TRACE'S PLACE: Christmas 2015

This little guy says "It was a very Merry Christmas!" We were awfully happy to get to spend our first holiday with this sweet stinker. He was intrigued by the Christmas tree, destroyed a few ornaments, and innocently ripped a few packages with this lethal claws, but over all his first Christmas with the Cofers was fairly tame.

The holidays started off at Trace's school Christmas party where I somehow became in charge of running the games. Sheesh...
Do you want to build a snowman?

Then Mandi and I took the kiddos up to Ruby Falls Christmas which was really a sweet adventure. And we met Santa and of course bought the obligatory pictures (which is now an ornament on our story tree :)

Can we just have a moment of silence for the 200+ pictures I Jimmy somehow lost off Dropbox. All which include our Disney trip, Halloween, Thanksgiving in Destin, cookies with my college girls and kids, and Keatyn's Christmas performance as Mary. (insert scream here) I'm not over it. But I am holding out hope that I can get them back off my phone and downloaded. Sigh. I have now spent many hours copying all of our pictures from 2008 and forward onto DVDs. Nothing like losing a few to make you finally "back up."

Anyway, here is my sweet girl playing Mary in her preschool show. These pictures were taken by some friends, which was the deciding factor in us finally buying a "real" camera as our Christmas present to each other. As much as I adore and cherish my pictures, my blurry, hazing iPhone pics just didn't compare to these. It was the perfect gift for us to give one another and I wish we had done it years ago.

Star Wars was everywhere this Christmas. And it didn't disappoint!

Our crazy elf Cheeky showed back up. (And we lost all the fun antics he pulled around here too.) Thank goodness for Pinterest and all these ideas. I'm no where near creative enough to come up with this stuff. Ha!

All you have to do in my house is yell, "Pillow Nest" and it turns into this quickly. Every blanket and pillow in the house comes out and we pile up in the floor (in this case the Christmas tree) and watch a movie. Pretty sure this night was Elf with Will Farrell. Our first time seeing it, but a tradition was born. The kids loved it!

Snuggling in a pillow nest with these guys is my favorite thing ever.

Opening gifts with Sisty and Granddaddy...

Opening gifts with Nana, Papaw, Uncle Andy and Aunt Kadi (and sweet pea baby Brown!!)...

Christmas Eve with mom's side...

This picture doesn't do the size of this cake justice. Holy cow!

Tommy and Shara got Keatyn sponge rollers. I honestly spent half my childhood in these. She made it all night and it turned out beautiful!

Santa came!

Our Alabama Christmas nearly didn't happen this year. We woke up Christmas morning to torrential rain and flooding. We went back and forth for hours about whether to take off on the 3.5 hour trip or not. We even called the Highway Patrol. Once it slacked later that afternoon, we decided to try, totally prepared to turn around and come home. But luckily, we got there and I'm so thankful we did. Christmas would not be Christmas without these amazing people.

All the grands hands. What a sweet, sweet gift!

We had a new addition, Trip, this year. He is Sheila's adorable puppy and was a huge hit with the kiddos.

We headed home the next day for one more family get together. My dad's side nearly didn't happen this year but Keith and Carrie graciously offered their home and it was so good to see everyone. We always miss a few but we have to keep trying. The 3 sisters would be so disappointed if we didn't.

December 27th, and we were sitting outside eating and watching the kids play in the yard. Crazy weather!

Then finally, New Years Eve. Jimmy told me early on... "No plans, Alabama is in the playoffs and I'm going to be HOME to watch it." I made some football food and we brought in 2016 in our jammies on the couch. We all surprisingly made it to midnight and Alabama won, so it turned out to be a great night.