The McCullough Family: Christmas in Tennessee

The kids and I planned to go to Knoxville for Christmas, so with Brian home we kept the plans as they were, and just kept him a secret! Everyone was thrilled to see him, and thankfully no one had a heart attack!

With jet lag still kicking around, Brian actually let me drive on this trip. However, he had just gotten the new iPhone, so I think he wanted me to drive just so he could play with his new toy, the camera especially -

We were less than 10 minutes from his parents and traffic stopped. We could just get a glimpse up ahead of a tree in the road, so Brian got out to see if he could help move it. It was gigantic, and had hit someones car on the way down, so moving it was not an option. But Brian, just 3 days home from war, jumped in and started directing traffic for everyone else to get around-

The day after we arrived was already Christmas Eve! We went to service that morning with the whole family-

Having everyone together was remarkable because they all go to 3 different churches- and Peter even works at one! But when your dad is soon to be 85, his church wins out on Christmas Eve and everyone goes together-

After service we decided to go downtown and take the kids ice skating. But first a little surprise from Brian-

He bought that Buddy the Elf suit when he was deployed, with the intention of lifting moral and serving Christmas dinner to the troops while wearing it. Since that wasn't going to happen now, he thought wearing it downtown would spread some Christmas cheer- and it certainly did!

Macy, who was on the very of being embarrassed by her daddy for the first time, loved ice skating, actually both kids did- and Brian loved capturing some sweet photos of them with his new camera-

And Gracie ice skated for her first time too!

Everyone loved Brian, I mean Buddy the Elf. Even the homeless people's face lit up and they had fun comments to share with Brian. It lifted all our spirits! Look at the lady behind us in the photo checking him out-

He was a celebrity with the kids-

They would eventually all sing Christmas carols together!

And he got such a kick out of photo bombing peoples photos-

And people would eventually ask him to be in their photos too. This little guy ADORED Brian. Upon leaving, his dad asked Brian for a photo-

We needed one too!

While Cathryn and Peter skated with our kids, we snuck away for a glass of wine together. This was the first time we'd really been alone since he'd gotten home. But- with everyone wanting his picture, including someone who was trying to be veryyyyy sneaky, we weren't really alone. Even a mom & dad and their college age kids wanted a family photo with him. Cheers!

And just as we were leaving, who did Brian see? SANTA!

He yelled SANTA so loudly (just like Buddy did in the movie) that it scared poor Santa, who was the host at a restaurant, who just happened to be opening the door for some people who were leaving. It was fabulous, and of course people started jumping in for pictures with them both!

And on the way home- we had errands to run!

Fun fun fun. I think we enjoyed it so much that it will become an annual tradition now to do each Christmas Eve day.

Christmas Eve the family all came over for dinner, and my grandmothers Christmas game, Grabs-

Gracie actually got a good Grab-

Tate not so much with the old Thanksgiving cookie and burger press-

Brian's nephew Josh went Gangster on us with a kitchen towel grab, turned bandana-

George got some hospital socks-

And while Auntie Cathryn was reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas..."

Santa came!

Thanks to nephew Josh, who had to fill in last minute for his dad Gary, one of Brian's older brothers, who was sick.

Santa brought Thor pajamas for Tate and Poop emoji pajamas for Macy-