Merry Christmas!!!

It's finally here!! Christmas morning is always such a fun time, and this year, the kids were up at 7 am ready to start the day! They were so excited about Santa coming but they couldn't stand the fact that there were still presents that were unopened under the tree!! We made them play with their santa toys for a while until they just couldn't stand it anymore! 

Here they are with there Santa gifts. Kendall got some airpods, boots, lots of fun makeup items. Sam got a nerf gun with target game, a baseball pitcher set, and a new mat for the trampoline. Kat got a furr real pet, an adopt a puppy, and some other fun toys!

Here is Kat with her toy! She loved it!

Here are the kids posing with the much anticipated gifts from mom and dad. These gifts have been the talk of the house and they couldn't wait to open them!!!

The boxes led to helmets...

and the helmets led to Go carts, mopeds, and electric bikes!!!! The were so excited! It was literally 30 degrees and we stayed out all day long enjoying these awesome toys. They were thrilled and it has led us to hours of entertainment each day!

On the Saturday after Christmas, Uncle Mark and his crew came to Tupelo to hang out for the day. This year, Mimi was recovering from Covid (thankful for the recovery), so we attempted to postpone our normal family Christmas. So the Stovall cousins came to our house to have some fun and good family time. We were excited to spend some time with them! They played outside all day riding the toys and we were so thankful the weather was warm and sunny!! 

The Sunday after Christmas we decided that we WOULD have family Christmas. We just couldn't stand the thought of postponing it any longer. We needed that time with our whole family. So we got together at Mimi's house for a big Italian Christmas with ravioli and spaghetti. We had such a great time and we were so thankful to finally get our arms around Mimi since it had been weeks since we had gotten to see her. We are thankful for her recovery over the Covid virus!! The kids had a fun time playing (again, the weather was fabulous)! The adults played dirty santa and that always gets interesting! Again, we are just so thankful for time and memories made with our family! We were sad we didn't get to see Taylor and Carson for Christmas but we did get to spend a little time with Aunt Scott before we went home! I think it's safe to say this has been one of our most cherished Christmas holidays!

Kendall painted this picture especially for Mimi!

Look at all these crazy kids loving scratching off their lottery cards!! No one was the big winner! Bummer!

Loving all these people!!

 

Hooray for Christmas Eve!

It's finally here!!! Christmas Eve is always a much anticipated event at our house. We always look forward to this day for several reasons... first, we anticipate the birth of our Lord and Savior, signifying the real reason we celebrate Christmas!! Secondly, we always let the kids open a gift on Christmas Eve. They always know it will be pajamas, but they look forward to seeing their new pj's each year. And then our last favorite Christmas Eve activity is our big "FRAMILY" celebration with the Brands, the Beavers, and the Kahlstorfs! We get together each year for dinner, singing the 12 days of Christmas, the reenactment of the Christmas story, and just a fun celebration with our amazing friends! We are so thankful for their friendships over the last 15 years!! I can't imagine doing life with anyone else!

 

It's Christmas Time!!!

We were so excited for the upcoming Christmas season!!! We actually decorated the house 2 weeks before Thanksgiving!! The beauty of the lights, the ribbon, the decoration just adds so much joy! And during this time of year, we are thankful for some added JOY in the world!

We did create some lasting memories this year with Gingerbread house decorating and making and decorating cookies! We had to create our own fun since Covid has basically shut down the world! Here is a few pictures from our cookie decorating!

Every year, we get to go to dinner and celebrate Catherine's birthday, and this year, we got all dressed up to go have dinner at the Grill House here in Tupelo. We had a great night with all of our friends, and it was a much needed date night for us! Happy 40th to Catherine!!

We were so thankful to get to celebrate the Christmas Eve service at our church on Dec. 23! We got dressed, went to church for the candlelight service, had dinner at Lost Pizza, then rode around town to look at Christmas lights. It was a fun night of making memories with our family! Again, this Christmas season is a special one as we cherish all the time we get to spend with our families. There are so many people hurting in the world with the loss of loved ones, so we are thankful for the each and every day with our crew!

 

Happy Thanksgiving!!

We celebrated Thanksgiving at Mark and Jessica's again this year. We always have such a great time with our family! We ate good, had lots of laughs, and even finished the day up with some play time at the park. Thankfully, the weather was beautiful and the kids got to run off lots of energy in the sunshine! This year has been such a different year due to Covid. We are just so thankful for time with our family and we cherish every moment we have together!

 

Wedding Day Fun!!

Jon Mark and Sally got married on November 21, 2020. We were all so excited to be able to go and celebrate with everyone. It's fun to get the whole family dressed up and off to enjoy a night of family, food, and dancing! We had a blast, and Kathryn danced her little feet off the whole night! She danced so hard that she ripped all the lace off the front of her dress... Oh well, she was cute anyway! We are so happy to welcome Sally to the family!