My sister was not able to fly east this year so we decided we would finally make the trip as a family of four to North Carolina for Christmas. We've never been able to spend Christmas with all of our parents/grandparents so this was a fun first. Because of this we celebrated "Christmas Morning" early with our kiddos. As official parents playing Santa, Kevin and I spent hours putting together a dream kitchen for Avery and Grayson the night before we had our Christmas. Oh my goodness...not even a knob was on a door. Every single piece, nut, bolt, screw, handle, you name it had to be put together. We were definitely initiated into the 'put your kids Christmas present together the night before' task.
Grayson checking out the Christmas lights
The weekend before Christmas we packed up and headed off on our tour of family all over North Carolina. We stopped in Raleigh on our way down and spent the evening with my parents visiting Santa and having dinner. Then we drove the rest of the way to Winston Salem and spent a couple of days visiting between Kevin's dad and step-mom and his mom. On Christmas Eve we headed back to Raleigh to spend the day with my parents to wake up and have Christmas morning with them. Christmas afternoon we packed up again and headed for Lake Ewharrie to celebrate Christmas at Kevin's Aunt Anita's beautiful home with his dad, step-mom, cousins, their kids, and aunt and uncle. That night we settled back into Winston before taking off the next morning for our final stop in Lumberton with his moms family. We stayed there until Saturday before making the trek back to our home sweet home.
I was beyond impressed with Avery and Grayson and their ability to handle bouncing from place to place, living out of a bag, sleeping in pack n plays, and spending LOTS of time in the car. We successfully celebrated 5 Christmas' in a week, saw almost all of our family and managed to make lots of fun memories. However, we are beyond exhausted and think we might have to stay put next year and hope everyone can come to us!
On our way to NC we stopped off at my mom's mall to visit Santa and let him know what Avery and Grayson wished to have for Christmas. It went exactly as I had expected. However, in the line they kept waving at Santa and saying Ho Ho Ho. The moment I put them on his lap they freaked. The second I got them off they looked at him waved and said, "Bye Bye Santa". It was quite hilarious!
Christmas morning with my parents (Granddady and Nana)
Christmas night at Kevin's Aunt Anita's house in Lake Ewharrie, NC.
Avery loved Aunt Anita's nut cracker so much she kept giving him kisses
Christmas dinner in Lumberton, NC.
NC Barbecue with my Aunt Pat in Lexington, NC
Playing the piano with Nana Hatcher
They had SO much fun with Uncle Austin
Avery's new hobby is taking pictures and asking everyone to say, "sheeze".
While in Raleigh we fit a quick visit in with mommy's friend Courtney.
There were lots of naps in the car.
Christmas night in Lake Ewharrie, NC with our second cousins Edward and Lily.
Avery is slightly obsessed with her baby dolls and got a very special cradle from Nana Hatcher.
Grayson is such a boy and loves his trucks!
Our Christmas dinner at Gigi's house. She made Avery and Grayson their very own little table to sit at and enjoy their salad and dinner.
They loved spending quality time in Lumberton, NC with their Great Grandady Sutton.
They had a blast running around the Sutton farm.
They even got to play on and ride the tractor around the property.
This girl was mighty happy with all the eating we did throughout the week.
Love her little pig tales. She now asks for two bows so this is how we do it.
I got a little shooting practice in...
Grayson enjoyed inspecting all of the rocks and dirt.
We had such a great time and couldn't believe how quickly our visit to NC was over. We truly miss our family more than words and cannot wait to see everyone again soon. This was the best Christmas Kevin and I have ever had seeing how much fun it is to play Santa and watch Christmas through Avery and Grayson's little eyes. I have a feeling next year will be even more exciting!
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