Santa and our Trees

Each year, as soon as we step off the plane from Thanksgiving, we literally jump right into the deep end of the Christmas season.  The first order of business is to get the tree up and decorated before Reese's birthday.  This year we headed to our favorite spot on what was an unseasonably warm day and found a tree that was just right for us.

For the first time, we gave in to the begging and pleading for the girls to have a tree that was just right for them.  So they picked out a cute little tree that they put in their room and decorated with all sorts of homemade arts and crafts.  They could not have been happier.  We got to decorate our big tree not once, but twice, because we had tree stand mishap that led to a fallen tree, broken ornaments, and a new tree stand.  Hopefully we have finally learned all that it takes to keep a tree upright so that we don't lose any more of our favorite ornaments.

This year getting our tree came before our annual trip to see Santa at the Ingle-Mayfield house.  We love this Santa and the girls are now more than willing to hang out and talk with him, though they are more interested in running around the house and eating sweets on a school night.  And we can't blame them because we enjoy having a couple of glasses of wine and kicking off the holiday season with some great family friends.

When Sarah bought the girls Christmas outfits this year, she had no clue that Callie would be matching Vivie Ann.  This would not be a problem except for the fact that the Johnson family always attends this annual get together as well.  Here is a picture taken by Jessica Johnson, and not Sarah, since Callie would not indulge her mother's request for a picture but had no problem doing the same thing for Vivie's mom.  Gotta love kids, don't you? Don't worry, parents are ahead because we will use this tactic in the future for bigger requests.

It is hard to believe that Vivie and Callie have been taking photos together at this event before Reese was even born.  And although we didn't get the boys in this shot, Mason and Emerson certainly rounded out the cuteness.  Hopefully next year we can get all five of them together.