Tuesday, December 30, 2014

a Taylor Christmas

Merry {late} Christmas from the Taylors

this year was our year to spend Christmas Day with GT's family
we celebrated with my family the weekend before
next year, we do the swip-swap
pretty good lil' set-up!

anywhoo...we headed to Huntsville on Monday morning, then made our way to Austin on Tuesday.
we spent the week with GT's immediate family and the extended Taylor family on Christmas day.
it was relaxing to stay at the house all week and have no agenda (aside from baby/toddler naps)
i always love any time that we spend with GTs siblings...good people, i tell ya'

we started out by celebrating Del's birthday on Christmas eve afternoon
(separate and apart form Christmas eve) 
her birthday is on the 23rd, so we make sure to keep the decor, cake and gift-wrapping any color than red and green.
she more than deserves her own celebration!
Kimmy, my sis-in-law, made that cake.
seriously.
amaze-ING.

most of our time was spent playing with the babies

playing dominoes
and loving on eachother
(can you get enough of Gracie??!!?!? i can't)

Judson was never far from an uncle or cousin
and they were never far from tormenting playing with him

the deer would come right up to the house in the morning
and Pawpaw took him for wheelbarrow rides
and he was heaven

Judson wanted the babies in the wheelbarrow with him
i said no way, the uncles said yes
but, then i was thankful because i got this pic...
so, thanks guys?


Christmas morning was equal parts laid-back and chaotic
chaos can be attributed to mr.smiley in the mismatched pj's
don't think that he didn't climb on top of all of the gifts

it was wonderfully laid-back as we took our time giving and receiving gifts, eating breakfast and loving on little love bundles
Garret was our in-house Santa and distributed gifts
don't let that smile fool you.
he got a little attitude when you didn't write who the gifts were to or from.
not that i'd do that...on all of our gifts.

our breakfast consisted of a breakfast casserole and Pioneer Woman's cinnamon rolls.
us gals joined our culinary wisdom and skills together and whipped up those bad-boys.
we started the process on Christmas Eve and all pitched in to create the {almost TOO} sugary, buttery, dreamy breakfast/dessert rolls. 

after unwrapping gifts and a everyone-pitch-in clean-up, we ladies high-tailed it back to the kitchen to finish up cooking Christmas dinner for the whole family. 

the rest of the day was spent eating, visiting, dominoes, football, naps, dessert....the stuff holidays are made of, i suppose.
and squishy baby girls
and fighting with your sibling, ha!


also, trying to "go tee-tee outhide"
potty-training and picture-taking collide

it really was a lovely Christmas day 

the next morning we took it easy and soaked up every last second of being together

then we headed home, stopping in Huntsville to break up the trip and stay the night
Townes decided that he was ready to sit up...for like 2 seconds, but still!!!!! what!?
and Judson slept on a pallet on the floor for the first time...like he's 12 or something.
what is happening to my life?

It's a pretty great life.
The days were busy and full of kiddos, cooking, cleaning and a lot of not slowing down
and nights full of talking and laughing with siblings and parents
i sure do love these days. 

sharing Christmas with this family is what dreams are made of.
praise God for the birth of Jesus so that our family is not bound by this earth.
and i praise God for this Taylor family that i get to share this life with
and who call me their own.
i just regret not getting a photo of the whole family...how did that happen? there's only 12 of us to coordinate!

this one of our little family will have to suffice

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