Christmas In MS

The day after Christmas, once the roads cleared a little, Andrew and I headed south to Grammy and Granddad's house....but not before a little fun in the snow.  Andrew went out with Gracie and Uncle to ride the 4 wheeler in the snow.

 ...and to build a mini snowman.

 When we arrived in MS, it was Christmas all over again!  There were more presents to be opened.

 Alex and Andrew opening their art sets.

 Andrew opening his gumball machine.

 Alex opening his foosball table!

Christmas Day 2010

Christmas Day began for us with a call from Drew!  And after 30 minutes, we finally convinced Andrew to go downstairs to see what Santa had brought.  He apparently was too sleepy to care.  I said, "Andrew guess who came?" Andrew's reply, "Santa."  Me: "Yeah, do you want to go see what he brought you?" Andrew: "NO!" (and pulls the covers over his head)  But he managed to drag himself out of bed and then he got excited.  

 Before checking out his presents, he had to say good morning to Chiquita, who was unusually happy to see him.  (Must be all the Christmas Spirit going around)

 He asked Santa for a race car track that crashes.

 ...and his very own 4 wheeler. 

 We had to take a break from presents to notice that we were right in the middle of a WHITE CHRISTMAS! (The first one since I was a little girl.)

 SNOW

 Uncle got a big surprise in his stocking: Orange Bowl Tickets!

 I got a special surprise in the very bottom of my stocking too.  Drew had been working with my sister and Jefforey to totally surprise me.  (Jefforey emailed me a while back to help him surprise Annah with a ring guard.  The whole time they were punking me!)  I was shocked.

 I think we all cried.

 It was the best Christmas surprise EVER!

 Look how pretty!  I've been wanting one since I saw one on our honeymoon, 6 years ago.

After all the presents were opened, (All except the 8 that Andrew said he'd open later?!) we headed over to Granny Nita and Papa's house for our annual Christmas breakfast.  

 After we ate and opened more presents, we went outside to play in the SNOW!  

 Raegan Jae

Andrew and Raegan had a snowball fight.

 So did Jason and Traci!

 That afternoon/night Jason, Traci, and Raegan came to our house (and stayed) since we were "snowed in."  So we had a slumber party!!  It was fun.  After a nice afternoon nap had by all, there was lots of playing.  Andrew is happy to be the shop keeper.

 Since Paw-Paw got called into work, we had to postpone our "Happy Birthday Jesus" party until that night.  

 Happy Birthday Jesus Party

 Leave it to our cousin(the Bama fan) to show up to our family Christmas wearing an OREGON shirt! So Annah and I had to sport our new "whack the quack"shirts!

Merry Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve began with Annah and I going to Mt. Calvary for Christmas for Christ.  It's the best part of Christmas Eve for me!  I love seeing the children's faces when they get to open presents.  In the family I had, the little girl's name was Gracie.  She was a doll.  When she opened her presents she looked up at me and said, "I need to go tell Santa 'thank you'."  So she ran over to Santa, gave him a big hug, and said, "Thank you Santa" in the sweetest voice you've ever heard.  

After a day of baking, we headed over to my Grandparents' house for our traditional Christmas Eve dinner: boiled shrimp and spaghetti.    Before we opened presents, Andrew had fun playing in Granddaddy's lift chair.

 Then it was on to the presents.

 Christmas PJ's

 Showing off his new socks

 When we got home, it was time to do our own Christmas Eve traditions.  We got in our Christmas PJs and opened our "sissy" gifts.  Annah got me the cutest apron!  It says "Sissy's Sweets."  (FYI: one day when I open my own bakery, that will be the name.)

 Then we took our traditional "Sissy Hug Picture."  This year, you'll notice that we have an extra person in the photo.  Every time we went to take one, he'd run over and squeeze in!

 Andrew got to open one gift from Granna and Paw-Paw too: his store.  He has really been missing his kitchen in Hawaii, so Granna and Paw-Paw got him this....and he LOVES it.  He always "pretends" to play shop with the coffee table, so now he has his very own store!

