There's no place like home for the holidays...

It was a wonderful 2-week visit home to Georgia for the holidays. I drove home so that Brodie could go with me. That 14-hour drive was LONG!!! I couldn't make it all the way in one day, so I stopped over in Birmingham to spend the night with my college roommate and her family. It was really nice to get to see them. I finished the drive the next day and spent a week with Mom, Dad, and Ben hanging out, shopping, playing, watching movies, wrapping presents, baking cookies, and enjoying the Christmas season. Brodie really enjoyed getting spoiled by his Gammie, Gandaddy, and Uncle Ben too.

Late the night before Christmas Eve (or Christmas Adam, as my friends like to call it), Aunt Kathy, Uncle David, Holley, Colton, and Layton arrived. Layton was into everything, so busy and adorable! He's 13 months, so this is the first Christmas he's been interactive. It was so much fun watching him experience all the wonder of Christmas!

Christmas Eve was an absolutely gorgeous day! We had a lovely Italian dinner and then the guys went out to the horseshoe pit to play horseshoes. And Dad started a fire in the fire pit. Those are certainly two things I've never done on Christmas Eve! Soon the entire family, including all the dogs, were gathered out there having a great time, and Holley, Kathy and I joined in on the horseshoes - it was my first time playing. Dad and I played David and Colton in a few games, and actually beat them once - and I made several ringers. We all ended up around the fire pit as the sun went down and the temps cooled off. It was so much fun!

When darkness fell, we headed back inside for finger foods, games, and fun. My uncle Rick and his wife, Cathy, and my cousin Richard came, and we had a really fun round of Christmas charades. There were some really difficult clues - like "three magi" and "I want a hippopotamus for Christmas". After putting Layton to bed, Holley, Colton, David, and Dad set about putting together his Santa gift - a cool tricycle. This is the first year we've had something to assemble in ages!

On Christmas morning we didn't wake up too early, but when we did, we had our traditional Krispy Kreme breakfast - yum! I got Brodie's stocking and took him out on the deck to see what Santa brought him. He was very pleased. :) Then he and Layton played with each other through the glass door until we finally woke up Ben and Colton and were allowed into the room where Santa left all his gifts. It was so cute to see Layton's expression when he first saw his tricycle. He couldn't get to it fast enough! After watching Layton play for a little while, we all exchanged gifts. Everyone had a wonderful Christmas. The rest of the day was pretty lazy, playing games and the Wii, visiting with Patty, Barry, and Miranda who arrived that afternoon, and going to see the Chipmunks Chipwrecked movie. 

It really was a great Christmas with lots of family, gifts, food, and fun. I was only sad to see it end.