Tender Tennessee Christmas

It may just be the sappiest Lee Greenwood song ever written, but whenever I think about Christmas in Tennessee, this is the soundtrack in my head.  "Tender Tennessee Christmas."  We were excited to start our Tennessee Christmas celebrations, so we got an early start the day after Christmas.  Keep in mind, we had returned from Colorado late on the 22nd, prepared for and celebrated Christmas and then quickly packed up for a visit to Tennessee.  To say that my house was a disaster would be an understatement!  We repacked all of our bags and headed down for some fun with cousins!  First stop was Grandmother Chamber's house. We don't often visit her house because she has a lot of fragile collectibles right at child level, but I know she enjoys having us there.  I was on pins and needles, though, with five children set loose in that house!!  The kids were good, but they're KIDS and they don't always do what you would expect.  Added to that, Grandmother gave each child a light up bouncy ball!  It was a nightmare!!  Regardless, Grandmother enjoyed her visit and her gifts and we had a great time seeing her and linking up with Ava and Myla and Nan and Poppa.

Cousins, together at last.  Our kids have SO MUCH FUN together!  It's really just nonstop hilarity and fun with these guys and Grandmother is just as much of a young person as they are.  Do you like her hat??

These guys were ready for some big fun!  Nan and Poppa give almost free rein when it comes to juice boxes, chocolate milk, fruit snacks and popcorn and there's all KINDS of fun toys at their house.  It's a kid's paradise!!  We took one last photo with Grandmother.  See those balls?  Now imagine all five of them flying in different directions at the same time!!

That evening, we celebrated Christmas with a delicious meal and PRESENTS!  I think gifts are one of the only things that could have induced this crew to pose for us!

Myla is a MESS!!  She was so excited about all her Christmas gifts and especially enjoyed her dress up clothes.  I think she was a bride for the majority of the visit!  Tristan and Bennett both received these laser guns.  We had epic space battles all around Nan and Poppa's house!

Nan knows what to give her little science lovin' grandchild!  A real anatomy book!  She LOVES it.  It's a bit graphic when it comes to the reproductive system, including some photos that are bound to provoke questions one of these days, but I guess it's a good way to introduce that subject!  Brent got an Edison High School Football hat, the school that he played football for in high school.  With that hat on, he could pass for a high school football player!

Brent's mom made this awesome t-shirt quilt for him out of t-shirts from high school and college.  It's really neat to go back and look at all his shirts.  The kids love this quilt and fought over who would have it in bed with them, but we've settled on keeping it in the living room for our family movie nights.  Ava was more impressed with her Cinderella doll we got for her.

We had a wonderful time giving and receiving our gifts from Nan and Poppa.  For some reason, I never got all my kids photographed with them.  You'd think with the thousands of photos that Amy and I take between the two of us we would have thought of it!

The rest of our visit consisted of countless hours of painting, coloring, Ipad, imagination, popcorn, movies, horse feeding, golf cart riding and lots of eating.  I can't get over how well my kids get along with their cousins.  My kids might fight like cats and dogs amongst themselves, but we add in Ava and Myla and we have relatively few altercations.  Incredible!  Love these girls!

The kids usually all bunk out in Nan and Poppa's room, but they had to catch an early flight on the day we left, so we set up beds for the kids in the family room.  All four big kids slept together and did really well in the same "bed."  I have a feeling they'll be requesting this sleepover next time we visit!

On our way out of town, we visited with Grandpoppa.  It's really different being at Grandpoppa's house at Christmas since Grandmother died.  She always had lots of Christmas decorations up and the place felt festive.  Grandpoppa had a few things up, no doubt put up by Brent's aunts. It just doesn't feel the same.  He was happy to have some very energetic visitors, though, and the kids happily depleted his chocolate supply before departing!  All in all, it was a good visit and we treasured our Tennessee Christmases!

Christmas Morning

Ahh, Christmas!  The happiest day of the year!  Our children we practically delirious with excitement for Christmas this year.  Looking back, I probably made things worse with our Christmas countdown starting at Thanksgiving!  We had multiple conversations a day about when Santa would be here, what he might bring and how excited they all were.  Maura wanted a zoo set, Tristan wanted a light saber and Bennett wanted a Mickey Mouse pillow and they wrote their Santa letters in mid November this year.  Because of all the excitement and because of Tristan's tendency to sneak around a bit, I put up a barrier at the top of the stairs to keep all the little sneakies contained until we were conscious enough to join in the action.  I was right to do so, too, because Tristan was the first to burst indignantly into our room in the morning, demanding to know why there was a barrier on the top of the stairs!  I took a page out of my parent's playbook and made everyone at least brush their hair before we headed downstairs.  When I was a child, my parents would drag out the production on Christmas morning, making us all find robes and slippers, brush teeth and hair, make beds and line up at the top of the stairs in birth order before finally being allowed downstairs.  We used to chafe under it, but it taught patience!  I simply required a hairbrush and a photo before they were allowed to see the downstairs!

