Christmas in Review...

Naylor in his new overalls - too cute!

Checking out what Santa brought!

Christmas Eve at Ma Ma and Pa Pa's

What a wonderful Christmas we had this year! The best part was that we were able to spend some great time with ALL of our family - that was the best gift of all.

After the Higgins' headed down to Columbia, Gwen flew in (slightly delayed due to huge snow) for a nice visit. We have had the most fun doing a whole bunch of nothing other than playing cards, watching movies and most importantly... EATING! Glad I have all of these stretchy maternity pants and the excuse of being pregnant to "get away" with all the eating I've done.

Christmas Eve we headed down to Ma Ma and Pa Pa Naylor's for our traditional dinner and gifts - we've done this since Christie and I were little girls and it's fun to see our kids getting as excited as we did when we were little. Naylor really loves playing with his cousins and Lalon is starting to realize how much fun it can be too, so that's really cute to see them interact with everyone.

By Christmas morning, back at our house to see what Santa brought, the kids were really getting the hang of opening presents... even if they didn't completely get the Santa concept or the part that this is a once-a-year deal! After nibbling on sausage balls and ham biscuits and playing with all of our toys, the kids went down for a nap and we all watched a movie. Afterwards, we headed down to Annie & Pa's to have Christmas with them and our tradition of ham biscuits and oyster stew. Needless to say, we were certainly spoiled this year with lots of great gifts.

In the middle of the night, we got some snow (as did the entire Eastern Seaboard) and woke up to a beautiful winter wonderland! The last time it snowed on Christmas (at least in Clinton, NC) was 1989 - the year Santa brought me and Christie a horse for Christmas named Lady! The final measurements for our area were in the 8 - 11" range - WOW!

The boy's annual pheasant hunt was cancelled due to all of the snow, but we hung around Annie & Pa's to have some fun and not risk heading home on messy roads. Lalon didn't make it out, but Brian and Naylor went exploring and I think Naylor had a really fun time. His favorite part was when Brian put some snow in a cup and Naylor just ate it - a real life snow cone!

We are so grateful for all of the time we got to spend with our family - it truly was the best part of my Christmas this year! Looking forward to next year when we have one more little one adding to the fun, yet chaotic, mix.

Here are a few pics to highlight, but the full realm of documentation is on Facebook broken down by event...