Christmas

For Christmas this year, we had the chance to visit both the Van Houtens and the Smiths. We started out with having Jamie's parents and some friends over for Christmas Eve dinner and church. It was fun to be in Atlanta for Christmas Eve as we are usually travelling and don't get to go to our own church that night. We packed up the car and headed over to their house to spend the night so we could wake up there to celebrate Christmas with her parents, her brother and his girlfriend. It was a fun morning but we couldn't relax too long, we had to load up the cars and get on the road for the 4 hour drive to Crossville, TN where Jamie's grandparents, uncles and aunts live. We arrived at her uncle's house right in time for the big family dinner and the opening of presents. Since we had just arrived and there were over 20 people there it seemed, I didn't get to take too many pictures. Here are a few though:

- Jamie and her grandfather talking

- Her grandmother opening the Pandora charm bracelet that all of the grandkids gave her

- One of the yoga frogs that I thought just had to be documented (there were several in different yoga positions on the table, this one was the centerpiece).

It was a lot of fun to relax, play games and spend time with the family there. We all gathered for an early breakfast on Sunday morning and then it was time to hit the road again. Jamie and I had driven separately since we were headed straight to Birmingham. Rachel and Jesse had been there for several days but were going to hang around a little longer so they could see us. It ended up that my aunts, uncles, cousins and grandmother also were able to drive down from Memphis on Sunday, though they had to leave on Monday afternoon. It was the second time we arrived in a city and walked into a house with a ton of people in it. It was so much fun to see them all, even though it was so short. We laughed a lot, played games almost the entire time and ate a ridiculous amount of dessert. I'm pretty sure there were 3 different cakes, 2 coffee cakes, 3 different cookies and my mom's wonderful Christmas peppermint ice cream dessert. I'm honestly surprised I didn't gain more weight than I did after sampling them all! We came back into town on Wednesday after a great trip around the southeast for Christmas. Here are a couple of pictures from the second half of the trip:

- My mom (on the left) and her sisters and mom

- My cousin Amy playing cards

- Jamie and I in our best, impromptu Christmas pose

We did manage to get a picture of the whole gang, I love it when we can all be together! The next time will likely be for Amy's high school graduation in May.

Naturally we had to have at least one silly picture, sadly not everyone participated, but I still thought it was fun!