Thanksgiving!

I hope each of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. We had almost a whole week of fun time with family. My sister Shelby and her family live in the Woodlands and we don't get to see them very much so it was such a treat to have them in town. Their kids James and Sarah love playing with Abby and the feeling is mutual. My other sister lives in Frisco so we get to see them a little bit more but it was still great to spend a whole day with them. Abby adores her cousins and follows them all over the place. They are so sweet with her and take such good care of her.

On Thanksgiving Day we enjoyed sleeping in as a family. Then we went to my parents house for lunch. It was a full house and the food was incredible. I always love when all my siblings are together and we have so much fun. My brother Brian and my brother-in-law Brad are two of the funniest people on the earth so we spend lots of time laughing which is one of my favorite things to do. Here are some pictures from my parents house:

Papa decided to bring out Miss Bernard for a quick visit:




Abby with Aunt Shelby:



Aunt Bea watching Abby play with her Daddy. Aunt Bea is my great Aunt and just celebrated her 90th birthday.



Papa in his signature pose- carving the turkey.



Daddy in Training. This is my brother Brian spending quality time with his niece. His first child, a little girl, is due at the end of January. He is going to be such a wonderful Daddy. We plan on Whitley (their little girl) and Abby being best friends.



The boys watching football. From left to right- my sister's boyfriend Rob, Chris, and my brother-in-law Brad.



And finally the whole crew. This was the best shot we could get from my camera.



After lunch at my parents Abby took a quick nap and then it was off to my in-laws for dinner. Chris' aunt, uncle, and grandpa were in town from Louisiana and it was such a treat. We don't get to see them very often and we always have so much fun with them. It was also a great dinner. They don't eat turkey so it was nice to have something different. They made an incredible prime rib roast. Yummy yummy! Here are some pics:




Abby loved having everyone's attention. But then she noticed that someone wasn't paying attention to her and she would have to fix that. Hannah had fallen asleep in the living room and Abby felt it necessary to wake her up. It was actually really sweet because then she spent about 15 minutes whispering to Hannah about different things and playing with her hair.





On Friday we went shopping for our annual Black Friday shopping trip. Chris and I have made this a tradition every year. It wasn't that bad this year. Now it's officially the countdown to Christmas. This is Chris and mine's absolute favorite time of year. We have the Christmas lights up (indoors and outdoors) and the tree is up with lots of presents already underneath. Chris was really worried about Abby and the tree but she has done really well. She loves it and as soon as she wakes up she insists that we turn the lights on. She also did a great job helping me put ornaments on the tree, it was really precious. She does everything I do. She's my little copycat and now she copies everything we say. We also own every Christmas movie ever made and we watch one at least everyday. This year we let Abby pick out her very own Christmas movie and of course she picked out an Elmo Christmas special. Let me tell you, we have already watched this video over a dozen times. It's her absolute favorite. The girl is in love with Elmo. We got her the new Elmo Live for Christmas and I can't wait for her to open it up. We also love listening to Christmas music. I had forgotten that Christmas songs are such great worship songs. The words always remind me of the true meaning of Christmas and I love singing about the birth of our Savior. I bought a new Christmas CD this year and I highly recommend it. It's Faith Hill's Joy to the World. I'm not a country music fan so don't get the wrong idea. She sings some of the traditional Christian Christmas songs along with some of the fun upbeat Christmas songs. She has an incredible voice and it's really a beautiful CD.

I hope each of you have a wonderful December and may your holidays be blessed with the love of Christ.