Christmas 2015

I know it is WAAAY past Christmas, but I want to be able to look back later and remember what we did this year!

This Christmas, we did things a little differently.  We usually go home before Christmas (actually, in order to afford tickets, we go home a lot before Christmas to miss out on those expensive tickets right before Christmas Day).  This year, we stayed in Burlington through Christmas Day, flying out of Manchester, NH, that afternoon.

Our Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were super low key.  We had some friends over for brunch on Thursday.  That afternoon, I told Jack he could open one present and thought I was giving him a wooden plane kit.  Nope, it was the face painting kit.  Thank goodness for artist dads who can paint a mean tigers face!

That night, I made ham and swiss sandwiches on hawaiian rolls and tomato soup.  Bech and I had champagne and Jack was SO excited about his sparkling cider.  We ended up not going to church, which I was sad about.  But our church is a plant, so the church building we use was being used by the church that owned it.  And Gil is a hot mess in church nurseries, so I didn't want to try a new one out for Christmas Eve.  We read our Ann Voskamp reading, the boys went to bed, and Bech and I stayed up to watch Holiday Inn.  I was surprised by how much Bech liked it!  

By some crazy miracle, our boys slept in the next morning.  I think part of it is that we aren't doing Santa, so Jack was not on pins and needles to see what he brought.  We didn't actually go downstairs until 8:30.

Bech bought me this vintage coffee table (which I LOVE), but Gil is convinced it's a dance platform for him.

This little guy got 3 Christmases this year...he looks pretty pumped, don't you think?

I love my sweet boys.

Gil was also a big fan of this Curious George in the box.

We kept it really simple, and the boys enjoyed it.  They each had a few clothing items, a couple of books, and a few toys.  Jack got a lot of Melissa and Doug craft kits as presents and in his stocking.  I figured we could use those this winter when we are inside.

We had plenty to time to open presents, play with presents, and clean up the house before hitting the road for Manchester.  We chose to fly out of there (even though it was 2 1/2 hours away), because we could fly Southwest (so free bags!). 

I wasn't quite sure what flying on Christmas Day would be like.  It was actually really fun.  Everyone is in a good mood and both flights had free drinks (and I love a gin and tonic).  Both of the boys were really good on the flights.

We got in pretty late to New Orleans, so we slept at Bech's parents condo down there and headed to Brookhaven bright and early, with beignets in hand.

Also, this about sums up how Gil feels when he first meets you (or sees you in a while).

This little guy got into opening some presents this year!

And this little guy wanted to stay close to his Uncle Blaise all day.

My sister is having a baby girl (SO SOON!), and it was fun to see her open lots of little girl things this year.

We spent Saturday night in Brookhaven and went to Faith Pres before church the next day.  I love this picture I took before Church...Jack is being introduced to The Empire Strikes Back. #starwarsobsessed

We then headed to Jackson to spend the next 5 days with Bech's family.  Sadly, this is the only picture I have.  But, I think you can tell that Jack adores his Uncle Hunter (and he's pretty pumped to gain Mary Kathryn as an aunt!).  We had a great time with Nina and Farfar and the rest of the family.

Also, Jack does wear other pj's on occasion...

While we were in Jackson, we spent one morning at a trampoline park.  Ansley really wanted to take Jack to one of these and it did NOT disappoint.  Jack loved it!

He's definitely a fan.

When I do posts like these, I always wish I was better at taking pictures.  We spent New Years Eve going to the restaurant Hunter works at with Bech's parents.  We then spent the rest of the trip in Brookhaven (although Bech took a quick trip up to see our friend Michael in Tupelo).

I did happen to get this picture of our sweet friend Bess playing with Gil.  Gil doesn't go to anyone new!  But for some reason, he just plopped down in Bess' lap and started playing with her.  It was a fun treat to get to catch up with Bess and Julian and sweet Piper.

We flew back on the 4th, right into 10 degree weather and lots of snow.  Talk about shell shock!