Christmas Madness!

Christmas is a season for giving as we remember the birth of our savior Jesus Christ. In coming years I plan on having Eden leave gifts under the tree for Santa to take back to his workshop to fix up for children who don't have toys, but right now we're doing this after Christmas. I think she grasps the idea and the reason better if we do it this way. Yesterday we went through her toy room and put some things in a bag to take to donate to children who don't have toys. My heart sank when Eden got sad at seeing them in the bag, but I was quickly relieved when I told her the toys were not going in the trash, but they were going to children who don't have toys. She immediately became happy and was very excited to give her toys to these children. I hope her heart remains generous and loving as she grows up.

This year we made room for some new toys because our kids were very spoiled at Christmas time. I've actually put some of the toys they got in a bag and will slowly pull new things out as we continue to add to our donation pile. Our kids got gifts from aunts and uncles, grandparents, cousins, and friends! The people in our lives are very generous, and we are thankful for everything they do and give for our family.

Christmas Eve started with us going to Aunt Nana and Uncle Papa's house for dinner, followed by going to Grandma and Grandpa's house for the reading of T'was The Night Before Christmas. After that we headed home to put out cookies for Santa and head to bed. It was great to see so many people {even if I did feel a bit like a pin ball in the midst of a high scoring game!}

Cousin Picture: Top*Ansley, Josh, Owen, Avery holding Hunter. Bottom*Izzy, Eden, Alyn, Caroline, Adison, Holden.

Taking cookies to the table for Santa.

 When Christmas morning came, Eden was so excited to get up and see what Santa brought. She was sound asleep and we had to wake her up. When I told her it was time to get up and see what was downstairs she sat right up and was ready to head downstairs.

Parker's traditional picture with the babies. He did this with Eden on her first Christmas too!

Once we were done with gifts at Mimi and Pop's house we had brunch with Aunt Nana and Uncle Papa {who brought more presents} before heading to Grandma and Grandpa's house for presents and Christmas dinner. Opening gifts at their house was fun, and it lasted all day long. Grandma and Tommie sure know how to spoil kids that's for sure! The adults swapped Secret Santa gifts and it was a lot of fun. Each year we have a theme and this year we swapped thrift store gifts. People were forced to get creative and it was neat to see everything.

After Christmas we were able to spend some time with my sister and her family as they came into Atlanta. Of course we made sure to swap gifts while we were crossing paths and before Parker left for Norfolk.