A Davis Family Christmas

Hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!! I know we did and we've got the pictures to prove it!! I'm just gonna start out by saying, "Yes, there are LOTS of pictures on this post!!!" So just get ready!! This is our favorite time of the year so we got a little camera happy, but I wouldn't have it any other way!! This year we decorated the week before Thanksgiving so our festivities got kicked off a little early, but I think I'll do it this way from now on!! You just get to enjoy it more!! So... without further adu, here's a glimpse into our holiday season!!

I'll start out by showing you some of our Christmas decor!! Every year we try to get some kind of new decoration to add to our collection. This year it was our stockings and tree skirt!!!

This little guy welcomes you as you come inside!! HO!HO!HO!

I usually decorate the house by myself and save the tree to do as a family. Once I got it all done it was time to bring in my reinforcements (Scotty & Tanner!!). We always make a night out of it and have some very special memories at the end!! Tanner got to put the first ornament on the tree!! It's the ornament from Gatlinburg we got him for his very first Christmas!! P.S. - Notice the tree skirt!!

After the tree was all decorated we made Christmas cookies and watched some Christmas shows on t.v.!! We also read our newest Christmas book, Rudolph!!

I think the cookies were a success!! That little face says it all!!

When we went to Jackson for Thanksgiving we took Tanner to Bass Pro Shop to see Santa. This is beginning to be a tradition for us!! But before we went to see the Big Guy, we had to make a stop at the fish tank!!

Santa was taking a "CoCo Break" when we got there so we had to wait a little while!!

I think Tanner could've waited forever!! He was NOT excited about Santa!! He's done so good with this kind of stuff in the past!! He's done great with the Easter Bunny, Chuck E. Cheese, the Chic-fil-A Cow, and last year he loved Santa!! But not this year!! I guess the separation anxiety has set in!!

So guess what!! I got to sit on Santa's lap too!!

After such a traumatic experience Tanner wanted to play with these little cubs!! Imagine that!!

Tanner loves being under the Christmas tree!! As long as it doesn't come tumbling down I think it's really cute!!

When all the stores started putting out their Christmas stuff I would always take Tanner by and let him touch so he'd be used to all the fragile stuff by the time we decorated our house. I'd tell him, "Only touch with one finger!!" And we practiced that in every store we went to!! It was the best idea I ever had because that's all he wanted to do and he was so gentle with our decorations at home!!

On December 1, we went to the Holiday Tree Festival at the Tupelo Country Club. My mom and Granny came up from Jackson to keep Tanner while we had some adult time!! Our neighbors, Nichole & Jonathan, went with us and we had such a great time getting into the holiday spirit!!

Here's Tanner & Edie by the tree!! Edie was not happy about her outfit!!

On December 5, we went to the Tupelo Christmas Parade downtown. On the way, we stopped at Chic-fil-A for breakfast to go!! It was soooo yummy!! We got there early and set up "camp" right off Main Street!! We were freezing!!! We wanted a picture of all of us, but it was too cold to even ask a stranger to un-bundle to take one for us so Scotty just got one of me and Tanner!! Just imagine him in that chair next to me!!

There are a lot of tacky Christmas decorations out there, but the kids love them!!! So I'm just gonna go ahead and tell you that I know this is tacky!! But I say, if you're gonna do, just don't let anybody see!!! So this Santa toilet seat cover was in our hall bathroom just outside of Tanner's room. I put a tree in there and a tacky hand towel....just to do it up right!!! It was all for him!!
He gave "Santa" kisses almost every day!!

I forgot to show you a picture of the finished tree earlier so Tah Dah!!! Here it is!!

When we went to Jackson for the holidays, Scotty's MawMaw's house was our first stop on Christmas Eve!! Adam, how did MawMaw know that Miley Cyrus is your hero?(snicker, snicker!!)

MawMaw & Paul's first Christmas as a married couple!!

After that we went to my parent's house to eat some more and watch a movie!! Here's my cute little Granny!! Every Christmas Eve she spends the night at their house!!

Every year I get all the girls in our family matching Christmas socks to wear on Christmas day!! I'm not really sure why I started doing this, but it's a fun tradition to have!! Here's Mom & Amanda opening theirs!! (And I use the same sock boxes every year!! They hafta give 'em back!!)

