Christmas Weekend!

Christmas! What a wonderful and amazing Christmas celebration we were blessed to have with both sides of our family! The weeks leading up to Christmas, like everyone, were crazy and packed with lots of fun but lots of busyness too. What a relief to have the weekend finally come and be together with our families and with each other.

It was a fun time of figuring out each other's traditions and making some new Redmond traditions as well! Providence has a Love Feast every Christmas Eve that Rebecca has been going to for probably nearly 20 years, and this year she got to share it with her new family as well! It's such a sweet time of Christmas hymns and reading of the Christmas story, and we got to sing together for it as well, which was a fun treat to do together.

Later we went home and after wrapping until nearly 2:00am, we opened one present and then read the Christmas story in Luke together. It was a fun but long evening! Christmas morning we had such a ball opening gifts from each other and relaxing at our house for a few hours. But then we were on our way to the Redmond's house for a yummy chili lunch and tons more presents, which included...a Wii!!! AAAHHH! Jason is currently playing golf on it as we speak! It was so much fun to be together and we were overwhelmed by their generosity!

We left late that afternoon to head down to Atlantic Beach and meet up with the Perry's and Humphreys' for the weekend. What a sweet, relaxing, and fun time! It was so good to get to see Laura, Jon, Lydia and Joshua since they now live in Savannah and our time together is precious! We had Christmas and celebrated my dad's and my birthday while we were down there, so it was quite a party!

Here are some pictures from our weekend...

Jason gets into a little Christmas baking!

Look at all those presents!

Dennis got a duck call (or maybe a goose call!) Either way, it's really loud!

Twister was worn out before the present opening even began!

Handy Manny - he's not a doll, he's a handyman! Joshua loves Manny!

Our little snowman - nevermind that it's nearly 70 degrees!

Lydia's new laptop

This was a sport-themed Christmas it seemed - Here are Laura and Jon opening the Georgia Bulldog playing cards we got them!

Mom went to four Targets to find Lydia this Hello Kitty umbrella, but I think she'd say it was worth it!

Super cute golf ornament from Laura and Jon!

Go Pack! This mug says "Back the Pack"

We tried, but they couldn't seem to pull this one out today. Boo.

Mom and Rebecca are big tea drinkers. Now Mom has a teakettle like we do!

Future Heisman Trophy Winner! Go Dawgs!

Lydia loved her new baby - Rebecca had one just like this when she was her age!

Sweatshirts were the theme this Christmas and we all love them! Go Pack!

The boys playing the Wii - they got pretty intense!

The girls playing the Wii - I guess we got pretty intense too!

The Humphreys Family
We went to the Channel Marker Restaurant on Saturday night and had a great time!

Joshua, Jason, and Lydia checking out the fish at the restaurant

Sunday afternoon we went to Fort Macon. Jason had never been, and the kids had a blast running around the fort. Of course Joshua headed straight for the giant stack of balls!

On top of the Fort - what an amazing view!

Thank you Lord for giving us such sweet memories with each other and our families as we celebrated your birth! We're so grateful to be together this Christmas season and I know we will look back at this first Christmas and cherish the moments we had.

And now, as 2008 comes to a close and 2009 is just around the corner, we're glad to be getting back into a routine, slowing down from the busyness, and settling into "normal" life. Who knows what the Lord will have in store for the next 12 months. A year ago today we would never have guessed what 2008 could hold! We're walking forward in faith that the Lord will use our lives and do with us as He pleases and we know we'll have a blast along the way!