It really started to feel like Christmas when we went to Hot Springs to look at lights on the Eve of Christmas Eve! We went with our favorites, the Pilks, to Garvin Gardens. It was our first time there & it was beautiful!! Afterwards, we drove downtown and around a neighborhood my parents always took us to when we were kids. It was the perfect night with our fab friends!
This is probably the sweetest picture SB has taken for me in a looong time. Not sure if you've noticed, but he doesn't slow down or look at the camera often anymore! He loves him some Addie though! Definitely a framer!
After spreading Christmas Cheer on Christmas Eve morning, we went to Blake's parents to open gifts & celebrate with his family!
It took a little bit to get Sawyer focused on opening gifts. He would open a gift & immediately want to play with it, so there would be a small fight trying to get him to move on & open more. Ha! He started getting the hang of it though!
We bought Nerf guns for our little boy cousins which of course led to an all out Nerf gun war around the house! Sawyer's faces were hilarious!!
Per tradition, we played family BINGO! I only got a few games in before SB demanded my attention to go night-night.
Santa visited, and, I think, did a FAB job! Thankfully, he was too tired and full to notice we didn't leave him any milk or cookies!
LOVE, LOVE the bag of unwrapped toys he left!!
Christmas morning!!!
Blake's back went out on Christmas Eve unloading gifts from the truck at his parents, so, after 20 minutes or more of assisting him out of bed & helping him get dressed, we finally made it into the living room with Sawyer to check out his gifts!
Sweet baby said "WOW!" when he saw his work bench!
We had invited our families over for brunch so they could watch SB open gifts. With LOTS & LOTS of help from J-Pa & Dee {since Blake's back was out} we cooked brunch for 12 people!
Bacon, eggs, biscuits, gravy, sausage cream cheese rolls & a pan of cinnamon rolls of course! Yum!
Christmas morning was SO.MUCH.FUN with Sawyer. He had the best time opening presents & playing with his new toys with all of our family there!
Santa visits our princess puppies too ;)
We spent the rest of Christmas Day playing & resting!
That evening, we went to my Uncle Gary's house to celebrate with the rest of my family. We played Dirty Santa again this year & it was so fun! I thought we took one of the best gifts to give! My parents, uncle, aunt & nana all wear readers and are constantly looking for a pair or borrowing a pair from each other because they're lost or broken. So, I bought 11 pair of readers from the Dollar Tree along with an eyeglass repair kit, some cleaning towels & glasses chains. I thought there would be lots of "stealing" of this gift but nobody ever picked it to open! When it was Blake's turn to draw, he picked it from the unopened pile just to get it out there. We were going home with the stupid glasses until the very end of the game when some "stealing" finally started and my aunt ended up with them!
Surprisingly, the items that were more desirable than my glasses were a 1D pillow & leopard print hat, a Chillow, & a Target gift card!
In the end, I think everyone got just what they wanted :)
And as quickly as it came, Christmas was over! Although, I'm still enjoying my decorations, so it may stay "Christmasy" around here until Valentine's day ;)
xoxo - the Barnetts
