Christmas 2012

Hey friends!  I hope you all had a wonderful, calm, relaxing, exciting, and love-filled Christmas!

Things were pretty low-key here, and I am actually really thankful for that!

Even though there was a smidgen of hope that we may have a little snow for Christmas, that was quickly thwarted by all of the severe thunderstorms and tornado WARNINGS in our state.  Everyone spent the entire day watching the weather and changing plans.  We were home by 4:00 pm, hunkered down, waiting for the bad weather to arrive.

We were extremely blessed that we didn't get anything but a ton of rain and wind here, but several people weren't so lucky.  Thoughts and prayers for all of those who did suffer damage/injuries in the storms!

Anyway, on to the fun!

Christmas eve, the kids and I decided to try our hands at our first ever gingerbread houses.  Well, none of us actually like gingerbread, so we used graham crackers instead.  We made a HUGE mess, had a fight with the icing and piping bag, but had a blast!  Chelsea and I worked on ours together (was scared we wouldn't have enough icing to make 3 houses after I lost a fight with the piping bag) and Jameson did his all on his own.  I think they ended up really cute.  Next year, we will be better prepared!

Jameson's on the left, Chelsea's on the right)

They were so proud of their creations!

I purposely didn't post pictures of the kitchen.  It was horrible.  LOL

Since Chelsea got her "big" gift two weeks earlier, Jameson got his big gift too.  It's a pellet/BB gun, not a real automatic weapon.  (I was going to post it earlier, but with the horrific school shooting on that same day, I really didn't think it was appropriate.)  He is excited that he can actually pop a balloon with this gun!

 

I gave Chelsea this shirt I made for her on Christmas eve.  She loved it.

Scotty's autograph

Here is what everything looked like right after Santa came! Ahhhh, the calm before the storm! 

You see my mantle?  Yeah, that's all the decorating I managed to get done this year.  No banners, no garlands/balls hanging from the lights, no little trees up.  Nothing.  And you know what, Christmas still came and was successful without all the decorations!

Chelsea opening the one thing she asked for.  A blonde, curly-haired, Cabbage Patch doll.

Lauren Alaina autographed picture.

Sweets playing with some of her toys that Santa left for her.  Jameson was so sweet.  He was SO worried that Santa would forget Sweets.  He was very excited to see that she got gifts too, and he made sure to "help" her open all of her things before he even touched his presents!

Lauren Alaina t-shirt.

It's a watch!

Best face of the morning!

Lisa Leonard necklace "Just like mommy's!"

A tent!

Real, hunting-legal bow.  He totally wasn't expecting this.  He is excited to learn how to use it.

Alabama hat.

Sweets being tortured by Jameson.  She hates anything on her head, but she was a good sport about it.

We went out to Marty's mother's house, and I totally forgot to get my camera out of the car.  It was POURING rain and I was just trying to get the gifts and food in the door without ruining them.  I did get this picture of the tree AFTER 90% of the gifts were opened!

Marty was able to get his baby-fix in with Easton.  He is a DOLL!

Weather-wise, it definitely wasn't the Christmas we were hoping for, but we had a wonderful day full of family and fun...and really, isn't that what it's all about?

I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week!!