Here Comes Santa Claus

The Christmas season is upon us and we're in the thick of it! Purchasing gifts, holiday get-togethers, wrapping presents, I feel like I'm running on fumes!

We're still camped out at my mom's house (she's a saint!) but good news, we found a new home and will be moving in January 2nd. Plenty of details on that later.

Being the child of divorced parents (as well as divorced grandparents) I've always had a lot of Christmases each year. It normally involves drives/flights back to Memphis to see my extended family and trying to balance traditions at home with spending time with family. Add in a husband and his family and we can rack up two solid weeks of Christmas celebrations! This year, with the baby still so young, we're trying to reign it in a little bit and so we've decided to not go to Memphis this year :(

Even without the Memphis trip we still have a few Christmases on the calendar! The first Christmas of the year was spent with my Dad and Stepmom. They came into town last Wednesday and we got to spend two very enjoyable days together!

My Dad arrived first so we went to the Mall at Green Hills so Easton could meet Santa. Here's my take on pictures with Santa: I love it when kids smile but I love it even more when kids are red-hot screaming messes. I think it's absolutely hilarious! What I did not want was a picture of my baby giving a mouth-breathing-while-looking-off-in-the-distance stare which is precisely what the kid tried to do! Fortunately, since we were there mid-day on a Wednesday, there wasn't a line so Easton got to spend some extra time in Santa's lap. I asked Santa to make kissy noises at Easton and sure enough it worked!

We had a pretty laid back rest of the day. My stepmom, Darlene, got into town and we picked up takeout and ate it in the hotel room while Easton slept and we got caught up :)

The next day, after Easton took his morning nap, we went out to lunch. Easton and Gramma had a great time picking out what Gramma was going to eat.

The afternoon was pretty relaxed, we drove around (Easton took his afternoon nap in the car so we toured Nashville so he could sleep) and when we got back to the hotel, Gramma and Granpa babysat so Mommy could take a nap!

Playing "horsey"... looks like Granpa needed a nap too!

That night, we went out to dinner to celebrate Christmas and Gramma's birthday! We went to one of our favorite restaurants, Adele's.  Easton was teething and coming down with a cold so we spent a lot of time passing him around to keep him entertained before he finally passed out in my arms.

Easton woke up for his last bottle when we got back to the hotel to exchange our gifts but didn't make it up very long!

Even though it was a short visit, it was such a good one!

I realized when looking through pictures of their visit I had a bunch more that needed to be shared! 

On Monday's, Branch and I meet at Gymboree, Easton's play gym, during lunch for play time. Easton is always so excited to see his Daddy in the middle of the day!

So much cheek!

Who can ever get enough of babies and their adorable little booties? I swear, baby butts are my absolute favorite!

My Granddaddy and his wife Barbara spent a couple of extra days in Nashville last weekend before and after my cousin's wedding in Chattanooga.  Easton was in love with Granddaddy's Ole Miss hat!

 But maybe it's just because he loves all hats :)

Easton has also been getting to spend lots of time with his Gigi and his Papa (Branch's parents).

The super cute penguin PJ's courtesy of Gigi

 The night we loaded the moving truck, our friend, and Easton's Godmother, Blair came over to babysit (if you look closely you can see Branch taking something out the front door).

They had a great time together!

At my mom's, we're trying to get Easton back on his normal routine. We spend lots of time playing...

...and napping!

I hope each of you have a wonderful Christmas filled with love and joy! My goal is to shut down the electronics for a few days and really soak it all in! 

Love y'all! Merry Christmas!