Christmas in Nashville (Part Two) - Christmas Eve

We got to meet Baby Lilah on Christmas Eve morning!  My cousin Leah came over and spent the morning with us and we loved getting to catch up with her and love on Baby Lilah!

     Me & sweet Lilah

 Bella loved holding her and kissing her!

That night we had a delicious dinner at my mom's.....pasta, meatballs, sausage, breads, the best salad ever....ahhhhh, yumm!  There's nothing I love more than my mom's italian cooking!  But before we ate and got all dirty, we made the kids sit for more pictures! :-)

                  Carter, Bella and Will

                     My mom and my kids

                            Our family!

  My mom and all 4 grandkids......it's impossible to get them to all look at the right camera! :-)

                     Me and 3 sisters and mom

             We literally have to take turns standing on the ends because we all hate it.....so every picture we take together we have to take twice....you think I'm kidding, but I'm not!!!

      Dinner table - I LOVE that my mom's table can seat 18 people!

                Zia and Blake

                   Isabella and Jessies


Then after dinner we started opening presents.  Because Natalie, Nadine and I have inlaws that we celebrate with on Christmas Day we open all the kids gifts from their aunt's and uncles and my mom, then we all have a secret Santa gift  and then we open our gifts from my mom.  

             Bakugans and fishing poles

                About to open Zhu Zhu pet homes

     Lightsabers!

                        Uncle Mark always makes us laugh!

                Polly Pocket!

       Transformer Helmets

    

              My mom thinks its a good idea for some reason to give the son in laws marshmallow guns....are you kidding???

                My sister, Nikki, had a very sweet gift for us all!    Before my dad died he told our Uncle Andrew to tell us girls that the only thing he cared about and wanted from us was to promise to "meet him there" ....in heaven.  The closest translation in Italian was Finche C'Incontreremo  which translates "til we meet again".  Well, Nikki found a jewelrymaker who made us each a necklace with an original design and they all say this phrase.  This is one of the most special gifts I've ever received and I absolutely LOVE it!  

We were almost done opening gifts and somebody looked out the window and it had starting snowing!! My mom and the kids ran outside in the freezing cold to catch snowflakes on their tongues! :-)

Finally, we put our cookies out for Santa and got the kids in bed.......ready to celebrate more the next morning!

Christmas in Nashville (Part One) - Polar Express Night

We have a LOT of family....so this post will have a LOT of parts!  A tradition that was started years ago in my family was Polar Express Night.  Basically everyone gets a "ticket" inviting them to ride the Polar Express train.  We all wear our pajamas, have an easy dinner at my mom's (easy is a relative term....anytime you have dinner for 18+ people....there's not a LOT that is easy about it) then we watch Polar Express together!  When my dad was alive he was the conductor....complete with a conductor's hat and reading glasses and all!  We would get in line and he'd punch our tickets and then we pile up in the family room and watch the movie.  Then during the Hot Chocolate scene he would serve us all hot chocolate (complete with homemade marshmallows thanks to my sister, Nadine!)  and then someone would get the 1st gift of Christmas at the end.....a bell from "Santa's sleigh" (i.e. Target , Dollar Tree or wherever my mom could find a bell)!  Although we don't have a conductor anymore and we get our own hot chocolate, it's still always one of my favorite nights at Christmas time!  There's something comforting about this tradition of ours.....maybe the fact that we know my dad would LOVE that we are still doing it!

                                      Carter and Kiki

                                Dani, Nadine  & Denise in front and Bella, Blake, Zia and Nick in the back

                            Lolli and Carter smiling!       Kiki is tired of me taking pictures!!

                             

                  Playing with Pop Pop's train set!

 Then Lolli broke out the karoake!!  Yay!!

                    And of course, Zia had to have her turn!

 

 Bella just wanted to show off her nails!  Kiki had taken her to get a pedicure and maincure that morning!

   The boys had their first sleepover with cousin Blake that night!  Here they are leaving to go to his house!

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!

I LOVE Christmas!  I love the lights, the decorations, the Christmas programs, the constant Christmas songs on the radio, the shopping crowds, family dinners....I love it all!  I always have, but somehow I love it even more now that my kids have gotten old enough to understand it and I can see and experience it all thru their eyes.  There's nothing like it!  We got our tree out and decorated it the day after Thanksgiving and they could actually put ornaments on it this year by themselves.....although I had to "redecorate" some when they weren't looking.  I mean, I can't have 14 candy cane ornaments on the same branch, can I?!?! :-)

It turned out pretty good, although I missed my mom being able to come over and put the ribbon on for me....I'm not nearly as good at decorating as she is......but it seemed a bit extreme to fly her here to put on ribbon! ;-)  

The boys were in a Christmas program at there school and did such a great job!  They sang and did the motions and weren't super shy at all!  Although I think it helped that we bribed them with M&M's! :-)

          After their program!!!  So proud of my boys!

We got to take the kids to Merry Main Street for the first time!  This is an annual event in Frisco and they have Santa and reindeer and carolers from Singing groups and area schools singing, vendors selling products, delicious food, beautiful Christmas lights , an arts and crafts tent for kids and fire trucks, police cars, etc....for the kids to enjoy!  We went with Aubrey and Jen and their boys and ran into a bunch of other friends from church while we were there!

  Here are the boys on an antique fire truck! (I have no idea who the other kid is! :-)

                     Bella and Grady

       Us and the McGowan Family!

     Seeing the reindeer!!

          We ran into the Lunsford girls, too!  Always fun!

         They had an ice skating rink that had been built for this event and the kids stood and watched the ice skaters forever!  There was a large crowd so the boys had to be up high to be able to see....thank goodness Mark likes our kids enough to stand in the freezing cold holding one of them for us!  My mommy shoulders couldn't have done that! :-)


We also took the kids to a student performance of The Grinch on Ice at the Dr. Pepper arena!  They loved getting to see the costumes and watch the skaters!

                           One of Bella's best buddies, Melia, got to go with us!

                   Bella and Melia!                      

                                     Will, Carter and Bella

                                      I feel like they look so grown up in this picture!!

    Unfortunately, we had so much fun going on in December.....I never got around to sending out Christmas cards! :(     I'm so bad at that, but next year is the year it will happen.....definitely next year!! :-)  

Catching Up!!

Okay, okay....my sister is bugging me to update my blog.  I really thought I'd be better at keeping it updated but once I skip one event or special day I want to blog about, then I just keep putting it off and putting it off.....then all of a sudden I look up and it's February...WHAT!   Where did January even go?!?!?!  So since we are home from school today because of ice and snow and just being lazy in our pjs....today is the day I catch up!!!