Family Christmas's

Christmas 2017!

For us, there was 23 days of Christmas! 23 days of fun filled quality time with family and I enjoyed every second of it. With the new year rolling around the corner, I can't help but think what an amazing year we have had filled with so many blessings. Christmas time is just so perfect, ending the year with such a high note!


The first stop on our Christmas journey leads us to Gatlinburg TN for Nana's Christmas! We always so look forward to Nana's Christmas and always have a fun prank up our sleeves ready for the older adults!

Cody and I both had to work the day starting Nana's Christmas and I was in Dalton for the day so we were the last ones to arrive and to arrive in the dark. We gave hugs, caught up with each other's lives, and went to sleep. The next morning we woke up to the most breathtaking view we had ever seen outside! I had no idea the view was this gorgeous (pic below)! I couldn't help but sit outside with my cup of apple cider and just stare at God's beauty he has designed for us.

The cabin Nana rented out for us was HUGE! It was 3 floors, had 6 bedrooms, one large theater room, an arcade room, decks off of every room, a HUGE kitchen area and breathtaking views from every window. We were in absolute heaven!

The gang!

Happy family!

The awesome arcade room! I mean seriously guys, this home arcade room has actual arcade games and pool tables! We spent so much time down here!

The theater with cozy cozy seats!

Warm fireplace to keep us cozy:).

Big kitchen area with TWO 8 seat tables

Little office outside the master bedroom.

At night we iced our sugar cookies like we do every year! It is one of our favorite traditions at Nana's Christmas and is so much fun to eat!

The second night we ate at the Old Mill restaurant which was absolutely delicious! Nana always chooses the best places to eat!

Great conversations

On our first morning Morgan and I had a little photo session outside on the balcony. It was too beautiful and I just couldn't pass up the opportunity to take a picture with my best friend!

We didn't know this picture was being taken but we were just having the best time talking, catching up, and telling stories.

This is my uncle Wade y'all, he has such a big heart. So many people love him! He loves the Lord most of all! He was standing out on the porch talking to me and I couldn't resist to snap a quick picture with the gorgeous scenery behind him. He looked like he should belong on a post card the picture was so perfect! 

During the day on the second day after opening presents, we walked around Gatlinburg and toured the stores and rode the skylift. The fire damage still existed but the surrounding buildings and homes were still slowly recovering. The views were still breathtaking on the skylift! Morgan and Edgar rode in the lift in front of us.

Gorgeous

And of course, a picture with my honey!!!

The last morning we parted after eating at delicious Camp restaurant which had enormous pancakes and delicious cinnamon rolls! We hate when the 3 days of Nana's Christmas ends and we have to all go our own ways and head home. It is always so sad but we look forward to seeing each other the next year!

I was a good girl and still did my stretches twice a day throughout the entire Christmas month even when I didn't feel like it. My foot is slowly recovering!

Now on to the next stop on our Christmas journey, Gigi's Christmas! Gigi always puts together a fun packed 2 days of non stop, no sleep Christmas family time! We always leave feeling so loved and so happy! Gigi always makes each one of us feel so special. 

When we arrived on Friday after a half day of work we ate a delicious dinner together, played board games, laughed, talked religion, politics, school, and life, and just had some GREAT bonding time. It was one of the best Gigi Christmas's we had ever had!

The next morning we woke up to Sasha licking our faces in bed and lined up in our annual line on the stairs waiting to see what Gigi clause brought! Even little Sasha was excited and had presents to open!

Me and Gigi💗💗

The gang!

My furry buddy!

I have always loved the little stockings Gigi has for us grandchildren! 

Gigi gave me one of the most gorgeous watch I had ever seen (besides Granddad's engineer watch he got me;)). I haven't taken it off! They know me so well!

Gigi got Cody his first pair of printed socks EVER! Cody never wears funky socks but Gigi is so good she found a pair that Cody actually thinks is cool and will wear! 

We then spent the rest of the day playing with our presents, taking Sahsa on walks, eating Gigi's DELICIOUS Christmas meal and napping 😉. Thank you Gigi and Granddad for everything! We left right before dinner time to meet up with Cody's family to start their Christmas.

We ate at Red Robin together, walked around the mall, and went to Starbucks planning the next day. On Sunday, Christmas Eve, we went to church and then headed over to Jamie and Miles to kick off the Raborn Christmas officially. We ate a delicious meal Jamie prepared for us all and opened presents. Cody and I slipped away for 2 hours to go to our Church's Christmas Eve service with mom and then came right back. The service was so touching!

When we got back we put together the Paw Patrol scooter we got Kaden! I am proud to say he loved it!

After we taught Kaden how to ride his scooter, we ate dinner and then it was time for aunt Kayla's arts and crafts! I brought all of the items to make little Christmas trees out of ice cream cones and green frosting (thanks to my beyond creative mom)!

Kaden took off with the idea and had a blast as you can see from the picture above. He made an awesome tree! 

I had bowls of different types of candy to decorate the tree cones ranging from m&m's, candy pearls, red frosting for the garland, paw patrol gumies, and sprinkles!

Hey, even us adults had fun!

My little tree

Papa recording the action

And Nana supervising with Tyler

Papaw approves!

We ended the night with just Jamie, Cody, Tyler, Miles, and me talking about life, fun, family, and religion. We had a lot of fun together bonding over our hot coffee and tea. We ended up going home around 1:30am!

