Our Merry Christmas

Well we survived our first Christmas as an official old married couple. Sadly I just realized we didn't even take any pictures of just the 2 of us. I think we may both be pictured out. I did not even take my camera to the Simpson get together on Christmas eve. I usually get a lot of crazy cute & fun ones of all the kids. It was still a fun day with lots of food, fun, noise, & love. Rhett managed to sleep through the entire unwrapping of presents. Haha! Jake was unsuccessful in waking him when he threw a few wrapping paper balls his way. Gifts get quite expensive since their are so many of us so we now do a white elephant gift exchange. If you are unfamiliar with this game let me tell you it is Fun Fun Fun! You search your house for an item you no longer want in your possesion. One man's trash is another mans treasure. Everyone draws a number (this year the 4 older kids played) so we had a total of 14 people. I got #3 and Rhett was second to last. In this game being first is not always the best thing. My father in law Justin was numero uno so he choose a present from the middle. If I asked 20 people I bet not one person would be able to correctly guess what lucky gift he picked out. DrumRoll Please.........old maternity clothes, breast milk storage bags, & a baby picture album. It was quite hilarious! Some gifts are definately better than others. A key part of this game is that if you like the gift the person before you received then you can steal it. When it came time for my turn I choose the budlight cooler that contained Erin's old knife set. (I might have had just a teeny hint ahead of time about this one) Let's just pretend I didn't though. When it came time for Max's turn he stole my knives. I was so sad but knowing Rhett was near the end meant we could get them back! The wonderful husband he is stole them on his turn. Overall it is just a fun silly game and afterwards some people swap items. We ended up bringing home the knife set and an american flag (which is what Rhett really wanted). Margaret had stuck a gift card on the back of the picture she contributed so it got taken off by someone and then the pic got swapped again. We took our annual family picture and not one single child was screaming or crying. MIRACLE!! I don't have a copy yet but will share once I get. Here is last years pic. I would love to show off every year since forever ago but a few faces have changed throughout the years so lets just stick with the most updated version.

On Christmas day my parents & siblings came to our house to celebrate. I made breakfast with some help from Andrew & Rhett. Luckily this year the driveway was not covered in snow so no vehicles getting stuck. My Mom did threaten that if it snowed they wouldn't be coming. Lol We opened gifts and then watched the slideshow video that Creative Bent made. Alex fell asleep within minutes and my Dad, Andrew, & Rhett looked bored to tears but us girls enjoyed it. I had to head to work at 12:30. We all take shifts throughout the day so no one person has to work the whole Christmas day. Once I got home from work Rhett & I just relaxed. We lounged and had a nice relaxing quiet evening.

Every year I get an ornament for Rhett and put it in his stocking. Some years are more creative than others. One year I wanted a black cow since we own several black angus cows. Of course every cow ornament I could find had a little bit of white on it or pink on the udders or spots ....I wanted a plain black cow so naturally I just made my own! This was many moons ago but Thank you Jeremy for helping me with that project. When we went to Gatlinberg, TN and I saw the store with all Christmas ornaments I was extremely excited. Flying gold pig with crystals. Long story but this picture should help explain why I thought this ornament was perfect.

 

 

This year I didn't buy one but did receive several. Jaimee gave us this adorable one! Love it!!! Creative Bent also gave us the cutest one with a picture from the wedding.

 

This is from last year!

Just have to share one special gift that Brooke, Madison, Jake, & Cole received this year.

Precious!!! She was a surprise to the kids and now is a very loved little puppy.

 

We had a wonderful 1st Christmas as husband & wife. We also had sadness as we said goodbye to Rhett's aunt Peggy this past Friday. She was such a sweet woman. I know she is already greatly missed by all her family & friends. May she rest in peace.