Christmas in East Texas

Both Wade's parents and my parents are so flexible about holidays. For that, I am extremely thankful! They have both made point of saying that Christmas is whenever we can all be together. I love them for that! It takes so much pressure off of us as parents and helps us to really enjoy being with our families rather than rushing from place to place. What wonderful examples they all are to us!

This weekend we had our "Grammie & Papaw Christmas" in East Texas. We had such a wonderful time! My sister-in-law, brother-in-law, nieces, us, and Wade's parents were together all weekend. We haven't all been together for a whole weekend in a looong time, so it was extra special to me. The adults got lots of time to really talk to each other and the kids got a lot of time to really play. It was a wonderful way to kick off all of our family celebrations!

The kids made lots of crafts. Clayton made snowmen out of pumpkins that Papaw had spray painted white. He got really into that activity. :)

The kids enjoyed opening their stockings.
Drew got a rocking horse that he loves!

Clayton got a new "army guy" costume. So, he was GI Joe for the remainder of the weekend. Ha!

The girls were sweet to build countless numbers of block towers for Drew to knock down.

Several years ago (I'm thinking it was circa 2002), Wade's mom started the tradition of doing "Christmas pie." She cut a big circle out of felt with butcher paper on the back. She wraps lots of $1 small items (glowsticks, candy, small games, etc.) to put underneath. The kids all take turns pulling out a small gift and unwrapping it. It's just fun for them to see what they get and then trade at the end. After it is all said and done, we sign the back and write something about that year. It's always fun to look back and see what we have written year to year.

The "Christmas Pie" before we started.

The back of the pie

Both Morgan & Makinley were sweet little "mothers" with Drew. They took turns snuggling with him and playing with him. It was so cute to watch them! Makinley bounced Drew on her knees until he was almost asleep.

Just a cute one of Morgan and Leigh. :)

I didn't take very many pictures, and we didn't get a family picture - which I'm sad about. But, we had a lot of fun together, and that is definitely what is most important. Thanks Grammie & Papaw for ALL that you did to make our family Christmas so special! You spoiled us with your time, gifts, food, and love. We appreciate you more than you will ever know.