 ...which can also be turned into a lemonade stand.

 In the past, Granna has always read "The Polar Express" on Christmas Eve, but this year she passed the torch to Aunt Gracie.

 Then Paw-Paw read the Christmas story from Luke.

 We had to make sure that Santa had cookies and milk.  (And a little note from Andrew)

 And then after a 2 am trip to the gas station for some very important batteries, Santa had everything in place and ready for morning!  

Gatlinburg

We just got back from a quick 3 day trip to Gatlinburg, TN.  We left after church on Sunday and made it there around supper time.  Before we ate at the Apple Barn, we drove through Patriot Park.  I was impressed by the Iwo Jima Memorial.  

 After lots of apple fritters, apple julep, and applewood smoked pork tenderloin, we headed up Ski Mt. Rd to our cabin.  Here's the living room.

 Kitchen

 Down stairs to the game room and 3rd bedroom.

Mom and Dad's room 

 My room upstairs.  There was a cute sitting area.

 My room

 Annah and Jefforey's room

 Downstairs living room/game room

 The game room portion of downstairs

 Andrew played his mobigo while we played Family Feud on the Wii.

 It didn't snow while we were there, but there was still a little bit left from the previous snow.  

 On Day 2 of our trip, we went do Dollywood.  I hadn't been there in years!  We used to go a lot when we were growing up and we always LOVED it!  Especially all the lights and Christmas shows.   It was really cold on day 2, so here we are all bundled up.

 Riding the flying elephants

 In Santa's Workshop, there was a huge wall mural that you could color.  It was a lot of fun.  Andrew enjoyed coloring it. (ok, I did too)

 This tree was beautiful!  I feel sorry for the guy who has to wrap it!

 We were really glad to know that our most favorite Christmas show, Christmas In The Smokies, is still showing!  The horse in "Sleigh Ride" is the best part!

On Day 3, we went to a couple of places in downtown Gatlinburg, before heading to Pigeon Forge to go to the Dixie Stampede.  Our first stop of the day was Cooter's Place.  Andrew and Paw-Paw watch the Dukes of Hazard every night, so they were both really excited to make a stop at Cooters.  Here's Andrew looking oh so cool before we walk in.

 Cooter's Place

 Andrew standing with Boss Hog and Roscoe. 

 There was a mini golf course, so of course, we had to play.  Andrew got a hole in one on the very first hole.  Check out the name of hole #6.

 There were also General Lee go carts.  As soon as his turn was over, Andrew said "Let's do it again!"

 He also got to sit in one of the original General Lee cars!

 Then it was off to the Dixie Stampede.  (Another thing I haven't done since I was little!)  We all got boot filled drinks.  Andrew had the "Rebel Yell" (basically a cranberry limeade).  Looks like he likes it.

 The band did this neat trick with toilet paper.  

 Our gang at the Stampede

 Me and the lil man waiting for the show to start.

 Andrew loved the show!  He loved cheering for the horses.  I think our favorite thing was the pig races.  After the show, he got to go down and pet one of the stars of the show.

 After the Dixie Stampede we went up to Ober Gatlinburg to go ice skating.  Andrew has been talking about it for months.  He was real hesitant to get on the ice, but he loved walking around in his skates.  We finally managed to get him on the ice, but the only proof of that is on the video camera.  (maybe I'll upload that some day).  He left Gracie and myself out on the ice to have fun all by ourselves while he went to ride the carousel.    We had fun being silly.

The next morning we were going to revisit Ober and go snow tubing.  However, mother nature had other plans.  It was pouring down rain so we decided to run a few errands in Pigeon Forge before eating lunch at Mama's Farmhouse (YUM).  After a not so quick stop at the buy 1 get 2 free boot store, we headed back to Albertville.  


We had such a great time, that we're going BACK in a few weeks with the whole Barclift family!  Yay!