This was Kendall's first Christmas so it was an extra special one for us (and even so much more fun)... and then, to top it off, it was a WHITE Christmas ... extra special, indeed! Christmas is definitely my favorite holiday ... for many reasons that I won't go into right now, and having Kendall here just makes the holiday all that more!
CHRISTMAS EVE DAY
We drove in to Abilene late Wednesday night ... and boy, were we glad that we did ... on Thursday morning, Christmas Eve Day, we awoke to find it had snowed over night and was STILL snowing! We were glad not to have to brave all the traffic and roads on I-20! Here is my parents' house ... a winter wonderland ... well, for Abilene, that is!
Happy girl! We like all the snow!
We spent Christmas Eve Day at my sister, Rachel's home ... Kendall and I hung out with Aunt Rach and Mason, while Ashley, my Dad and Michael (my brother-in-law) worked ALL day long putting up Mason's Christmas present from Santa Claus ... a swing set! This had been planned for a couple of weeks now, but they were not planning on the snow and 40mph winds! Michael had started putting the pieces together a couple of days before and they were able to work on it in the garage for a while before being in the backyard the rest of the day ...
Working on the swing set ...
Still working ...
The finished product ... 3 handy men & 6 hours
Mommy and Kendall at Aunt Rach & Uncle Mike's house ... burrrrrr, it was cold out there ... and Ashley & I left for Abilene without any coats, gloves, hats or scarves for ourselves (well, it was 73 when we left Dallas on Wed. ... we never expected it to get this cold, and then to snow, too!) ... luckily, my mom had a few old winter items from our childhood hanging around the house, so I picked this lovely hat (from 1989) and a pink scarf, with my blue hoodie ... lovely! Needless to say, we weren't outside very long ... just long enough to let Kendall see the white stuff (on Christmas Eve Day!) and snap 2 pictures and we were under cover the whole time ... but as you can see, her little red nose says it all!
Daddy and Kendall in the snow ... Daddy borrowed winter gear from my Dad, so he could help build the swing set in the snow and roaring winds!
CHRISTMAS EVE NIGHT
It's our Byers tradition to spend Christmas Eve night at my parents' house ... having all the family over and opening most of the presents, but this year we changed it up a bit. We had dinner at my parents', but then went over to my Great Aunt Shanny's house for dessert and games and met up with more family. We decided to delay the present-opening for the night, as Rae, Michael and Mason were spending Christmas Eve with his parents this year.
MawMaw and Kendall ... my what adorable little shoes you have there, Little Miss ... thanks to Auntie E and her favorite little boutique in Florida!
Grams and Kendall ... at Aunt Shanny's house for dessert.
We had a fun time at Aunt Shanny's and it was nice to see our 2nd cousin, Jason & his wife, Brittany and her parents, as well. Unfortunately, MawMaw got the stomach bug a little earlier that night, so she had to leave us early.
Pretty Christmas tree ... checking everything out!
Christmas Eve night ... sitting by the tree and ready for bed!Twas the night before Christmas ...
CHRISTMAS MORNING ... SANTA CLAUS HAS COME TO TOWN!
Since Kendall is so young & didn't wake up at the crack of dawn to start opening presents, we had a leisurely morning with Mom and Dad ... MawMaw was still sick, so we moved Christmas dinner over to my parents'. (Luckily, it ended up being a 24 hour bug ... and only MawMaw got it ... poor MawMaw, sick on Christmas!) We waited for Kendall to get up and feed ... and then we showed her what Santa had brought her ...
Thank you, Santa Claus! Kendall got the Leap Frog Learn and Groove musical table and a Carter's teddy bear lovey and a pink elephant teether animal in her stocking.
Opening up Kendall's stocking ... well, I actually forgot to bring Kendall's stocking with us to my parents' but my mom had one that Santa was able to find and stuff for her!
Kendall checking out her new musical table ...
She was in such a good mood, we decided to let her open a few more presents, before she took her first morning nap (she STILL sleeps after EVERY feed ... it may be only 30-45 minutes on some of the naps, or 1 1/2-2 hours for another nap, but she cannot make it 3 whole hours without napping in btween!)
Kendall with her very first present to open on her first Christmas ... it was a PraiseBaby DVD "Joy to the World" from Grams and Pops. We just LOVE PraiseBaby!
Kendall with her gifts from Grams and Pops ... a PraiseBaby DVD, a Hermie & Friends (by Max Lucado) DVD, a Fisher Price talking book, and the Fisher Price "My Pretty Learning Purse". 
Daddy helping Kendall put on her lipstick ... from her new pink purse, complete with keys, a compact mirror, a bracelet, lipstick, and a piece of play money ... it's so cute ... her 1st purse and she was checking everything out!
We went from putting on the lipstick to eating it ... we are teeeeeeething here, people!
CHRISTMAS DAY
We ended up having a much smaller group over for Christmas dinner, due to sickness and weather, but we enjoyed our time with Grams and Pops AND Kendall!
All clean ... such a cute little flower!
Mommy and Kendall
Christmas dinner at my parents'
Grams and Kendall
Pops and Kendall
Sooooo precious!
We made a big snowman at my parents' and still had snow left over ... there was so much snow!
Merry Christmas!
We had a yummy Christmas dinner with turkey, mashed potatos, dressing, roasted veggies, green bean casserole, cranberry sauce, rolls, chocolate pie & apple crisp cobbler. It was nice getting to spend the day all together ... playing with Kendall and visiting with each other. We also got to talk & webcam via Skype with my sister, Estee, who lives in Florida (and was here over Thanksgiving) ... she was in NC with Taris' family for Christmas this year. We also got to Skype with Huni & GranGran (Ashley's parents), and his brother, Rhett & his family, who were having Christmas in Vancouver, WA. Mom and I drove around our favorite neighboorhoods in Abilene checking out all the Christmas lights & decorations ... a Byers tradition! It was especially nice with all the snow in the yards, but the streets were clear. When we got back, Kendall was up and we were ready to open up some presents!
More presents to open! Kendall did a great job opening ... she was so focused on tearing the paper and took her time on each package.
clothes, clothes everywhere ... from Auntie E and Uncle T ... 3 sleepers and a pink striped fleece vest & pants from Carters ... thank you Auntie E for keeping me stocked in cute clothes! We had to leave the other present from Auntie E back at our house (to open later on), as it was too large to transport back and forth, with all the other stuff we needed to cram into our vehicle for the trip.
Ashley with his new Blu-Rays
Kendall's teddy bear from FAO Schwartz ... Aunt Rach and Uncle Mike bought it for her while they were in New York City, NY ... she also got some "touch and feel" books and a pair of a.dor.able mary jane socks with a flower embellishment on them ... soooo cute! ... thank you, thank you!
My Mom and Dad with their new photo book of our family photo shoot we had done over Thanksgiving. Our photographer, Tammy Mareclain, did a fantastic job putting it all together!
Our little family
Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!
can't believe all the snow! Glad you had a nice Christmas. See you soon.
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