White Christmas

We had the best Christmas yet! It was a bit of a challenge since we wanted to keep our traditions yet split time between our home in Auburn and our family in Birmingham. It is also not quite as easy to make that two hour drive with Olivia these days since she despises her car seat and gets quite bored. So when we can time the trip at nap time or bedtime, that is a win! We always spend the night with my Daddy and Rhetta on the 23rd and wake up to Christmas Eve breakfast. So on Wednesday evening we drove up in time to hang out a bit, and then we had the whole family together the next morning for breakfast and opening gifts!

Then we headed back to Auburn to get ready for our Christmas Eve candlelight service. This is the first Christmas Eve that we have not spent at Momaw's house and we missed it so, but we loved being with our Highlands family to celebrate the birth of our Savior. Someone blessed us with a fried turkey (yum!), so afterwards Brandon and I enjoyed a great dinner at home. And all I had to do was throw together some sides, which thrilled me especially after so much traveling. After Livi was in bed, we had the best time arranging her presents in the living room. We have decided that from us she will receive three gifts, just as Baby Jesus did, as another way to highlight the Christmas story to her. Our debate: box or no box?? We decided no boxes (Good thing since it took us an hour just to open them...you know how that goes).

It was so special to wake up at home on Christmas morning, and Livi loved having new toys to play with! She got a tea set, kitchen, and mailbox plus her stocking, which was full of bath toys and a sippy cup.

After playing with Livi's toys for a little while, we got ready to head back to Birmingham to Momaw's house to spend time with the Isbells/ Robertsons. Livi loved playing with her cousins and eating all the wrapping paper she could sneak past us. Apparently it digests pretty well. And who would've guessed that we would ever have a true white Christmas?! It snowed the whole day, and it was absolutely beautiful. I love that her first Christmas was such a unique one.

Then, it was time to head home. But since it's not Christmas until we've seen our dear friends, the Hindmans, we stopped by to see Jeff, Tanya, and the kids. I can't believe I didn't take one picture, but I guess we were all pictured out by then. But anyway, we had a great visit and then hit the road to Auburn since we had church bright and early the next morning. The snow continued to fall on Sunday, but we decided to just watch from our warm kitchen. Livi was very excited about it, though!

We love you all and hope you had a joyful Christmas season!