We had such a great Christmas vacation! I just felt so abundantly blessed to get to be with my little family and to have a nice home, and meals and gifts for my kids and husband! Tom got two weeks off of work, which was so nice, went by so fast and was very needed because he'd had meetings every evening for the longest time! Anyway, we definitely had a lot of fun together....I know I put up way too many pictures on all of my posts...sorry! I'm just a picture taker and I'm afraid it'll just get worse when the next kiddo is here! ;-)
notice the passenger in the backseat...this is on our way to Zio's for lunch for our Christmas eve Italian food tradition.
Taylor and her beloved friend "Puppy" who often accompanies us out and about...
Taylor's photography skills...she's pretty good! ;-)
the fam on Christmas eve...Taylor and Tom made these cookies...they made about 100 cookies so I made them take them to some of our neighbors to get rid of most of them! ;-)
Tom and the kiddos bundled up to deliver cookies to our neighbors...
our tree and present on Christmas eve...
I have to say that Tom got the kids these HUGE candy bars and the candy canes filled with kisses...who ate them? We did...not the kids! After the kids had like 5 pieces of candy on Christmas and went C R A Z Y!!! I hid all their candy and I plan on giving them even less next year...our poor kids, but I'm just not a fan of kids hyped up on candy!!! 
our lovebird stockings...Tom's stocking growing up was always full of chocolate, candy and more candy and mine was filled with toiletries and presents and some candy...so our first year we were married Tom filled my stocking with candy (and nothing else--I was a little sad) and I filled his with hair gel (which I think he still has!), shampoo, etc. and a minimal amount of candy (and he felt totally jipped!). So, now his stocking is always loaded with treats (including a giant candy bar) and mine had haircare and bracelets and hardly ANY candy! ;-) 
letters to and from Santa on Christmas morning...
we ate breakfast (biscuits and gravy--a once or twice a year for us southern tradition) before we opened any presents... 
We didn't want to spend much so most of the presents for our kids I purchased off of craigslist and I got a couple things from our sister in law (thanks Colleen!!!). We "tried" to keep it minimal!!! We will have to try even harder next year! But, it was really so fun to watch the kids be so excited about having Santa come and opening their presents.
We got this little crib from my sister in law...I don't think it has gone 5 minutes without a "baby" sleeping in it since! 
Taylor asked Max for a dress for Christmas so he and I got this one from the Children's Place for $4! She was so excited about her dress from her little brother...she wanted to make him a blanket for his present so she picked out a navy blue fleece with cars on it and her and Tom tied it and wrapped it.
I got this matchbox car set off of craigslist...I LOVE craigslist! I got the blocks off it too and probably saved at least 50 bucks. 
downtown trip to the "miniature city":
this place is amazing! It's just this big miniature city...we went on the Tuesday morning after Christmas so we had the place to ourselves. 
walking around...Taylor has to push Max all the time lately and when people are coming she stops about 50 feet away and "waits" for them to pass! ;-) so funny! 
Taylor's photography skills again! 
this place was SO much fun!!! We had a BOGO free coupon so it cost us 13 bucks and the kids played and played for 3 hours. We loved it! 
isn't this the cutest place?! It was incredible! 
Max doing laundry!
fishing...
5 comments:
We have a cute family!
That was Tom...not me just to clarify...not that anyone is going to read this....
I cannot believe how big the kids are getting! Taylor is just gorgeous and Max is so handsome! Looks like they loved Christmas! I loved reading about the stockings! Josh never had stockings growing up, so I have just come to accept that I will never have anything in it unless I put it there! What fun is that! It was so good to talk to you the other day! Miss ya!
Your holiday looks so fun! What sweet, cute little kids! Love Taylor's Christmas dress, Max has great taste and is so thrifty! Love the look on Tom's face with the parade of horses in front of him! Love the his/hers stockings and what to fill it with dilemma! I tend to agree with you but have to buy my own jewelery and lip gloss to fill it!
Mel and Tom, I am sooo glad to see and hear that Taylor loves the cradle - I knew she would! It is great to see all the pictures and videos of your adorable family! Thanks for keeping us updated.
Take care.
Colleen
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