We always had a tradition growing up called Christmas Eve Gifts. Whoever was the first one to wake up on Christmas Eve morning and scream out "Christmas Eve Gifts!!!!" got a present!! Amanda thinks if you say it at 12:00:01 on December 24th, it counts!! But somehow we both always end up getting a gift!!

This Christmas we spent the night with Scotty's family so Tanner could see how they did it growing up. Here's all the kids waiting at the the top of the stairs Christmas morning to see what Santa brought!!

Tanner, Bryson, Miller, Keely & Peyton

Once the parents said it was ok for the kids to come downstairs it was like a herd of elephants!! Except for Bryson. He stayed at the top with Tanner and patiently helped him down to the very last step!! It really was one of the sweetest things I've ever seen Bryson do!! Thank you, Bryson, for always watching out for Tanner!!

Here's Tanner opening his gifts from Santa on Christmas morning!! If you could see the video of this, he's shaking with excitement over Barney!!!

And he's ready for more folks!!

There's nothing quite like being with your family on Christmas morning!!

Tanner loves Uncle Todd!! I'm pretty sure the feeling's mutual!!

See, Tanner, these presents really are from Santa!!!!

Adam, Scotty, Betty Sue, Brad & Todd

After we opened gifts from Santa we had a Christmas brunch!! It was soooo yummy!! Look at Tanner's cute little Santa cup!!

Mimi & PopPop with the whole bunch!!

Scotty, Tanner & Granny

I just had to add this picture!! It's like Tanner's contemplating getting into trouble!! Will anybody notice if I sneak over there?

We went to my Granny's house for Christmas lunch!! And here's Tanner with some more cousins - Danae & Dawson!!

Usually I hand out the gifts every year at Granny's. But, this year I decided to pass the role of Santa onto Danae!! Sad to say it, but it's getting a little hard to manuver around on the floor!!

Tanner was getting the hang of tearing open the gifts!! He would tear off the smallest pieces... he was so gentle with them I wanted to be like, "This is one thing you can touch with more than one finger!!!" But it was really cute!!

Cute little Christmas Hubs!!

My cousin, Vicki, was home from North Carolina and she brought her great dane with her!! He was pretty much a shetland pony!!! But was Tanner afraid of this monsterous dog? What kind of question is that?!?!

The day after Christmas was spent at Mom & Dad's exchanging presents with them!! Tanner had been opening so many gifts lately that he could wait to tear into these!!! He kept walking by and eyeing them!!

He finally just sat on them to make his point!!

How can you deny a kid at Christmas? So we started exchanging!! He got to go first, of course!! And this present was a little bigger than what he'd been used to opening, but trust me...he had it all under control!!

It was a rocking chair from Cracker Barrel. The reason this gift is so special is because when Tanner was really little, my mom got him hooked on rocking when we would eat at Cracker Barrel. It's kinda their thing. So now every time we go (rain or shine, super hot or frigid temps) we ALWAYS hafta rock!! There's a Cracker Barrel right of the exit to our house and Tanner can see it from the car and every time we pass by he points, smiles, and says "rock!!"

Tanner was under the impression that he was the only one who knew how to open a gift. So after he was done opening his he went around helping everybody else!!

I guess he got worn out so Papaw got to open his all by himself!!

My dad grows a beard every winter and always gets a picture with us right before he shaves it off!!!

Granny, Dad, Mom, Scotty, Amanda, Tanner & Me - and the dogs, of course -

Edie, Tassle & Stud

Tanner & Amanda have matching shoes!! Thanks Sis!!

Later that afternoon Tanner & Aunt Da (aman"Da") had a little finger painting session!!

She helped him make a picture to go on our refrigerator!!

Tanner loves Aunt Da because she's always got something fun to do that's right up his alley!!

An apple for a little snack before we hit the road!!

Once we got home in Tupelo we discovered that Santa had stopped by our house too!! Daddy had to go in and set up the video camera, but Tanner was not happy about waiting!!

Tanner must have been a very good little boy for Santa to leave presents at Mimi & PopPop's AND at our house!!

Tanner's letter from Santa

Daddy reading the letter to Tanner.

Santa left a rocking horse....

a barn....

lots of other neat toys & some candy for stocking stuffers!!!!

We feel so blessed to have had such an awesome Christmas with friends and family and can't wait for more Davis Family Christmases!!