December

I try to convince myself that I am going to keep up with things better but I somehow always manage to fall behind. This month was super busy as I am sure that everyone else is in December as well.
Typically we make our gingerbread house on Thanksgiving. This year did not work out that way so Sweet Pea and I decorated it on the 15th. It turned out cute and with a lot less stress this year. We bought the pre-made gingerbread house versus the ones that you have to piece together yourself this year and it saved a lot of time. The real fun is all in the decorating and sneaking candy anyway. Sweet Pea and I took turns squirting the left over icing in our mouths to get that good old sugar rush afterward.
The finished Gingerbread house

On the 15th, I had lunch with my work. On the 16th, I took my mom, sister, and nephew Christmas shopping. My mom is the worst to wait until the last minute and hates driving anywhere at this time of the year so I did my good deed for the month. I enjoyed the time out though and my nephew was great for me. We had fun looking at all of the Christmas decorations out and about and laughing at all the craziness.
On the 20th, we got together with some friends to eat dinner and exchange presents. The girls got Amazon gift certificates (although they did not fully comprehend the reason yet) and we got a single serve Keurig machine. The hot chocolate is delicious! Both of the girls have had to have hot chocolate at least once a day since we received the gift. The girls also put on a little dance show for us that they coordinated that evening, which was funny to watch!
Our new Keurig

I took the 21st off with plans to visit my best friend from college but she ended up having to work so me and the girls ran a few errands to piece together the last of the Christmas presents and wrapped gifts that evening (that hadn't already been completed).
On the 23rd, we went to Dollywood to check out the Christmas lights. It was cold but it could have been much worse and the crowd was not horrible.
Christmas lights at Dollywood

On Christmas Eve, we went to Matt's aunt's to eat and exchange presents. The girls received Amazon and Itunes gift cards (and I again had to finagle my way around why with Pumpkin Pie), Hello Kitty water bottles and banks, and fudge and pecan pie. The sweets were the girls special requests from their aunt.
Bailey and Shelby playing

We always celebrate Christmas with the kids on Christmas Eve because Christmas day is so busy with everything else. The girls each got a new jewelry armoire, Ipod Touch, and Kindle Fire, among other presents. We gave Pumpkin Pie her Ipod touch as her big present and Sweet Pea the Kindle Fire. Matt snuck upstairs and put the Kindle Fire on Pumpkin Pie's desk and the Ipod touch on Sweet Pea's desk to find when they carried their other items upstairs. Pumpkin Pie is oblivious to the world at times because she never noticed the huge gift on her desk until we pointed it out. The girls were absolutely thrilled because they had no idea that Christmas was going to be so nice for them this year. I told them not to expect this kind of gift giving every year because we rarely spend quite so much on them.
Me and Bailey
Bailey's presents

Bailey after he opened his presents- he snuggled up with his new penguin and went to sleep. I think he liked all of his gifts (candy cane bone, his favorite dog food, peppermint flavored bones, some new toys, a blanket and a new picture frame for his picture).
Matt's presents- Grippo's, popcorn, new gray Bass shoes that I thought were super cute, sweater, khakis, socks, etc. His big present is already on the desk; he got a new computer for Christmas but given he picks those kinds of things out, he got to get it early.
Sweet Pea's presents
Pumpkin Pie's presents

My presents- Coach purse, new shirt (based on Courageous movie), and odds and ends. My big gift was an Ipad 2 but Matt is not good with keeping secrets so I got it early :)

Christmas day we were blessed with being able to attend church. After church, we went to my grandparent's home. We ate dinner, read the story of the birth of Jesus and then opened presents. The girls again got way more than they should ever get.
Bailey sticking his head in his new toy box from his wonderful aunt and uncle

After my grandparent's house, we always go to my best friend's house for the evening. It gives me some much needed unwinding time from the holiday stress and I love that I can just be silly with her and she gets it. I got a couple of really cute pictures of the kids running around playing cowboys with their hats and guns. I received an M&M's popcorn bucket, cups, blanket, clock, and Ipad case. The girls got Ipod cases and Kids Dance 2 for the Wii.
My M&M clock
Me and Matt on Christmas night

In between a couple of work things that I had to do this week, I have managed to get all of the presents put away, the house cleaned, and all of the Christmas decorations stored safely in their boxes for next year. On the 29th, we took another trip to Dollywood. This time we went to ride the rides and have fun versus seeing the lights. By the time we left Dollywood, the whole parking lot was full and people were parking at Splash Country. It was ridiculously crowded!
Matt on Adventure Mountain- pretending that he is going to fall. Sweet Pea had been requesting to do Adventure Mountain forever and they finally decided to wait in line for the "adventure". The line wait was about an hour long and that is short compared to previous estimated times.

Today we have all chilled out and rested from the holiday busyness. Matt finally touched some of the paint up that I have been fussing about for a year. Let's hope he did it right because I don't want to fuss about it again. Hope everyone else has enjoyed their holidays as much as we have.