Christmas Eve 2015

Christmas Eve came and the weather was out of this world!!! Beautiful sunshine and 75 degree weather! It was definitely a Christmas Eve to remember. 

This was the first Christmas celebrated in my parent's (new to them) house. My grandparents house and property will always hold a special place in my heart and I am so so glad it is still in the family. They would be so proud of all the work that was put into it!

We arrived around 9:00 or so to a big breakfast. Christopher, Brandy and Hunter would be making their way to TN the day after Christmas so on Christmas Eve day, it was just us. After we ate, we let the kids open presents and then we ventured outside. From their deck, you could hear the waterfall coming off the mountain. It was so loud and clear, I really don't think the weather could have been any more perfect. 

We intended to make it a short hike to the waterfall, but I believe close to 3 hours later we made it back to the house-ha!

I'm not sure you can have a better view than this from your porch!

I love my boys!!

My favorite family picture to date! 

;)

Can you see it? 

After climbing as high as my mom and I felt like going, Adam, my dad and Adalyn wanted to go to the very top of the mountain. We were almost there but we were wiped out (ha!) and said we would hang around and wait on them. What seemed like a sweet forever, (seriously maybe an hour went by) we still saw no sign of them coming back down to where we were. Inside I was getting a little worried and then I almost had my mom in agreement that we can leave and they will come back whenever they are finished. We had 1 water bottle that I left on a rock and spelled out "LEFT" with sticks, so they wouldn't think we came looking for them but that we went back to the house. 

I knew for sure they would see the water bottle and pick it up, otherwise I would have never left it!

We starting climbing (and sliding) down when my mom said we should probably stay and hang out a little longer instead of leaving them. So we waited, we finally saw them, and my dad picked up the water bottle but didn't even notice my "message", hahahaha. 

One single bloom on December 24!! Crazy. The weather was beyond perfect that day. We all worked up a sweat from our hike and the cool water from the falls felt SO refreshing. The kids had a ball and stayed right along with us! You don't realize just how steep your hike is until you're in the middle of doing it. We all had so much fun and I'm glad I brought my camera along with me to document this beautiful Christmas Eve hike we had! 

Once we finally made it back to the house, we had just enough time to shower and get ready for our Christmas Eve Service at church. Like I mentioned, our hike turned into about a 3 hour outing so we didn't get our afternoon nap in- ha! 

haha I love little boys in superhero underwear! 

After Church, we headed home to get ready for Santa! We ate supper, watched Christmas shows, and baked cookies. We also set out straw for the reindeer and fed them "reindeer food" (courtesy of Co-Op- my kids have a ball every year going there and picking up reindeer food!)

I can't believe I didn't take a picture of our cookies but we baked chocolate chip cookies for Santa and the kids also suggested we leave string cheese and a cutie (orange) for him. All week leading up to Christmas, they also said he needed a Coca-Cola and Adam and I couldn't agree more!! ;)

And of course, the coke can had a picture of the big guy himself on it and they loved that. 

Kids went to bed and we went to work! 

This view right here was my favorite all season long. The way Christmas lights can make your home feel so cozy at night is my favorite! Every single night after supper and baths, we would all congregate to the living room to color, play, and watch Christmas movies like Home Alone or The Polar Express. We made sure that every night we watched something Christmas-y on Disney Jr. or parts of a movie we had. I love love love Christmas shows and movies and my kids do, too! 

Also, remember our fireplace project? This was my first year to have a mantle to decorate with and to hang our stockings from. The stockings had already been taken down for Santa's arrival but I so enjoyed a mantle this year.

This is the only picture I took Christmas morning! 

Notice the time on the clock? Landon is our early riser. For whatever reason, Adam and I woke up around the same time and decided to sit in the living room and wait on him to wake up.(we knew it wouldn't be Adalyn who woke up first- that girl likes to sleep in!) 

We figured Landon would make a pit stop to see all of his goodies and forget to wake everyone else up. So once he was up, we woke up Adalyn, too.

This was the only picture of took of them see their toys for the first time. I put the camera down and enjoyed soaking in their excitement and playing with them before we needed to get dressed and ready for our day.