Christmas at Honey and Pop's

After spending Christmas morning with Blake's family, we went to Mom and Dad's to eat brunch (well, technically it was lunchtime, but we all wanted our tradition brunch food). We enjoyed our yummy bacon, biscuits, grits casserole, and sausage balls. After eating, we opened presents.

Caleb was cracking us up. He sat with Pop in the leather chair and laid down on one of the arms. He would lick the chair and then turn his head, rubbing his face back and forth. It was so funny!

Caleb and me with Chip's precious kids

Caleb opening his presents... He sat in a big pile of tissue paper, boxes, and gift bags. He loved playing with it all.

BRET

EMILY

JAKE

Caleb kept putting the tissue paper up by his head while everyone else was opening their presents.

BLAKE

Baby Noah's Christmas Presents - A Praise Baby DVD from Caleb and his first pair of red Keds from Honey and Pop

Caleb with Honey and Pop

Honey and Pop got Caleb a pair of sunglasses

Caleb in his Christmas outfit

Mommy and Caleb

Christmas Morning at B and Bo-Pop's

We began our Christmas time with Blake's family with a delicious breakfast - sausage balls, breakfast casserole, poppyseed bread, and fruit. Then the kids got to open their presents. Here is Caleb opening his presents from B and Bo-Pop... his first set of toy cars.

Uncle Micah

Caleb opening his book from B and Bo-Pop... Maddie is showing him how to do it

The girls with their matching puppy dog purses

Blake and Caleb

Bo-Pop, B, Blake, and Caleb

Ryan and his girls

As always, Blake's parents were so very good to us. We were blessed with wonderful presents, stocking stuffers, but most importantly wonderful fellowship. We are so thankful to God for such wonderful family!

Christmas Morning at Home

Caleb on Christmas Morning with His Gifts...

a firetruck hat, jacket, shirt, and socks

a book

a block set

and a sports gym

Daddy thought it would be funny to put a candy cane around my ear

Caleb's 3 special gifts from Mommy and Daddy...

1. 3 Praise Baby DVDs

Caleb has watched a Praise Baby Video every day since he was 2 months old - it's his special treat at the end of every day ... we put him in his bouncy seat and he smiles as soon as the music comes on and the title splashes across the screen. He kicks his feet in excitement, and I say "Praise Jesus Baby" then kiss him on the top of his head. We were excited to see how he would respond to watch some new videos with different praise music.

2. a set of flip-up books

Caleb loves these. Maw Maw gave him the one "What does baby say?" He loved it so much that we got him a box set with 4 books... they each focus on a different member of the family - Mommy, Daddy, Grandma, and Grandpa. They are really cute and he is starting to want to flip-up the pages himself.

3. A Lenox giraffe ornament - "Baby's First Christmas"

Caleb playing with his little sports gym... here he is with the bat. Of course, he just likes to bang it into anything that is around. He plays with the football some, but his favorite is the basketball part. There is a scoreboard that lights up on top and makes all kinds of sounds as it shows the score. Caleb can pick up the balls and throw them, but he still needs practice making the goals.

Daddy and Caleb

Mommy and Caleb

Mommy's Turn to Open Presents

Mommy thought it would be fun to throw the tissue high in the air...Silly Mommy!!!

Okay, one of my favorite Christmas decorations and gifts is ORNAMENTS! I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE Christmas ornaments. To me, there is a story and a memory behind each one. So, one of our traditions is to get each other an ornament. Blake has started the tradition of getting me Waterford ornaments, which I love. Here is my ornament for this year... white with red flowers and silver glitter - beautiful!

DVDs... Killers, 27 Dresses, and What Happened in Vegas

One of the things Blake and I like to do together is watch movies... He has recently started watching more romantic comedies with me, especially since RedBox became popular. Hey, if it just cost $1, no biggie if the movie is horrible. It just has to have a happy ending... Blake can't stand sad movies.

Tickets to see Beauty and the Beast at the FOX - awesome gift!


BLAKE'S GIFTS

I got him Avator... a little weird in some spots, but amazing graphics.

a snowboarding Santa

Caleb got him a Titliest golf towel to go with his new....

Titliest Golf Bag from Mommy.

A Snowboarding Daypack with shoes (which we exchanged for a better pair), snowboard dvds, trailmix, protein bars, and blistex - everything Blake needs for his Utah Snowboarding Trip in February with Micah.

After having our family time of opening gifts, we finished getting ready and headed to B and Bo-Pops for breakfast...

Christmas Eve Night

Caleb's First Christmas Eve

Since I can remember, we have always celebrated Christmas Eve at my Maw Maw and Paw Paw's house. This was a special year since it was Caleb's First Christmas. Here he is in front of their Christmas tree.

Caleb with his cousins - Clara and Sadie

OUR FAMILY

While this was a special Christmas because it was our first Christmas with Caleb, it was also a very challenging time since it was our first Christmas without my brother Chip. To honor him and his memory, before eating our dinner, we had a share time. Paw Paw shared some of his favorite memories of Chip, as well as my Uncle Earl, and then Mom concluded our share time with reading a poem called "My First Christmas in Heaven." With tears, we listened to the words explaining that we have no reason to be sad because Chip is spending his first Christmas with Jesus. As a family and as believers in Christ, we are abundantly thankful that we know that because of Chip's faith and belief in Christ, he is with Him now in Heaven. Oh how thankful we are to have the promise of eternal life after we leave this earthly place. After Mom read the poem, she lit this candle in Chip's memory.

Uncle Drew playing the piano with Caleb

Caleb wanting to play with Baby Noah already

Caleb with his Aunt Dolores and Cousin Weslie

OPENING GIFTS

Caleb's First Piano from Maw Maw and Paw Paw

Some balls to play with....

And of course, Caleb loved to play with the gift bags and tissue paper.