On Tuesday 12/23 we packed up and headed to Knoxville at 7am. It was an easy drive, only taking us 7.5 hours- which is remarkable considering we had 2 kids and 2 dogs! I called the kennels a bit too late, so none had room for boarding Belle & Stormy. We usually use house sitters, but it was Christmas week and the 4 I asked just weren't interested. So... thankfully I have awesome in-laws who were happy to let us bring along the "grand-dogs" too.
Belle was thrilled to come along-
Boy were we packed to the max! I was a bit afraid that Tate was going to get crushed-
But we made it just fine...
On Christmas Eve, Cathryn, Gill, Macy and I snuck out to see an afternoon matinee of Annie!
It was awesome! We were all impressed and it was the perfect heartwarming story to see on Christmas Eve...
That evening Brian's oldest sister, Caron and brother-in-law Gary came over, along with their son McClain, and another nephew Scott all came over. We played "Grabs" (a gag gift game my grandmother invented years ago) and laughed our heads off. Then, while I was reading T'was The Night Before Christmas-
we heard some jingle bells in the kitchen, and it was Santa!
9 month old Gracie wasn't so sure at first-
Then she made up her mind-
Santa gave everyone new pajamas. Macy was thrilled that her doll got matching ones too-
This year, Santa was played by McClain. Aaron has played Santa twice, but is now in Thailand, doing missionary work, so we needed a stand in- and McClain was thrilled to have been asked! McClain is not your typical Santa- single, 35, bartender, lives in Bermuda- but he was psyched to do it. In fact before the night was over, he changed his Facebook profile picture to him as Santa with the kids!
McClain is the oldest of Brian's nieces and nephews, and Gracie is the youngest. Amazing how 35 years separates them! I wanted to get a photo of Tate and Macy with their oldest cousin, McClain AND their youngest cousin, Gracie- but time ran out and I didn't get it. So happy we have the Santa photos from Christmas Eve at least!
And then it was Christmas morning.... The beloved stockings that Santa fills-
Tate got a (mini) light saber AND life savers in his stocking!
It was super sweet being with Gracie (and Cathryn and Peter too!) for her first Christmas-
Auntie Barbara, in England, got Macy a wheelchair and crutches for her doll-
And she got Tate this awesome game, Perplexius-
Sara had told me about it, and while he enjoyed it a bit- we adults all messed with that thing for about 3 days straight! It's like the modern day Rubix cube.
I was thrilled to check my email on Christmas Day and find a sweet note Evi in Germany, wishing us a merry Christmas. She is the mother of Tate's buddy Nikalas, from kindergarten. Tate would often go to their house to play, and they even showed up to surprise us at the airport the morning we moved- with mini German and American flags for the kids! It was so thoughtful of them. As was this email... I showed Tate the picture she sent-
and asked if he recognized them. He didn't. I said it was Niklas and Linus and his face lit up! He then said "I didn't know Linus got glasses." I had to laugh at that.
McClain had been reminiscing about how they all used to play a board game called "Escape from Atlantis" when he would come to their house as a kid. He loved this game so much that just a few years ago he'd asked his brother to find it for him for Christmas. He was shocked when Gill announced that their game was still in the attic! So Christmas night, it was game on-
They all had such a good time. It was heartwarming to see 4 grown men have such a good time together over a children's board game!
We had a blast being with this sweet little one-
On the 26th, we went ice skating to the outdoor rink in downtown Knoxville-
back in 2008, Tate had ice skated here! He remembered how to skate well after about 5 minutes. It took Macy about 20 minutes, then she was off on her own and did great-
When in Knoxville, we must hit the university store, right?
We headed home on the 28th, but not before some family photos-
We came home and had our Christmas on Monday the 29th. The first gift Brian opened was this awesome Peyton Manning doll from Kristen-
Tate promptly stole that away from him and sleeps with it every night!
Check out this awesome shirt from Auntie Kristen-
The one gift Macy wanted this year was a Snackeez, which my mom got her. When she didn't get it in Knoxville, she told me Christmas Eve "Well I really wanted a Snackeez, but I am not sad because I like everything else people gave me." OH THAT GIRL! I so wanted to tell her it was under the tree at home, but I didn't.
So imagine her surprise when she finally opened it! The first few pictures came out blurry, because she was jumping up and down!
Tate got one too, and was thrilled as well!
Ambra got Macy something we loved as a kid- fashion plates!
If Tate could play this game all day, every day, he would! Thx Ambra-
We gave Tate a laptop, it was a huge hit- and big surprise!
Look at these sweet bunk beds from my grandmother for Macy-
And there were so many more gifts that I don't have pictures of. My kids are so loved. We had an awesome week at home following Christmas. It was wonderful to be together, no school, no work. We played and organized, relaxed and ate!
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