Our Christmas 2009

Oh my, we had a wonderful Christmas. We are feeling so blessed right now! We are so thankful to have spent the holidays with both of our families. Keith and I are lucky to have parents that get along so great!

My folks drove to Marion on Christmas Eve and the whole gang went out to a nice dinner at Ruth's Chris in Memphis. The Jones family has had a tradition in recent years of getting dressed up and going out. This was crazy to me when I first started dating Keith. But, it is really fun to get all spiffy and to be treated and spoiled at a good restaurant. Nobody is worrying about cooking or cleaning dishes and we all get to visit over delicious food. If the family was any bigger, we would probably cook and stay in, but there's just 8 for now! :)

The Moms just before we left.


Keith and I got a couple of pictures in front of the tree.



We love our black and red clothes!! :)



At dinner: Keith's cute siblings, Ryan and Meagan



We ate so much, but it was excellent and worth the (painfully) full tummy!



It had been pouring rain all day, and stopped just as we walked out after diner. Mom and Dad posed under the pretty lights!

Afterward, we went over to my in-laws house for pajamas and to watch Christmas Vacation.

It is also a Jones family tradition to get new pajamas on Christmas Eve. All of the girls PJs match and the guys usually get the same matching fleece pants and a t-shirt.
Ms Penny looks forward to giving these out every year!!



The guys are excited to get them, too!!

Just as we opened them up and before we all put them on, my camera batteries went dead. So, I told everyone they HAD to wear their jammies over to our house on Christmas morning so we'd have some pictures in them!

We proceeded to watch Christmas Vacation and most of us could quote the whole thing! It's amazing how I catch something new every single time I see it. Best. Movie. Ever.


Next was Christmas morning!!! We all slept in, no waking up at 7 with this crew! The Joneses came over around 10:30.

Our tree, with presents galore!


Keith's chair of gifts from me



My chair of gifts from Keith (ummm, he spoiled me this time!)



The boys chatting in the kitchen in their matching Patagonia fleece pants and "Life is Good" t-shirts. Cute, Cute!!


Then, we had brunch. It was so delish, if I do say so myself!
Ms Penny brought some other things, but this is what I made:


Spinach-Bacon Quiche. I will share the recipe soon. It was fab!
See the little tree and presents made with extra crust? Mom and I should have baked these separately so they'd show up better!



Orange Pecan French Toast Casserole.
I made this last year for Christmas, and also made it for Jeni's French lingerie brunch.

Finally, after we had all eaten, we had to open those wrapped presents. The anticipation was killing us!

The moms always love the cards the best, right!?


Now you see what the girls' jammies looked like!
Black and pink plaid from Victoria's Secret. They have cute pink rick-rack trim.




My Dad gets some holiday love from Meagan and Ryan



Ryan loves his camo goodies



Meagan gets lots of bright tights!


Ms Penny is opening a fun gift...


A pretty picture of she and Keith from the wedding. The frame itself is gorgeous!


My Dad liked how I wrapped his gifts :)



Mom gets one of my favorite home fragrances: a Woodwick diffuser


I also got her something off her list: an orange pot to store all of her spoons by the stove. I even got her a few new wooden utensils.



Keith loves his new North Face tee!



Dad is like a kid, the packaging makes him happy!


I got Mom and Dad a beautiful photography book of butterflies.


Mom got me a Lancome beauty box- so exciting!!!!


Keith got a new vest, too! He really likes it, clearly.
He also started to put on all of the 'wearable' gifts he got. You'll see in some upcoming pictures...


We got an awesome joint gift:
A bendy camera tripod (will come in handy on our beach trip with the other couples) AND a gift card for photography classes at Wolff Camera store for us to attend together!!
We are so pumped about this.

For Keith's gifts, I coordinated with my parents. The first gift he opened was an ornament of a hammer...

The second was a big awesome tool kit from my Mom and Dad! Woohoo! This is good man gear.

Next, I gave him a few hooks and things to hang stuff up in the garage...and then for the big surprise, he had to go out to the garage:


I got him a real man's workbench! It's got a pegboard back and drawers where he can store all of his tools and handy man loot. He loved it! In fact, it was put together that day!

Keith also got a camo hat and a golf glove (see it on him in the picture above). He and Dad also got these remote controlled helicopters from Ms Penny. They are pretty cute and fly around like crazy. A total of 3 ornaments were damaged on Christmas Day. It's ok, they are still usable! Our house is just not safe for flying objects!

I got some great goodies, a few favorites are: a big Le Creuset pot for making soups and things, a pretty cross to hang on the wall, a rack to hold all of my bottle toppers I collect, and some clothes from The Limited (my fave store!).

Keith and I agreed that it was way more stuff than we need or deserve, but it sure was sweet of our family members to be so thoughtful and generous.
It was also really fun to host the morning at our house, and watch and take pictures of each gift as it was opened. We loved playing Santa and handing out gifts to everyone. Seeing faces light up and hearing the ooohs and ahhhs is a delight.

For the rest of the day we stayed in our pajamas and enjoyed homemade soup, some naps, and Christmas movies on TV. An ideal day!

Merry Christmas to all! I hope your days were great, too!