The Warren Family: December 25, 2011

The first Christmas in our new home was wonderful. It is so nice to finally be settled again. The rental house was a lovely place to lay our heads at night but nothing compares to being in your own home. Believe it or not four months in and we're still working on getting all the boxes unpacked and really need to get some things on the walls but we have plenty of room to entertain so we became the gathering spot for the family Christmas celebrations on both sides of our family.

First... we hosted a Christmas brunch for 20 and it turned out great even though we haven't purchased a new "breakfast" table or bar stools yet. We just haven't found exactly what we want yet and didn't want to feel pressured to buy something simply because we needed seating. As the date for the brunch loomed closer my anxiety level increased because I couldn't figure out how we were going to seat everyone and then a light bulb came on in my head which allowed me to realize that we could rent a banquet table and folding chairs from a rental company. It was easy, inexpensive and worked out great so who knows we may take that route again before we finally find the table and chairs that we really want to purchase.

The brunch was so much fun. We had my Mama and Daddy, my brother, his wife and their three kids as well as my Aunt & Uncle, their son and daughter along with their families and loved ones so the house was filled with love and laughter. Everyone brought a dish to help out and the food was fantastic. We all ate entirely too much and enjoyed having some time to visit with each other during such a magical part of the year. It was a very blustery morning so Jake decided that he really wanted to stay in his footie pjs instead of changing into real clothes. He was the envy of everyone. He also took on the role of tour guide for our guests and as soon as each family arrived he would take them throughout the entire house to show them around which was just adorable. He would even open the bathroom cabinets to show them Mama's stuff and Daddy's stuff. It was all over much too quickly but we're planning on doing it again next Christmas and maybe sometime over the summer as well. Family is too important to only see each other once a year so we'll try and hope that "life" doesn't get in the way of making it happen.

The magic of the season is so precious through the eyes of a child and Jake was so excited for Christmas this year... so much in fact that he was a bit overwhelmed which caused him to be a little out of sorts. I think the unending events and the presents at every turn can be a little to much for little ones to process. The holiday season brings family gatherings, parties and parades just to name a few things but it also means that schedules are out the window and exhaustion is not a little fella's friend. This culminated in a few "un-Jake" like episodes which resulted in the threat of coal in his stocking but Santa decided to cut him some slack. This is the first year that Jake has really understood the whole Santa concept. He was determined to tell Santa that he wanted a JCB backhoe which he did in such a "big boy" way and the sheer joy in his eyes on Christmas morning more than made up for the holiday induced meltdowns we experienced over the two weeks leading up to the big day.

We spent Christmas Eve at Mamaw and Papaw's house with Uncle Russell, Aunt Kristi, Gage, Katie and Abbie. We even enjoyed a quick visit from Laura, Thomas and Uncle Don which was a wonderful surprise. I love being at my Mama and Daddy's house on Christmas Eve. It brings back so many wonderful childhood memories. The kind of memories that I want Jake to have of his childhood. There have been only a couple of Christmas Eve nights that I haven't spent at Mama and Daddy's house and Trip has graciously allowed that tradition to continue for the more than twenty years that we've been together but this year we decided that Jake needed to be at home for Santa so after a truly wonderful afternoon and evening with my family we headed back up the mountain to create our own memories. It was so special to help Jake get milk and cookies ready for Santa and to listen as Trip read him the Christmas story and Twas the Night Before Christmas (among others). He was so anxious that it was tough for him to go to sleep but he finally did along with his Daddy so I got to play Santa before turning in for the night. Jake was so tired that he slept late on Christmas morning which I imagine won't happen again for several years. I remember when I was little that I tossed and turned for hours on Christmas Eve trying to go to sleep but then Russell and I would be waking Mama and Daddy up before 5am to go see if Santa had visited us. When Jake finally did wake up it was like he wasn't really expecting that Santa had come because we had the camera set up and when our adorable sleepy headed little boy walked into the family room he didn't even see his dream gift he just walked up to the camera where Trip and I were standing and then you could see him realize that Santa had been there and his reaction was so precious (check out the video below).

Grandma and Grandpa arrived on Christmas Day and we enjoyed some time with them before the rest of the family arrived for another holiday celebration on the 26th. Grandma has an amazing way with Jake and he absolutely loves his time with her. You'll begin to understand why when you see the picture below where they are "writing" with their feet. We were so happy to have the house filled with family again and this time in addition to Grandma and Grandpa we also had Uncle Paul and Jennifer as well as Carley, Nolan and Johnathan. Jake hasn't gotten to see Carley and Nolan very much so he was thrilled to spend some time with them and they were both just great with him. He had a blast playing football with the Nolan and Johnathan and he was quite taken with Carley so he had to sit with her at lunch. It is such a blessing to have found a house that allows us to host our families. Trip and I love our families as well as each others families which is also a blessing and we want Jake to know and love them all too so being able to spend time all together makes the holidays even more special.

You'll see below that I've also included a photo of our Christmas card which has a little story to go along with it. We took Jake to a local Christmas tree farm to take our Christmas card photo this year and ordered our cards in plenty of time to receive them, address them and mail them out. Unfortunately, I should not have ordered them when I was clearly too tired to focus on the task at hand. I typed in our sentiment, spell checked it and reread it several times but still missed that the word "peace" had been entered as "piece" so when the cards arrived I had to throw them all away and reorder. Even with rush delivery I didn't get them until the 23rd which meant that they didn't get in the mail until Christmas Eve. Oh well... hopefully it's true that it's the thought that count but at least it was an adorable picture of Jake.