Christmas 2009

We have had a very busy last few weeks packed with family and friends. I am a slacker and didn't take many pictures but here is

what I had.

Here is Ashton in one of his Christmas Eve PJ tops. He wouldn't take the dang thing off.

We spent Christmas Eve in the Holler. Mamaw and Papaw had the entire family at there house. We felt very blessed to be able to spend this special evening with them, and with Jim and Shelby Ford. We were asked to bring socks for each of the kids because Papaw had a story that he wanted to share with the kids. As he sat all the kids down on the floor Papaw (one of the greatest story tellers ever) began telling the kids about his how he would celebrate Christmas as a child. They would wake up to find fruit stuffed in a sock. One year on of his brothers received a banana, they had never tried a banana before so after his brother was done eating his banana he wanted to get a little bit of what it tasted like and tried eating the peel. His first experience of banana was not so great. After he told this story he had the kids turn around under the Christmas and see socks for each one of them stuffed with fruit. As basic as the story is right now, it was a very special experience for me to be able to hear of the humble life of Papaw when he was a child. He is one of the kindest people I have ever met, and someone very special to our family.

Christmas eve was a blast! After the kids did their thing they went off and played and the adults played Greedy Christmas. (As I know it WHITE ELEPHANT) We has a great time and were ready to get the kids home so Santa could come and visit them.

Christmas morning was fun! I love Christmas with little kids. The magic is alive again for both me and Austin, I think we have more fun then they do. After we opened presents we headed down to Morristown. There is where the Whitings live, we spent all of Christmas Day with them, where we ate and ate and ate, and played Rock Band. Seeing as how we were not able to spend Christmas with our families, we spent it with the next best thing. Some of our very best friends in the world. We love you Whitings!!! Here are a few pictures of the kids and Austin on Christmas morning.

On December 17 my Dad was in Lexington KY, on business. He was planning on driving down to stay with us for one night and then take off on Friday morning. Well when my Mom told him I would be speaking on Christmas Sunday at church, he rearranged his flight schedule and stayed the entire weekend until the next Monday. Words can not express how much I love my Dad, and how much he means to me. I will never be able to tell him and my Mom thank you enough, or tell them how much I love them. My Dad is one of my greatest Heros and I felt so blessed to have him here with us so close to Christmas. I had many special experiences with him, that I will always cherish. What topped his visit off was the arrival on Saturday afternoon of my sister Amie and her family. They were planning on coming Monday, and then when they found out that my Dad would be in town they did a little switcharoo to accommodate my request. So for 2 days we were all together with GRANDPA! And boy did those kids have fun.

On one of the occasions Grandpa was wrestling with Payton and Jaxon and Ashton(before the cousins came) he was sweating so bad that he finally had to rest for a minute. As he laid down on his back to take a breather Payton ran over to the drawer pulled out a rag and started wiping all of the sweat from Grandpas head. She then decided to do his hair, she went and got one of her princess combs and combed his hair till it was dry. Jaxon soon took over the wiping of the sweat and leaned down to Grandpa and said "Gampa...you my best fwiend."

All of the cousins had a blast together, it was sleepover mania. They all complained though about Payton snoring!!!!

After the kids went to bed... we played games all night long, and we even got Amie and Travis rocking out to ROCK BAND!!!!!

On 2 separate occasions it snowed, and on those 2 sperate occasions our power went out! One night while it was just my dad here, and another while Amie and Travis were here. Thank goodness Travis booked the EXECUTIVE SUITE at Holiday Inn Express. It fit the 10 of us quite comfortably. We had so much fun with them and it was the perfect way to start our Christmas week. We love both of our families and have been overwhelmed by the love and support that has been shown to us this year. We thank you all!!!!