December Fun

December is always such a busy month.  I know I sound like a broken record with the busy stuff because, well life is always busy, but December does have a lot of parties, Christmas events, school fun for Christmas and then to top it off we have a couple of family birthdays thrown in there.  Its a lot of busy and a lot of fun.  I think this year seemed extra because Thanksgiving was so late and it seemed Christmas just came so quick after.  All that being said though we enjoyed it so much.  I truly love this time of year.   I hate to see it come and go so quick.  Here's a little peak into some of our December fun.

 At the start of the month Bryce had snack with Santa at First Friends.  He had been so excited to see Santa.  He was full of questions, only he remembered all his questions after he first saw Santa so we had to go back up to see him a second time.   That second visit he had his friend Paxton with him and it worked out so good because Paxton had been hesitant to see Santa and by the time these 2 finished asking all their questions they both had their picture made again and were singing loud with Santa.  It was so cute.  Since Ellington was with me this was her first visit with Santa!  She liked him pretty good!

The other stations included making reindeer food, eating cookies and making some ornament crafts.

That very same night I worked with one of my sweet friends taking pictures with Santa.  I had hoped to have all 4 of my kids together for a picture but my little middle school socialite had other plans so I settled for the 3 I had at home.  What was so funny was that Santa remembered Bryce from that morning.  He said "here's the little boy with all the questions".  Bryce loved that.  Santa also decided he would let Bryce wear his "real" Santa hat!  That was a treat and they both had the best time making funny faces in the hat too.

Kelly had a meeting one weekday in downtown Greenville and the kids and I ended up riding along.  We were going to do a little shopping until it rained and ruined our plans.  We ended the night doing a little shopping and had fun being together.   Bryce wouldn't stand with Kate in this picture because he said this was a Clemson tree.

December 11 is Kelly's birthday so we celebrated at Sug & Pop's house that night.   38 is looking good for him!

On Thursday the 12th Bryce had his preschool Christmas play.  HE was Joseph.  He looked so cute!  He also was quite the performer making all kinds of funny faces and singing very loud.  He does love to sing and apparently loves to entertain a crowd doing so!  He is one of a kind for sure and we love this boy!

This picture was the next day at school for pajama/Polar Express day.   I love this sweet class.

December was the start of Kate's basketball season.  She only had one game before Christmas break and they won!  She has come a long way since last season and we love watching our girl!  Here she is with her coach!  Even though he swore he wouldn't coach basketball again he decided against it and here we are!

We spent some time looking at Christmas lights

Bryce had a fun party at school before starting Christmas break  He had made some of the cutest ornaments and crafts.  These are my favorites!

out of school means lunch at our favorite place 

We had another night of Santa pics.  I loved working with this sweet friend!

And these girls had a fun start to break with a sleepover.

We got to go see the Grinch over Christmas break too.  Bryce was acting a bit shy at first but didn't take him long at all to warm up and then just sit and talk about everything from football to Star Wars. His favorites!

We had a couple of family dinners before Christmas as well.  I didn't have a lot of pictures but we had fun celebrating with our families!

Carter loved giving Ellington some love

E's first present  

Christmas #2 was in Gainesville with Grannie, Papa, Aunt Vicki, and Aunt Danette.  Ellington was opening her first ornament from Aunt Vicki here.  Aunt Vicki has given each of us a Christmas ornament every year since Kelly and I were dating.  She has decorated our tree for us over the years especially our Georgia tree!  She knows us well!

Cohen went to a Christmas party at a friend's house on Monday before Christmas.  So thankful for such sweet friends and these friendships that have been going on for years since preschool.  

So much fun leading up to Christmas day!  And we were extra thankful that all of us stayed healthy with so much flu and other things going around! Another December to remember!  I treasure every little moment we can share together, especially the nights at home when we can pile on the couch and watch movies!!  Merry Christmas!