Three happy, excited, impatient kiddos managed to bring out a smile for mommy.  They probably knew it would just delay things if they didn't smile!

It took them just a moment when they got downstairs to figure out where everyone's gifts were.  Santa brought the presents wrapped up in Santa paper.  Bennett was slightly overwhelmed for a few minutes, but he quickly got into the swing of things!

It was so much fun to witness the unwrapping and the joy of my children.  It's truly one of the most magical experiences to witness as a parent.  Bennett could not have been more thrilled with his new Mickey Mouse toys.  I love that he's in a Mickey phase right now.  The other kids liked Mickey, but nothing like Bennett!

This Christmas was all about weapons for Tristan.  He got Nerf guns and Light Sabers galore.  Maura got one present that I just knew she was going to love.  It was a beautiful peacock puppet.  She's been asking for a stuffed peacock for awhile now and this one was the coolest one I found.  She launched herself at me as soon as she opened it to give me a hug!

SUCH a happy girl!  She plays with that peacock all the time.  My sweet little bird lover!  Tristan FINALLY got his light saber.  This has been on the wish list since just after his birthday in May.  Too bad he didn't mention it before we bought him his birthday gifts!  We're looking forward to many light saber duels to come.

So excited about his castle too!  You can see Bennett in the background with his Mickey Mouse pillow.  He was so thrilled!  The big kids have had pillow pets for two years now, but Bennett has had to wait.  The fact that it was Mickey Mouse is icing on the cake.  He loves it.  It goes with the rest of the menagerie in his crib, which includes about four blankets, a pillow, a stuffed Mickey and football, a toy motorcycle, plastic Mickey mouse and generally a least one sword or dagger.  He likes to be prepared!  Bennett got yet another weapon to add to his arsenal for Christmas.  He loves this Buzz Lightyear gun so much!

After making it through all the gifts, I asked the kids if anyone had spotted the pickle ornament.  It's an old German Tradition to hide a pickle ornament on the tree and the first child to find it gets a prize.   Of course Maura has ALWAYS won this contest!  Always until this year, that is!  Tristan was quickest this year and Maura was in tears when she didn't find it first!

I wanted breakfast to be really special this year, so I made a breakfast casserole with homemade cinnamon rolls and homemade hot chocolate and some fruit.  I shouldn't have gone to any trouble for the kids.  They were so excited that they barely touched their food!  I think they were just trying to save room for the chocolate that was still to come when they opened their stockings.  I tried to have them hold off on their stockings a bit because they're really the last gifts of Christmas and I wasn't ready for the fun to be over in fifteen minutes!  They finally wore me down with asking for them and they were so excited to dig in.  Poor Bennett doesn't have a stocking of his own  yet. His loser Mommy hasn't sewed one for him yet.  It's on my agenda for this month, though, so that I don't get to next December and run out of time again!  I WILL have a stocking for my child by his fourth Christmas!  Thankfully he can't read yet!

After stockings, all the assembly began.  There was a lot of assembly.  A WHOLE lot.  Daddy is a trooper!

Brent got lots of nice gifts, but I think his favorite might have been his helicopter.  He's truly young at heart!  Grammy and Pappap stopped by for a visit in the early afternoon.  The kids were so excited to show off all their new toys and to play with their grandparents. 

That evening, we headed over to Grammy and Pappap's house for Christmas dinner and a little more present opening.  The kids had forgotten to give their gifts to each other!  Correction:  I had forgotten to get the gifts out that were purchased in early November and hidden away since then.  The kids went shopping at a local Extension office.  They had a Santa's workshop and the kids got to go shopping with a helper.  They brought all the gifts back already wrapped and ready to go.  It was wonderful!!  Apparently, though, one of the friendly helpers allowed Bennett to buy a Louisville scarf for Tristan!  Tristan was thrilled and thought he was stylin' in his new scarf, until Brent made a big fuss about it!

We made Brent wear the scarf in punishment!  It was apparently the year of the scarf as Brent gave scarves he purchased in Afghanistan to all the females in our family.  Emily enjoyed trying out her burka.

