Saturday, December 28, 2013

A Happy, Happy CHRISTMAS!

Oh, what a Christmas!  Just so you know, this might be the longest post I've ever done!

Jon and I were blessed to be able to go home to Tennessee for a whole week for Christmas.  We had a wonderful time!  We got in late the Friday night before Christmas to Jon's parent's house.  It wasn't a bad drive either....for once, it didn't down pour on us.

On Saturday morning, we had a yummy breakfast and then we went to Ethan's basketball game.  There is something awesome about watching seven year olds play basketball!  I just loved it so much!  I even got a little teary-eyed watching because Ethan has grown up so much!  The older I get, the more I cry at almost anything that I think is precious.   He was the cutest little basketball star out on the court....but I'm a little biased.  Here are some pictures from the game....

Please note that Addie Mae and I enjoy taking hilarious pictures of ourselves and action shots of Ethan during the game...






Ethan is number 24 because Uncle Jon was number 24 when he played AAU basketball.










He played a great game and he scored 19 points in his game! Go Ethan!

On Sunday, Jon and I went to hear my Dad's Christmas Cantata.  It was really good!  I even snuck a picture in...


On Sundat night, my Mom and sister were in a Christmas Cantata, so me, Jon, and my Dad all got to sit in the audience and make funny faces at them.


My Mom had a solo, too!


Here is a family picture!


And our other family photo with friends....we're thinking that we might start a singing group.  I declared myself "lead harmonizer".  I don't know if that's a real title, but I sure do like it! Ha! :)


And here is our sibling photo....BFFs since birth!  And our Mom's are BFFs, too!


Here is Hal and Jim.  Neither one of these names are what other people call them....just my special names for both of them....love you, gals!


And Hal is going to have a baby in June!  I'm so excited!

Here is me and my sister....


On Sunday night after church, we went over to my great aunt's house for a little Christmas fun!

Here's everyone playing Dirty Santa...


And here's Ella, my great-aunt.  We call her Goobe.  She was my Papaw's sister...


And here's Dennis and Linda...


Goobe, Jonathan, and Hailey...


She got a new pitcher to make tea in...


Hal and Jonathan got a book for Baby Rayburn...


And here she is all snuggled up in her new blanket...


We had a lot of fun on Sunday!

On Monday, we traveled down to Georgia to meet up with my uncle and his family.  We enjoyed a good visit with one another.  I also enjoyed a delicious piece of chocolate pie from the restaurant.  I got it in memory of my Nana.  It made me feel like a piece of her was there because she always made chocolate pie EVERY Christmas!


On Christmas Eve morning, we held true to our tradition of going to Waffle House with Jamie, Hailey, and Eddie.  


This has become one of my favorite traditions.  Somehow it just happened, too.  Jamie and Hailey started going to the Waffle House on Christmas Eve I don't know how many Christmases ago.  They would go together and then head over to Wal-Mart to grab last minute Christmas items.  Then, one year Hailey's Dad, Eddie, decided to go with them....and then, Jon and I decided to go too!  It's a lot of fun!  We always have a lot of good laughs and enjoy helping Eddie shop for Hailey's Mom in the "as seen on TV" aisle at Wal-Mart.

This year we had a hoot of a waitress.  Her name was Patty and she was a pistol.  She is the lady in the red antlers in the picture below...


She was feisty and my Jon was scared to ask her for anything because he was terrible at ordering hash browns and Patty let him know that he was!  Haha!

I tried to take a long picture of all of us at the table...


This picture cracks me up!

We also took a selfie outside of Wal-Mart.


Too bad I don't # everything.  Haha!

Here's a fun picture of Jon at Wal-Mart...


Love it!

On Christmas morning, we woke up at my parents house and exchanged gifts...

Here's Jon...


My Dad....


Please note the fireplace on the TV.  It crackled and played Christmas music! Haha!

Here's Jon and my sister swimming in presents...


And here's my Mom opening her present.  I put everything I got her in one box....


She didn't know what to think with all of the random goodies in the box. (She asked for pot holders, fuzzy socks, and earrings!)

Even Buddy got a present!


After opening our gifts, we headed over to my cousin Brandi's house for brunch.

Me and my cousin, Kennedy matched!

Black pants, brown boots, and leopard print!


After eating there and visiting with my cousins, we headed up to Jon's Ma's house for lunch and gifts.

Here is her tree...


And here's Ma!


After lunch, we headed over to Jon's parent's house...

The pretty tree...


Addie Mae got a toy with a microphone!


This was my very first stocking at Jon's house.  Jon always marks how I've been each year...


Jon and Ethan got matching shirts...



And Jerry got a fun gift...


A toilet paper holder that was a bass!  Hilarious!


That night Jon's aunt, uncle and the rest of the family came over to enjoy breakfast for supper.  It was delicious.

And this little girl entertained us...


We had a very Merry and Blessed Christmas!  Happy Birthday, Jesus!


We ended our trip home by leaving the day after Christmas to head to Charlotte to see our best friends, Chad and Jodi.

On our way there we saw this huge tree...


Here's our best buds....


We love them so much!  It was SO great to see them and hear about what God is doing in their ministry in Massachusetts.

Here's me and Jon....and Kelli who photo bombed our picture.  I think it's pretty awesome.


Me and Jojo...


We took a Starbucks selfie....


I don't know what got into me this trip....I never take selfies of me or me and anyone else....watch out, world!

Jodi and I enjoy taking pictures when we go see Christmas lights.  We kept up with the tradition this year.  This one was hilarious to pull off.  (No one was harmed in taking this picture.). Haha!


After dinner, Starbucks, and Christmas lights, we went back to Jodi's sister, Kelli's house to play games.

Here is me and Brayden....


Our first game was a drawing game.  You have to draw a picture and the person beside you will guess what they think your picture is.  Here was one of my many pictures...


Can you guess what it is?

Here's Jodi's parents....David and Donna...


And her sister and brother-in-law, Kevin...


And Chad and Jodi...


We had such a fun time playing games with them.  We ended up staying up late that night...almost until 2 AM!  

The next morning we got up and enjoyed more time with each other and played with Brayden and Bryce (Kelli and Kevin's baby).



We had such a fun time getting to see everyone in Charlotte!  Now I'm ready to go visit them in Massachusetts!  

Our Christmas vacation was wonderful! I love making new memories with our family and friends each year.  Christmas 2013 will be one that I won't forget!  I hope you had a very Merry Christmas, too!

Love,
Katie

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