Christmas Has Come & Gone

Hey Folks,

I realize Christmas was about two weeks ago but I still want to recap the holiday. We spent the week of Christmas wrapping gifts and packing for our trip down to Dothan/Montgomery. We got into Dothan Thursday afternoon and stayed until Christmas afternoon. It was nice being home for that long. It's been a while. Our first Christmas surprise was that my dad bought us a king-bed for my room at home. The old bed in my room was a little snug and created a small sleeping problem the first time we were home (together as a married couple) at Thanksgiving. My dad's first solution to the problem was simple to him...sleep separately. Um, no. So plan B it was...buy a new bed. I'll admit, sleeping in a king is the way to go.

Since this was our first Christmas to spend together (yes, we've never done Christmas in the 5 years we've dated), I was excited to share the Hayes family traditions with Kyle. Our main tradition consists of spending A LOT of time in the kitchen making traditional Christmas goodies. I jokingly called my mom a cooking robot this year. I seriously can't remember how many cakes she baked but only one of them mattered to me...her red velvet cake. Ya'll, it's to die for!!!

A variety of other goodies were made as well. Of course, my sister Martha Jr. was there helping. I'm more of the assistant and taste tester. The Dan Man plays the role of official taste tester. Kyle learned quickly that being a taste tester is the best job. Other than cooking/baking, we relaxed a lot which was nice. We also rode around and looked at Christmas lights.

This year I appreciated my mom's Christmas decor a lot more now that I know what all it takes to decorate a home for Christmas. I always enjoy looking at our old home-made ornaments and seeing how my mom redecorates the house from year to year.

It was SUPER sweet and nice that Kyle agreed to coming to Dothan for our first Christmas. We were able to stick to tradition and do Christmas Eve with my dad's family, Christmas morning with my parents and Christmas lunch with my mom's family. Yes, Kyle did have to adjust to another holiday spent traveling the roads but he quickly got over it once he realized how much fun it was!!!! On Christmas eve, we headed over to my grandmother's house (dad's mom) for dinner and dirty Santa.

                                         Photo Shoot before we left

               Me and Hayden with Ivey

On Christmas morning, Santa made his annual visit to our parents house and guess what?! This year he brought gifts for Kyle as well. "Santa" still displays all of our gifts in our specific spots in the den each year. "Santa" does a great job! We were up and at um at 7:45am with "Santa's" traditional "ho, ho, ho" down the hallway. Some traditions are too important to change even when your children are in their 20's.

After opening gifts we quickly headed down to my grandparent's (mom's side) house to open gifts and eat a quick lunch. Before all of the festivities my sweet grandfather always says the most heart-felt, genuine prayer that gives thanks for the events that have occurred in our family's lives the past year and prays for the year ahead. It's hard to find a dry eye in the room afterward.

                                Cousin Eddie Clay in his new bath robe

After our time with my family we drove to Montgomery to spend some time with Kyle's family. I enjoyed partaking in some of their Christmas traditions which included: hunting for the Christmas pickles and getting new Christmas ornaments. This year, Kyle's parents hid 3 pickles. I found the biggest for $10, Kyle found the medium for $20 and Ethan found the baby for $50. It was absolutely hilarious to watch us get on our hands and knees searching for those pickles.

                                The winners circle

                            Hanging our ornament

                               Ethan hanging his ornament

Christmas night we enjoyed a delicious dinner of beef tenderloin and then opened Christmas presents. I'm not going to lie, it was a LONG day but well worth it. We both admitted that we're pretty lucky that our families live relatively close enough that we could spend the day with all of our family members.

Merry Christmas...And Lick Yo Candy Canes

Long (but terribly funny) story short, we have my little sister (Hayden) telling the camera on our home videos, "Merry Christmas Everybody...and Lick Yo Candy Canes!" No clue where she got this. Not even sure where she came up with most of the stuff she said when she was little but gosh wasn't she just the spunkiest thing ever! We noticed that she said this now ever famous Christmas saying among the Hayes family about 5-6 years ago and we've been saying it ever since. It's kind of a family joke.

The Christmas season has been in full force around our household. With all the decor and evergreen scented candles around the house, you'd think Santa Claus himself was living here. I must admit. I got into decorating for Christmas way more than I thought I would. Hence the budget debates when Kyle started noticing new Christmas decor around the house every other day. He admits now that it looks nice. How about a virtual tour?

I'm most proud of my hutch. I decorated it all by myself. My interior decorator was impressed.

Pay no attention to the reflection of the chandelier in the mirror. There are some things you can't change in a rental.

View of the den and my precious snow man pillow made by Megan.

On a side note, I went into a boutique here in Bham the other day and look what I found...a couch full of Megan's pillows. I freaked! The owners of the store loved that their pillows were made by someone who has lived in Alabama.

Dinning room table

Our nativity

My interior decorator got this for me last year for Christmas. It says "May all your Christmases be Crimson and White." Pretty cute. This is in our "Bama Baby Den."

 This little box of "O FFFFUDGE!!!" chocolate walnut fudge sits in our kitchen. My sister gave it to me last year as a surprise and I just had to keep the box. In my opinion, Ralphie bears a striking resemblance to my hubby when he was little and Ethan may or may not look a little like Randy.

 You be the judge. Weren't they just the cutest things though. They're going to kill me.

