Christmas 2011

This has been such a fun, hectic Christmas season!  We celebrated in so many different ways and had fun continuing our traditions and starting some new ones.  I originally wanted to break this up into different posts but one long one chock full of pictures will have to do.  Here is a look at some of the fun we had this past month.

Mom, Ava, and I went to my grandparent's house one night when Kevin was out of town and helped them put up their Christmas tree and decorate for Christmas.  

Mom, Ava, and Nonie are proud of their hard work!

We took Allie to walk with the other MAGRR (Memphis Area Golden Retriever Rescue) dogs in the Germantown Parade.  She wore a fancy red and white velour collar with jingle bells and had her picture taken and was petted by literally hundreds of people.  Kevin walked Allie and I pulled Ava in her wagon and we all had a blast participating.

Ava performed in her first school Christmas program.  She did an awesome job singing about the story of Jesus' birth.

Here is Ava with her Nana and Papaw Tom and her cousins, Leah and Mallory, after the program.  She was so excited that her family came to see her show!

She also had a Christmas party at school.  

We went and visited Santa so that Ava could tell him that she really wanted him to bring her the American Girl twin baby dolls.

Ava, my mom, my mother-in-law, and I bundled up and went to Zoo lights.

We made Christmas crafts like these snowflakes that Kevin and I cut out (mainly Kevin--he's the artistic one) and Ava glittered.

Each morning, we had fun discovering what our silly elf, Ferrell, had been up to during the night.  Here's that crazy elf zip-lining from our ceiling fan to our Christmas tree!

On Christmas Eve, we enjoyed lunch with my dad's side of the family.  Then, we went home and put out our reindeer food.  Kevin and I were laughing at Ava because as we were walking outside we were telling her to make sure to spread it around the yard.  Before we could even get done telling her, she had just opened the bag, turned it over, dumped it out in one spot, and said "There!  Done!"  Then she was concerned about the reindeer in the back toward the sleigh not getting any of the food.  Kevin explained that Santa's reindeer are very good about sharing.

We had dinner on Christmas Eve and opened gifts with Kevin's family which is always so fun.  Ava got one of her favorite presents then--a GoGo My Walking Pup.  Then it was time to come home, put out milk and cookies for Santa, and let Ava open her Christmas Eve gift (it's always Christmas pajamas).  This year, it was Snoopy PJ's!

Christmas morning, my parents came over and we all opened our gifts.  Santa came through for Ava and brought her the American Girl twins along with a cute little wagon for them!

Here are pictures of some of our favorite gifts:

Ava ended up with 7 different Barbie sets!

Excited about her Easy Bake Oven...

and her Wii and video games.

She got games for us to play on our Family Game Nights...

and some bling!

I scored a Silhouette Cameo for some major crafting fun

A Jo Totes camera bag

I mean, how cute and functional is this bag?!  Love it!  Room for my camera, lenses, cables and batteries, and then my keys, cell phone, wallet, etc.  Gone are the days of carrying that ugly, bulky camera bag AND a purse!

I also got a bread machine that the whole family can benefit from--can't wait to experiment!

Kevin's new prized possession is the PS3 my parents bought him.  Ha ha--he's smiling like the Cheshire Cat!

Mom loved her Vera Bradley laptop bag and her Starbucks gift card that Kevin and I cleverly disguised as a frappucino using butcher paper and tissue paper.

Ava and her Papa--he loved his Edwin Watts gift card.

We had a yummy breakfast of Baked French Toast as well as Ham and Hashbrown Casserole that I prepared the night before then popped in the oven Christmas morning (thank you, Pinterest, for those recipes!)

Then my grandparents dropped by to see what Ava got from Santa Claus.

Then it was off to lunch with Kevin's family at his parent's house and dinner with my mom's side of the family at my aunt and uncle's house.  Ava was so excited to see her little cousins.

 The only way Lawson would agree to let me take his picture was if I let him pose like this.  Ha ha!

 Time to start handing out presents!

Ava got an adorable new Vera Bradley bag full of lip gloss and nail polish from her cousins,

but Lawson has the absolute best reaction of any child when it comes to opening gifts.  He gets so excited about everything and it is hilarious!

One entire counter full of yummy goodies for our cookie/candy swap!

And then it was time to get ready for Dirty Santa!  Brittany's going over the rules to make sure everything goes smoothly.

Brittany was so excited to get a 5 piece hamburger grilling set.  She was SO glad that no one stole it from her! :)

Brent was thrilled with his Justin Bieber Singing Toothbrush...

and my dad loved his Easy Feet.  C'mon, no more bending to clean your feet?!  Who wouldn't love that?!

We took some time out from the games to light some candles and sing happy birthday to Jesus which was the real celebration of the day.  The kids  got to blow out the candles on the birthday cake we had for Jesus.