The next Christmas was me and Cody's Christmas on Christmas day. We love having actual Christmas day with just the two of us so when we have kids it will be the norm when we stay home on Christmas day and won't have to travel.

Santa came and filled up our stockings!

He is the sweetest guy in the world! He was so excited to see what was in his stocking :).

He was even more excited to see me open the presents he bought me.

This is Cody's little pile of some of his favorite things he got (minus the AWESOME hiking boots my mom got him!). This stack looks so much like him! All he needs is oreo/reeses, meat, socks, and a nice leather belt. This year I got him some books on our future dog since we are both DYING to get a dog but it would not be a wise move financially or spatially for us right now. So for the time being, the books will suffice :). Plus it gives us a leg up on learning the training basics. 

Cody loved his hiking boots so much he wouldn't take them off!

This is a little stack of some of my favorite things Cody got me! He is such a sweetheart and so thoughtful!

He got me this delicious tea I had been looking for for so long! He never seises to amaze me! This tea actually smells and tastes like sugar cookies! I already drank half of the box!

So Cody got me this new edible cookie dough at Unbaked Bar. It is eggless cookie dough in birthday cake, chocolate chip cookie, and brownie flavored dough that is so incredibly delicious! We even baked some of it in the oven to make the best tasting cookies we had ever had!

So gooooood!

For one of my presents I asked Cody to surprise me with a dress he thought would look good on me and man he is awesome, he chose this beautiful dress for me to wear and I couldn't have chose a more perfect dress for me! It is the most beautiful dress I have ever seen! It is a floor length floral maxi dress with the beautiful flattering striped top which starts at the waist. I can't wait to wear it! Thanks Cody! :):)

And the coolest pair of leggings I asked for! I am DEFINITELY wearing this next year!

Cody chose another dress for me which I absolutely love too! I can't wait for summer to wear this!

Check out this wax-less color less CLEAR eos chapstick! So refreshing and smells SO AMAZING!

The aftermath of our present opening 🙊🙈🙉 (don't worry, my ocd didn't let it stay like this for more than an hour ;)).

For the rest of the day we ate our sausage balls that Nana so sweetly made for us to eat on our Christmas morning, and watched Christmas Story and Christmas Carol.

Cody stirred the new chocolate peanut butter piece in his coffee to go with the sausage balls. What can I say, we are peanut butter freaks!

We ended the day with driving around looking at Christmas lights. It was a perfect day:).

The next stop on our Christmas journey was my mom's Christmas! She was so sweet to postpone her Christmas to the first weekend in January so we could spend dad's last weekend in Tennessee together before going back to Texas. She has such a giving heart! Mom's Christmas started with us arriving pretty late from having to work on that Friday. When we finally arrived we talked, played board games, snacked on delicious finger foods and headed to bed anxiously awaiting Santa;).

On Saturday morning we woke up to a winter wonderland! Mom spent so much time making the room feel like Christmas! It was so beautiful! Sasha couldn't even help not playing in it!

Our stocking presents were scattered on the ground for us to pick up along the 'path'.

And the path lead us to our presents! I got a gorgeous scarf and an essential oil diffuser! I am so curious about essential oils and have been doing a lot of research about it. Now I have a diffuser to mix and match the oils for different uses such as relaxation, headache relief, etc. I'll get back to you to let you know what I think of it!

This is the dress and shoes that go with the scarf mama got me! She is so good!

Mama also got me my very first pair of chacos!!! I am SO EXCITED to go hiking in these! 

Mama was so sweet and thoughtful, she surprised us with some of the most amazing gifts! I love absolutely everything!!:):)

After presents we ate breakfast of sausage balls and honey! (our favorite Christmas breakfast if you haven't guessed already ;))

Then we had the opportunity to celebrate Gigi's birthday early! I brought brownies for Gigi and my mom for Christmas so I whipped up both batches (one before I got there) and we celebrated Gigi! :)

After the birthday celebration Morgan used my new curling wand I got from Gigi for Christmas and she curled my hair! Since it is short now, I am able to curl it very easy! Morgan made my hair very beautiful!

After Morgan curled my hair we quickly made our way to Nana's house because she made my mom's favorite roast meal for her Christmas present! 

The food was absolutely divine! We had been looking forward to it for over 2 years! Nana is the best cook! 

After dinner we played some of the new board games mom got us and we all went our own ways home. It is always so hard to leave. It was one of the best Christmas celebrations ever!

And the last stop on the Christmas train....Wamack Christmas!! :D

The next day (which was Sunday) (yes we had a busy busy schedule) we went to Cody's Nana's Christmas after church! We ate sandwiches, dessert, talked, looked through old pictures, exchanged gifts and took family pictures! Above is all of Nana and Papa's grand kids (plus one great-grandkid). 

The Raborn family!

The Wamack family!

Us gathered around the sandwiches ;).

Kaden got a leaf blower. It was so cute! He ran around all over with it!

Then we had to leave a little early because I had my first business trip to attend the next morning at 7:00am. I was heading to Wisconsin for product development! I was very excited (by the way it went very well)!

Thank you guys for hangin in there with all of our Christmas's we have so many places to go that so many people love us, it is the most wonderful feeling!

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Love,

Kayla 

1/7/18

P.S.- How can it already be 2018!?! How does time fly by so fast!?