2018 Christmas

Well now that Valentine's is over.. I guess it's about time to get a Christmas post done, huh? Christmas was a whirlwind this year! We got back from Europe on the 20th - we flew into Atlanta and drove straight down to Sandersville. Mom had Maddie Jane there, so it was easy to head down for the festivities. First up we ran some errands in Dublin and Maddie Jane finally got to see the big man! 

And we all got our Christmas nails done - Maddie Jane insisted on gold sparkles for hers! 

We had Veal Christmas on Friday night .. and this is the only pic I have..

And then Jones extended family Christmas Saturday night. This was the little impromptu photo booth Mom had set up! 

Heyyy tiny baby bump.

We had chili and I had to show Auntie Paige how her new white Christmas dress stayed incredibly clean! Thank you Auntie for always keeping us monogrammed! 

On the 23rd we finally headed back home after we did our immediate Jones family Christmas. Wooo I was so happy to see our house after three weeks of being away! Mom and Chip came too to spend Christmas with us :)

Christmas eve included a fancy family dinner and a lot of dancing! 

While Mom was at my house keeping MJ when we were in Europe - she decorated my table! Love that woman. 

Gigi and Maddie having some serious talks about Santa Clause.. 

And Gigi got us all matching cozy socks! 

We set out milk and cookies (on the plates I used as a kid!) for Santa.. 

And not pictured is CC ringing jingle bells outside so Maddie though Santa was there. She SHOT upstairs and hopped in her bed giggling all the way... love these special traditions we are starting with her :) 

Bug got there late that night after having to work and we all crashed thankful that we had ZERO Christmas presents to put together this year. Everything was wrapped! 

Maddie Jane was up bright and early to open alllll the goodies! 

We had a big Christmas breakfast and I immediately took down our tree. I don't know if I have ever had a tree down by 10am on Christmas morning, but I couldn't look at that dead thing a second longer! And I wanted to try out my new vacuum cleaner :) 

It was a fast and furious one - but SO thankful to have our first Christmas finally in our home. We have traveled on Christmas for the past six years and it felt SO good to just relax. We will always go see family before or after, but we are happy to have started the tradition of being HOME for Christmas! 

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Restoring Grace

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Snow Day

Back at the beginning of December we had two glorious snow days. I wasn't sure we would get actual accumulation that would stick, but we DEF did. They were big, beautiful snowflakes that fell down and blanketed everything. It was so fun to wake up to our house looking like this!

Maddie Jane was beside herself when she woke up. We rushed to shove down some breakfast and put on alllll the layers and then headed outside. 

Failed attempt at a Daddy/Maddie pic. (And yes he has on Elf pajama pants when he has perfectly good ski pants inside...)

Molly wasn't too sure about the snow, but definitely wanted to be outside with us.

An improvised snowman made out of sticks and blueberries! 

 

I don't think there is much better than a Christmas tree with snow in the background! 

 

Later that afternoon, AJ and MJ met up with the neighbors on the golf course to sled. The freeways made for some awesome sledding! I wasn't feeling too great, so I watched the action from our deck with our new heater! 

The next morning, it was STILL coming down. We were busy packing for Europe and praying we were going to be able to get to the airport. Thankfully North Carolina is MUCH more prepared for snow than Georgia. The roads were scraped that afternoon and everything was perfectly functioning. That little winter wonderland was fun while it lasted! 

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Christmas(es) 2017

I'm not ready to talk about last night. I probably won't be for a few days weeks. So let me finally publish this post that has been sitting in draft for forever.. 

Oh my goodness Christmas was a whirlwind this year. We had six Christmas(es) to attend and I hardly took any pictures trying to soak in all the goodness of our sweet girl and this special season. I blogged about Christmas 1 & 2 back HERE. Christmas 3 was with my Dad's side of the family. We zoomed down to Sandersville Friday before Christmas when AJ got off work. 

We stayed at my Grandma's in Sandersville that night then headed to South Carolina to do Christmas with my mom, step dad, and step sisters. It was unusually hot for Christmas Eve, so we were sans tights! 

We roasted oysters and had shrimp and grits. Maddie Jane even ate oysters!! They were so, so good.

I had some new flannel pajamas and Mom decided to get everyone else matching ones as well! Love these two SO much. So lucky to have them :) 

And majority of my pictures of MJ at Christmas look like this.. complete blur! 

She LOVED unwrapping allll the presents. Even the ones that were not hers :) 

This guy.

On Christmas Eve it was back to Sandersville for dinner at Grandma's! I feel like this picture is a glimpse into my future... 

For Christmas Eve dinner, Grandma did her traditional Sunday lunch of fried chicken and all the fixings.

All set up for Santa!! Loved having our first big Santa run with my Aunt and Uncle from Arizona :) 

She was like WHAT THE HECK is going on!? And here is a big dumb from opening presents.. 

After a big brunch and a nap we headed over to the Hammocks to finally meet Harper! 

Maddie Jane did much better this time with me holding a baby and even held her too! 

And then Christmas night we had allllll the Jones clan over for oysters and a low country boil and more presents! 

Peyton is Maddie Jane's person. She is constantly glued to his side when he is around and he is sooo good with her :)

Grandma made us all aprons! 

And that night we packed up and headed back to Atlanta. It was late and we were exhausted, but when we woke up the next day at home for some down time, it was all worth it! We thought this Christmas was going to be a little more calm not getting on a plane, but it just gets busier and busier! I think next year we will just get everyone to come to us :) 

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