The other weekend my sister (a.k.a Martha) came to spend Saturday and Sunday with us. Saturday she helped me get ready for some friends we had over for the SEC Championship game. I put her in charge of the desserts..duh! Kyle made chili and our guests brought some appetizers. It was a nice chance to show off the Christmas decor.

Dessert station

Two baby mamas (Caroline and Sarah) and Sarah's baby daddy, John

 Miller and Katie

Hayden in a man sandwich between Kyle and Grant

On Sunday, we (Kyle, Hayden and I) went to an event called Kampfire for the King that raises money for The King's Home. I did my internship for The King's Home (formerly The King's Ranch) and ever since we have participated in their Youth Board. Kampfire for the King is kind of like a Christmas Festival. Last year my sister helped us out and we got to meet the main speaker, Kurt Cameron. Basically our childhood crush. He's still really cute and had an awesome testimony. Judging by the picture, we're pretty sure he has a crush on Hayden.

Don't pay attention to the other man. That's Kurt's body guard. Not sure why he thought we'd want him in the picture. Creeper.

Last year we helped with the Santa booth. This year, we got off easy and helped with the face painting booth. Kyle helped with the fishing rodeo too...he loved it. It was so much fun having my sister in town. Wish we lived in the same town!!!

Forgot to mention that the Guiness Book of World Records was there and we got to witness a man breaking the record for running the longest distance while on fire. Honestly it freaked me and Hayden out.

This past week, I went to a Christmas party at my friend Jenny's house. It was a fun time hanging out with some of my high school friends and catching up. We also did an ornament swap.

On Wednesday, my mom came in town and we did a little Christmas shopping. We had a good time shopping and spending some QT (quality time) together. This weekend, Kyle and I did some Christmas shopping at the Summit. We had our own Christmas party Saturday night. We grilled out steaks and made dirty martinis. Ha, making dirty martinis is something we've NEVER done. It made us feel like yuppies but provided some good laughs. I think the Michael Buble, Mad Men themed Christmas Cd caused the wild hair.

Shakin' it up!

Holiday Martini? Don't mind if I do!

Sunday we went back a holiday and had a mini Thanksgiving. Because we didn't get to get a Thanksgiving meal with my mom's family, Mama Hall made us some of her dressing; which I just love. Isn't she the sweetest? Kyle smoked a turkey and we had ourselves a mini Thanksgiving complete with Christmas dishes and decor. 

YUM!!!

Christmas Firsts: A Tree

Last week, we went and got our first Christmas tree. I laugh because I think we both had this picture perfect vision of what getting our first Christmas tree would be like. It obliviously did not include saying the ever famous line from the movie The Christmas story about 20 times, “Oooo fudge.” I’m convinced putting up a Christmas tree is a test of your marriage. For me, it was a lesson on how to stay calm and keep the peace despite Kyle’s urge to chunk the tree out the back door (due to the fact the tree wouldn’t stay put in the tree stand) and for Kyle it was a lesson on how to still love me despite my tendency to want everything to be just perfect (especially the Christmas tree). He’s also working on still loving me despite my urge to buy anything and everything Christmassy to decorate our home with… but that’s a whole other post. This all occurred to me while my arm was falling asleep as I was holding the tree up as Kyle tried to get the stand on. I’ll share this text message exchange between my friend, Caroline and I on Saturday. We both love our hubbies to pieces but I seriously couldn’t stop laughing when she texted me this. She’s actually a little bit more OCD when it comes to things like a straight Christmas tree than me. God bless Kyle and Grant. 

The good news is…we survived. Once we got the tree to cooperate it turned out to be a fun night. We both think our tree looks pretty good for our first Christmas tree. We agree that we could have probably put another strand of lights on there and could definitely use more ornaments but overall we like it. I’m sure the Christmas tree is one of many firsts that we will be learning valuable lessons from. Now that I think about it, my parents have been married for 30 years and are still having horror stories with Christmas trees so maybe I have a lot to look forward to…not. We’ve both made a mental note that we’ll probably not get our tree from Home Depot again (despite how cheap it was) due to the fact that we couldn’t really tell what it looked liked all tied up. Hey, the season isn’t even over yet so I’m sure there’s some more “lessons” we’ll be learning. I’ve got it pretty lucky now though…I haven’t had to water the tree yet. I’ve convinced Kyle that’s a man chore. 

So without further adieu here’s the Whittington’s first Christmas tree...

                         Trying to pick one out

                           Found it!!!

          Family Truckster All Loaded Up

                      In the stand...finally

                       Lights on

Ta-da!! Ornaments up! We had a star on top at first but then we switched to a bow.

               Much better

 Our "married" ornaments. The first one is from my parents. The second one is from Grant and Caroline.

The more I look at our tree it really does "grow" on me.

Do Yourself a Favor

And go get this CD...now!!

The Michael Buble Christmas Cd. It's amazing!!! To tell you the truth, I'm kind of indifferent about Christmas music. Don't get me wrong. I love Christmas music but it has to be played at the right time and place. I'm definitely not one of those people who listens to Christmas music right after Halloween. Kyle bought me this CD to play when we decorated our Christmas tree (post to come) and it really put me in the Christmas mood. I've been singing its praises for days now. It's all the classics. I tell people it made me want to sip on a dirty martini while decorating my tree. Very Mad Man Christmas. Go get the CD now!!!!