become a pretty big coffee drinker, so the Keurig was the perfect gift for us.

 After Christmas at my parents house, we went to my Aunt's for dessert and more gifts! Thankfully she lives in my parents neighborhood so we didn't have to drive far. She surprised the boys with a treat from Santa then we enjoyed all her yummy desserts. She always makes the best banana pudding and chocolate cake. My aunt has always been known to give us gifts that we actually need. We have fun unwrapping things like paper towels, toilet paper, soap, shampoo and trash bags. It may sound crazy but those gifts are amazing! We go months before we have to buy those things at the store!

 Our last stop for the day was in Pelham to celebrate with Robert's family. We enjoyed a yummy dinner and more gifts! Bryson got more movies and Lego sets. We then played gift card dirty Santa with everybody else. We ended up with dinner and a movie! Now we just need to pick a night to use them. I also got a $50 Starbucks card, which was gone very quick! The best gift though was our paid airfare for our New York trip on Thanksgiving! Lola usually pays for it but it's so expensive. We thought we would have to pay for it this year but that was our Christmas gift! I can't wait to take Bryson back.
We had a wonderful Christmas. Sadly, it was over way too fast. It seems like we just put up our tree and just started looking at Christmas lights and it's already over.I know that next year will be just as fun as this year, if not better!

Christmas Eve 2013

As a child, we had a lot of Christmas traditions. We went to church on Christmas Eve, then went to look at Christmas lights and when we got home we made a birthday cake for Jesus, ate a homemade dinner by candlelight and read the Christmas story from the Bible. Now that I have a family of my own, I wanted to carry on some of the traditions that I had with my parents but also start a few new ones of our own. Every Christmas Eve we wake up and bake cookies for Santa. This year Bryson was old enough to help more. He cracked the eggs, helped Robert use the mixer, helped me cut the cookies and also helped us decorate them.

While the cookies were baking, we started working on a birthday cake for Jesus. Bryson had fun helping with this too. He loves cracking the eggs and using the mixer.

Once everything cooled it was time to decorate! Bryson had so much fun using the sprinkles. When we were finished decorating, we sang Happy Birthday to Jesus.

 Once we finished baking, it was time to head to church with Robert's family. On the way to church we saw Santa in the Dollar General parking lot. We turned in and Bryson got so excited! Since we stopped to see Santa, we were a few minutes late to church. When we pulled up, it was packed! There were 2 services, no parking spaces and both services were standing room only! It was amazing to see so many people in church to celebrate the birth of Jesus! After church we headed to our traditional Christmas Eve IHOP dinner. This year we invited Robert's family. Last Christmas they didn't have the eggnog pancakes and I was a little sad. Thankfully they had them this year and they were so good!

After dinner, we headed out to look at Christmas lights. There were a few places we wanted to go but first we stopped by a neighborhood in Pelham that Amy and Shawn told us about. It was insane! These houses had so many tacky lights. It was awesome! I think these people have saved every single Christmas decoration since their grandparents were babies and put them outside their house. I have never seen so many lights and decorations in one neighborhood, let alone on one house!  Bryson loved it too, but he was starting to get sleepy so we headed home to put him in pajamas before going to look at other lights. Right when he pulled into our driveway, Santa turned down our street riding on a firetruck! We rushed to get Bryson out of the car so he could wave to Santa. He loved it! It was perfect timing and Bryson was so excited to see Santa twice in one day!

We put Bryson in his pajamas and headed back out to look at more lights. There are some great neighborhoods in Helena to look at lights and we really wanted Bryson to see them all. Sadly, he fell asleep right after we left our neighborhood. We went ahead and went to the neighborhoods we had planned to go to and kept trying to wake him up, but he was out. Next year we will make sure he takes a nap on Christmas Eve so he can stay awake and look at lights. After looking at the lights we headed back home to set out the cookies for Santa. Bryson was half asleep and probably doesn't remember leaving the cookies and eggnog for Santa. Thankfully he slept through the night so we could make our breakfast casserole, cook our hash brown casserole for Christmas dinner and so Santa could come visit Bryson! It was a great Christmas Eve!