Christmas 2015

Christmas this year was extra special!  Michael & I had been planning a big surprise for the girls this year & he went above & beyond to give them a very memorable Christmas.  A few weeks before Christmas, Michael really had it in his mind that the girls were old enough for pets, namely some kittens.  I was more than a little apprehensive as we had previously had our beloved Kitty Jenkins who did not adapt well to the girls & I did not want to have a repeat of that.  Well, Michael, being the doting father he is, found a sweet family with 2 little 6 month old kittens who needed adoption.  The kittens were apparently very used to people & very nice, so he went for it & took an excursion to a neighboring county to get the kitties on Monday before Christmas.  He took the kitties to the vet to have them checked out & to get them up to date on all their medical needs.  The vet kept the kitties for us until they closed on Christmas Eve.  Now, we also had special visitors in this year from Alabama, my parents, so needless to say, Christmas Eve was a big day for the girls.  Michael went out mid-day to pick up the kitties & we had already decided to go ahead & let the girls have the cats as we knew with the excitement of having grandparents in town & Santa visiting that night that Christmas morning was likely to be a little too much if we did not go ahead & let them have the cats. Michael brought in the box & cut the box open to reveal the cutest little kitties you can imagine, the girls were just thrilled!

The girls wasted no time in loving on the kitties & the kitties seemed to be pretty comfortable right away!

After we had played with the kitties & had a fun day at home, baking cookies for Santa & playing with Nuna & Pawpaw, we all got ready to head out to the Christmas Eve service at our church.  It was a beautifully moving service with awesome music!

Of course, a few photos were in order, which had to include the cats :)

After our church service we came home to enjoy a prime rib dinner & many christmas goodies :)  After everyone was stuffed, as per our tradition, Michael read the Christmas story to the girls from his Bible & then 'Twas the night before Christmas.

We also said goodbye to our friend the Christmas Owl, he's like our Elf...he carries messages to Santa about the girls behavior throughout the month of December

We did put out our cookies for Santa & we were off to bed for a short night of sleep before the morning.  The girls really didn't settle down until around 11 PM & then we heard them up at 430, but made them go back to bed by possibly telling them that it was still nighttime!

Around 630, we allowed them to come downstairs to check out their stockings & look at their presents.  The rest of the morning is a blur as the girls were so full of energy that I really don't remember too much, just mostly paper being shredded & me needing to drink a lot of coffee.

After everyone was finished opening gifts, we had a delicious brunch prepared by yours truly & enjoyed visiting & watching the kids play with their toys & kittens

Nuna is great at sewing so it was nice for her to help Jessie sew on her little sewing machine

This girl loves princess Jasmine :)

Of course, Pumpkin had to have his Christmas picture made

Mittens

These two :)

It was our best Christmas yet & I am so grateful to have had such a wonderful holiday this year.  The weather was beautiful & no snow, I can not say that today as we have blizzard like conditions outside, but Christmas 2015 will definitely go down as my favorite so far!