So long 2023!!

We are loving our time at Sunset Beach, NC.  How cool that I got to watch the sunset in Sunset on December 31, 2023!!  It was gorgeous!!  And when I turned around, a saw a beautiful horizon for what's to come!  I'm thankful for a great year.  I'm thankful for a healthy family!  I'm thankful for the ability to enjoy all that the Lord has given me!  So long 2023, thanks for the memories!!

 

Sweet Friends

 Maggie is so incredible blessed with the sweetest neighborhood friends!!  Today they each brought a few things from their house to create a picnic lunch, something they've done a few times in the recent months...so fun to share life with neighbors!! 

Christmas Socks!

As a kid, our neighbors Mrs. Rachel and Mr. Tom, who didn't have much by the world's standards, use to give my momma $2 per person to buy us new socks for Christmas. EVERY YEAR!  We always knew what we were getting but we looked forward to it none the less!  This was my most favorite gift this Christmas!!!  

Merry Christmas!!

This Christmas has felt a little strange.  It was packed with family gatherings which I missed...however, it was a great day at home.  We weren't rushed to get out the door to go anywhere.  The girls slept until 6:50.  Then the fun really began.

The girls were excited to sleep in Caroline's big bed...definitely a step up from sharing a twin bed on Christmas Eve!

I took these pictures after the girls went to bed last night.  The house was quiet, the stockings were hung and the presents wrapped...now just the anticipation for Christmas morning.

Santa came!!!

The girls stand in the doorway of the den waiting to see what Santa brought.  We started this when Maggie was very young.  I love that they automatically pause and wait for me to take the picture.

Something caught Caroline's attention!

Maggie was so excited that she finally received her Stanley!

Slowly examining each gift.

Our matching Camping Christmas PJ's!! 

Caroline's favorite Christmas gift!  It's like the ones they use at school for practice and games...

My view from the couch!  What a blessing to not only have my family healthy and all in one room, Andy and I are blessed to provide Christmas for them!!

Over the past 15 years, I have tried several different prepare ahead Christmas breakfast options.  However, a few years ago I made monkey bread and it is now the official Christmas morning breakfast!!  It's a family favorite but I only make it on Christmas, which makes it a little more special.  The girls help me on Christmas Eve prepare it so that all I have to do Christmas morning is pull it out of the oven.

We do Santa and stockings before breakfast.  After breakfast, we open gifts from each other.

Maggie was so excited to get her very own Nike's!

Caroline was excited for her waterproof speaker!

This was so funny!  A family at school gave me a Shampoo/Conditioner set for color treated hair.  I wrapped Caroline's items from Ulta in it.  She was carefully reading the info on the box. She never said anything but you could tell she was trying to figure out what she was receiving this.  She was thrilled to find her Ulta cosmetic items instead!

She asked for a blanket for Christmas.  I had this one made!  She loved it!!!

The mess of Christmas morning...just like our lives.  So messy yet God sent his son Jesus to help us navigate this messy world!  What a gift!!  Thank you Lord!

Andy's favorite gift this Christmas!  I had a former school parent paint a picture of his sweet Sophie.  She did SO good!

And this is what pretty much the rest of our day looked like...sitting on the couch playing the Nintendo Switch, drinking from Stanley's and chilling!!

Granny and Mr. Archie stopped by on their way home from visiting Mr. Archie's daughter.  The girls were so excited to show them all they got for Christmas!!

Christmas afternoon was a drizzly rainy afternoon.  Caroline and I took the dogs for a walk.  Sophie's poop bag came in handy when she hadn't used it and the rain started falling pretty hard. Caroline thought I was a nut...I think she was just jealous that Charlie had already used his bag and she couldn't use it!!

 This may have been one of our very best Christmas'.  While we missed being with family on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, sweet memories were made.  The girls were super excited about their gifts, as were Andy and I.  After 20 years of marriage and 15 years of parenting, we are finally figuring out the best way for our family to navigate this special day to keep everyone happy!!

Christmas Eve

 This Christmas Eve felt really strange.  We were home with no Christmas celebrations...We went to church this morning and then again this evening.  After church we took a nap, cleaned a little and then went back to church.  Maggie sang in the Children's Choir and they did so great.  Afterwards, we decided to find somewhere open for dinner...we landed on Taco Bell.  (not too many options on Christmas Eve)  It was fun as it was only Caroline's second time there and Maggie's first. :-)  Here's to making memories with our girls!

Cookies with Grace

Last year we invited Grace to decorate cookies with us and we had a wonderful time.  This year, we decided to decorate at her house because they have more ovens and more space.  In between cutting, baking and decorating cookies, we made some other treats with Aunt Tomi Jean and played games.  It was so good to have Jack and Grace home and to spend time with them...what a gift this Christmas!

 

Christmas with my family

Christmas with my family was a blast!!  We ate yummy appetizers and then opened gifts from Granny.  After that we participated in our 2nd annual white elephant gift exchange.  We had lots of laughs, a few folks stole presents from others and most everyone went home pretty happy with their gifts!  I'm always thankful for time with my family!  It's such a gift!!

 

Park Day

 Caroline has been babysitting this week.  She gets a two hour lunch break from 12-2.  It doesn't always make sense for her to come all the way home, since it's on the other side of town, so we've been trying to come up with things to do while on that side of town.  We went to Sam's and grabbed pizza, thanks to Granny.  We finished all our errands and had time to spare so we found a park in the neighborhood.  It did my heart so GOOD to hear them playing and laughing.  I laid on a swing and just stared at the sky...it was so relaxing and exactly what we all needed!

A new location for Lights

We found a new location for Christmas Lights!  It's phenomenal!!!  I think we could drive through several times and still see something new. Not sure how we never heard about this before but I don't think we will miss a visit in the future.