I'll Be Home For Christmas

I love Christmas!!! I love the cold weather, the smells, the stockings, and most of all the traditions. And our family has annual tradition of kicking off Christmas Eve. It's called Christmas Eve Gifts. It started when my dad was little and he's carried it on and now we do it!! The first person who wakes up on Christmas Eve morning and shouts out "Christmas Eve Gifts" gets to open a special present on Christmas Eve. I finally beat my sister, which is a big deal considering the fact that nobody's ever beaten her!! But we all got to open a little present!!

This is the first year me and Scotty have traveled for Christmas. Neither one of us has ever lived away from family so this was quite an experience for us. It was a quick trip to say the least!! He was on call the whole weekend before Christmas and had to work the day after so we didn't get to head to Jackson until Christmas Eve and had to drive back Christmas night!! It was such a great trip though - even if it was rushed!!!

After we got settled in, my cousin Judy came to see us since she wasn't gonna be at Granny's for Christmas lunch!! We didn't get to visit very long, but I'm so glad we got to see her!!! Love you!

After Judy left my friend Jamie came over!! She was home from Dallas and we had not seen each other since Judy's wedding!!! I've missed her so much and I always love meeting up with her when we're both home!!!

Mamaw came over a little later and brought our gifts to us. We made her open her present from us while she was there!!! We couldn't take the suspense!!!

Dad was playing the guitar in the Christmas Eve service at church so they had to head up there around 4:30. So when they left me and Scotty got ready to go have Christmas at his Mom's house with her side of the family. When we got there she had it decorated so beautifully and had all the tables set - down to place cards!!! So cute!!!

We hovered over our table because we couldn't wait to eat!!

The 4 Stooges!!

Family Portrait!!



I think my most favorite tradition on Scotty's side of the family is The Candy Tray. Mrs. Betty's dad started this when she was little and now she carries it on. He always made sure to have orange slices, Hersey's kisses, chocolate peanuts, cream drops, and ribbon candy. When cream drops are hard to find, they're substituted for M & M's.



We spent the night at Mom & Dad's and Santa came while we were asleep!! We had tons of neat gifts to open on Christmas morning!! Dad built a fire and had the video camera ready!!

Me & Amanda always sleep in matching pajamas and Dad films us coming downstairs. For some reason Scotty didn't wanna match our pj's!!


All 3 of us had letters from Santa to read before we opened our presents!! It was so much fun!!

Mom & Dad always open their presents together!!

My dad has never spent a Christmas Eve away from his mom so Granny always spends the night with us and gets up to watch us open presents. After we're done, the the grown ups get to open theirs!!



Edie waited patiently in her Christmas sweater until it was her turn to tear into the gifts!!

I decided to start a tradition of my own!! Christmas socks. I buy matching Christmas socks for all the girls in the family, give them out on Christmas Eve in their special sock boxes, and we all wear them on Christmas Day!!

Another Family Portrait!!

We left Granny's and went to MawMaw's house. She had a calf she was raising and it was the big hit!! Everybody had their moment with the calf!!

Bryson & Keely fed the calf its bottle and they did such a great job!!

I even took a turn feeding it!!! You're crazy if you think I would do this all the time, but once in my life isn't bad!!! I think Scotty was quite proud!!


After the calf had been well fed we tied it up and moved on to something else. When no one was looking Bryson untied the calf and it got loose. It was quite an ordeal, but Mr. Robert finally got the situation under control!! When we asked Bryson why he untied the calf he said it was because it looked sad and needed to be set free!! His heart was in the right place!!

Scotty and Brad went 4 wheeler riding for some brotherly bonding time!! Those streamers are such a manly look for Brad!!

By the end of the night Edie was zonked out!! She had such a busy holiday she just couldn't hold her eyes open any longer!!! We decided we might better start getting ready to go. We loaded the car, wished everybody a Merry Christmas and headed back home to Tupelo. Edie slept the whole way!!