It was truly a magical Christmas for the Allen family.  I couldn't help reflecting throughout the day about Christmas last year, when we Skyped with Brent in Afghanistan and missed his presence for the rest of the day.  This year, it was such a blessing to have our whole family together, to make memories and share in the love we have for each other.  We are truly blessed and we thank God for the blessing of His son!  We took one last photo with Uncle Jeff and our Christmas was done.  Can't wait for next year!

Christmas Eve fun

After all the festivities of the previous week at Beaver Creek it was time for...more family time!!  We had to quickly regroup after our flight home on Saturday, unpack, clean, shop and be in the Christmas spirit for Christmas Eve on Monday.  Whew, it was exhausting, but we were ready to party by Christmas Eve afternoon.  We visited Grammy and Pappap's church for Christmas Eve service.  They did a wonderful job illustrating the beauty of God's gift to us, then asked if anyone wanted to give their life to Christ.  Maura raised her hand to accept Christ, bringing a well of emotion to her momma's eyes.  I don't know if this is a true commitment at this age, but it is a definite indication of Maura's heart for the Lord and desire to serve Him with her life.  We pray that she will continue to seek after Christ and desire a relationship with Him that will grow.  She is truly a spiritually minded child, who likes to ponder big ideas, so we just pray that she will continue to think on the things of Christ.  Praise God for His faithfulness in helping us to grow up children of faith!

My beautiful, sweet, precious girl was so ready to celebrate Christmas this year.  Every single day when we reviewed the calender in December, she and Tristan would count down the days till Christmas.  It was so much fun to relive my childhood excitement through my children!  Emerson, of course, had no idea it was Christmas, but she was a pretty big fan of all the attention she was getting from her many aunts, uncles and cousins!

It was so nice to have Jeff home with us for Christmas.  He'll be moving to Italy in a few days, so we enjoyed our extended visit with him as it may be awhile till we see him again.  Lorie and Micah were with us all of Christmas after being with Micah's family for the past few years.

Brad and Emily REALLY enjoyed their breaks from school.  Brent and I enjoyed Christmas Eve meal even though we had to keep up a running dialog that sounded something like this: "Tristan, get back in your seat.  Maura, eat your food.  Bennett, stop putting your fork in your juice.  Alex, get your hand out of your juice, Maura, eat your food.  Bennett, stop touching your brother.  Tristan, stop pushing your brother.  Maura, eat your food!!!!"  Really relaxing!

I love this one!!  Uncle Scott is always popular with the kids because he riles them up and runs around with them.  Scott, you need to use this as a profile picture!  Alex was pretty excited about Christmas too.

Pretty soon it was present opening time!  The kids were in a frenzy of present anticipation, but we made them pose for the obligatory photos.  I love that Maura and Tristan are such good buddies these days.  I hope they always remain close to one another. 

Rapunzel!  Maura is almost out of the doll phase completely and could really care less about princesses these days, but she'll make an exception for Rapunzel.  She got Flynn Rider too.

Scott bought us all these cute hats.  He meant to give them to us in Colorado, but it didn't happen, so we received them on Christmas Eve instead, which made for some really cute photos.  Bennett looked like the kid from Fat Albert as the hat spent most of the night covering his eyes. 

Maura was very, very helpful when it came time to open the adult gifts.

Mmm, can't wait to eat some of the pies she's going to make with that rolling pin.  Katie took the time to etch a custom pie plate for Emily too.  It turned out so cute!  Emily was the founder of our Christmas Eve feast.  She prepared our custom ordered calzones, complete with initial on top to distinguish the consumer. 

Mom was thrilled to have all her chicks under one roof.  Jeff lives so far away that it's not often that our whole family is together at one time.  I know she loved the family time.

I figured I'd better take the opportunity to pose with Jeff.  He says he'll visit at least once a year, but I know how close he'll be the the Italian Alps and who knows if he'll make good on that promise!  We also took the opportunity to take a timed hat photo.  I'm still shocked that all the kids looked at the camera until it beeped!  Must have been the novelty of the situation!

Pretty soon, it was time to head home and make our preparations for Santa's arrival.  Don't be fooled by the photo, it was NOT bare feet weather.  For some reason, my kids hate shoes and socks!   I guess we're true Kentucky natives.  We sprinkled Reindeer food all over our driveway and yard to attract Rudolf to our house.  Once inside, we filled a plate with cookies, milk and carrots and Maura proudly carried it to our fireplace.

The kids COULD NOT WAIT.  This year is the most excited they've ever been about Christmas and I was sure they weren't going to be able to sleep all night, but somehow sleep took them all so that Santa could come for a visit.  We couldn't wait to see if he liked his snack or what he would bring us!