Christmas 2011

In an effort to try to catch up I'm just going to do a really long post with LOTs of pictures about our Christmas festivities. 

Christmas is usually pretty hectic for me and Ben.  You would think it would be so much easier since we are both from the same city, but sometimes it makes it harder because we want to be a part of every event and it requires a lot of planning, flexibility with our families, and a lot of traveling back and forth.  Luckily, this year it actually wasn't as crazy as it has been the past two years. 

On Christmas Eve we headed over to Huntsville to Ben's grandparents house.  Of course we had to take a quick picture first! We were so glad to have Courtney joining the family festivities this year and can't wait for her to officially be another Adams girl!

This was the first time for Mary Hyatt to meet several of Ben's aunts/uncles, but sadly I did a horrible job of taking pictures and didn't get a single picture of her with any of them.

This side of Ben's family hasn't had a baby in the family in a veerrry long time.  I think his youngest cousin is a freshman (?) in high school.  (I could be totally wrong..but he is somewhere around there!) So, Mary Hyatt definitely got the spotlight.  We pretty much left her in the floor in the middle of the room and everyone just watched her... haha

We recently found out that Ben's cousin is expecting so next Christmas will be lots of fun with the two babies!

After Ben's grandparents we headed back to Decatur to my grandparents house.  After we ate dinner, we had a special visit from Santa (aka my Grandaddy) to hand out all of the presents.  My little niece Abby was amazed!

She was so cute.  She thought he was the real Santa.  We had told her that my Grandaddy had gone to the store.  She kept saying "Santa, you have to wait for Grandaddy before you leave. He is at the store!" She never took her eyes off of him and just kept grinning ear to ear. 

We captured a picture of all of the grandchildren with "Santa"..

and I of course got one of MH with him by herself.. I just love that my Grandaddy did this! He sure is a great man to go through all of this to make Christmas a little more special for us.

We attempted to get a picture of all of the dogs with him, but it was kind of a disaster.  This is the best we could get.  Ellie is on the right in the Santa outfit, Sammy is in the middle, and Opie is on the left. Opie is Ellie and Sammy's baby!

We all gathered together to get a family photo.  I'm so glad we did this. I seriously can't tell you the last time we took a picture with all of us together.

After that we headed home and all went to sleep.

On Christmas morning, I woke up early and went to watch my niece and nephew open their presents from Santa. This is about the 10th year for me to do that, and I love it but unforuntately  I forgot my camera so I have no pictures to show of it. :(  By the time I got back home, my other niece had just started opening her presents so I got to watch her as well. Then it was time to get a shower and start getting ready for church since Christmas fell on a Sunday this year...

Our church had a very informal service that morning and all of the children attended the service.  Mary Hyatt did great throughout the service.  She never cried but she made several noises and squeals.  As we were leaving, the lady behind us said "I can't tell you the last time I've literally smiled throughout an entire church service."

After church we headed to my house to open our Santa presents.  Mary Hyatt slept through some of it but did make it down for a little while.  She of course cared more for the paper and boxes than her toys..

After my house we headed over to Ben's house and exchanged gifts with his family. By that point Mary Hyatt had pretty much had enough and was totally worn out. She took a good nap, but did wake up after dinner and enjoyed some good lovin' from them.

The next day we met my aunt (dad's side) and her family for a late lunch at Cracker Barrel.  Mary Hyatt sat in a highchair at the restaurant for the first time. But again, no pictures.

So, overall, we had a busy but Wonderful Christmas this year.  It was so much fun having Mary Hyatt and starting traditions with her. I'm sure next year will be even better when she starts to understand a little more!