Well our tree and decorations are still up, but I guess officially Christmas is over. I might be in denial (I never take down my stuff before New Year's), but until next year the fun and anticipation of Christmas is over for now.
Christmas was a lot of fun with Gabbie this year. Being mobile made a huge difference in how much she understood what was going on. I taught her to say "ho ho ho" a few days before Christmas and I caught her saying it over and over. When she "met" Santa on Christmas eve, she was NOT a happy camper. Today, however when I was uploading the pictures she saw him and just pointed and started saying "ho ho ho" over and over.


Hopefully next year she'll be a little more fond of him and maybe we'll get a smiling Santa picture - ha.





We started our Christmas festivities by opening presents here at our house on Thursday morning with just Brent, Gabbie, Fletcher, Fiona and me. I don't think she really understood what was going on, but I think it was a good way to start the crazy four day period so by Christmas day she finally understood she got to open presents and play with toys.
We kept our Christmas pretty simple - I posted earlier about using the "Something you want, Something you need, something to wear and something to read" and I kind of used that this year with keeping it simple. We got her Christmas pajamas when we were in Gatlinburg with our friends back in November, she got a few books and a girl doctor set. Brent and I bought each other Garth Brooks tickets and a new radiator for our car :) I think we both would have rather had a doctor set and books and new pajamas vs the radiator.




We headed to Chattanooga Thursday, stayed with Brent's parents, then headed to my grandparent's house on Christmas Eve for the annual Thornton extravaganza. (read:: crazy)
We got to meet the newest member of our family, Hunter, who Gabbie was intrigued with. She did such a good job not poking his eyes out or petting him too hard.

We took a really funny picture of all the girls in their robes that my grandfather gave us - last year, he gave all the guys robes and we took a funny group shot of them,


this year it was the girls' turn...


Next up was Christmas morning with my parents. This is what it's all about: waking up on Christmas morning, having had Santa come the night before and get to open your stockings and presents with your family. We had an extra special gift for us on Christmas morning: SNOW!! And I'm not talking just a light dusting, it was a serious, 4-5" worth of snow. WOW it was beautiful.

Gabbie opened presents from my parents and she loved every minute of it - of course! She got a lot of fun things, but I think her favorite might be the little people doll house, the sit and spin and a little monkey finger puppet. She loved it and just giggled the entire time she played with it. Check out the video to see the puppet in full action (thank you to my hilarious husband).

The Pelfrey gang came over a little later in the morning, we opened more presents and enjoyed a special family poem written by very talented, very funny husband. Gabbie got even more gifts including some adorable outfits, pajamas and books.

HILARIOUS video....





We had originally planned to head back to Brent's parents house that night, but the snow and 26 degree temps were not conducive to us making the drive up to their house.
We finally made it to their house on Sunday and rounded out our trip with a final Christmas celebration with the entire Whitaker/Jackson clan - complete with a meal at El Meson and presents back at the Whitaker's.
Gabbie got more clothes, PJs, toys including a creepy baby doll that she LOVES and an adorable singing bear.
Another successful Christmas - hopefully you all had an equally wonderful Christmas!

This year for Christmas shopping has been a little different. It all started when my mom decided to go to North Carolina for Thanksgiving, thus throwing a kink in our tradition of shopping together on Black Friday in Chattanooga. So I felt a discombobulated going into Thanksgiving.
Then, I got to spend Turkey Day with Brent's family, trotting back and forth to the restroom and ultimately upchucking multiple times before night's end.
So when 4am on Black Friday rolled around, I was no where near appropriate condition to hit the stores for amazing deals. I slept in. First time in several years and it felt so strange. So strange in fact, I managed to peel myself out of bed around 8:15 and hit a few stores close to our house. I felt like a zombie so I headed back home and slept.
Needless to say, I got zero Christmas shopping done which is completely out of the ordinary for me - in years past, I pride myself in getting all of my shopping wrapped up (no pun intended) on Black Friday.
So this meant I had to venture out throughout the month of December to finish shopping. And for the first time in history, Brent went with me. On a Saturday. What was I thinking?
We ventured out to the mall area last weekend and ever since he has said nothing but how terrible it was. Granted, it was busy. Packed. Crazy. Full of people. However, I always judge how bad it is based on parking availability and we got a parking spot about 10 from the front. That's fantastic! Better than in the off season.
When we were on our way home, however, the traffic was horrendous! Cars were at a standstill on the ramps off the interstate and when we looked back over the parking lot, cars were snaking through the spots, no availability.
Note to self: Don't get food poisoning on Thanksgiving again. Don't miss the opportunity to finish all shopping on the first official day of Christmas shopping. Don't take husband and child together to the mall on the last weekend before Christmas.
So...moving on....
I was wrapping all of our gifts last night and started thinking about what it's going to be like with Gabbie this year. This is going to be a fun Christmas with Gabbie - she might not quite understand, but she is going to love opening gifts on Christmas morning. We've been determined not to overwhelm her with gifts - especially having a conversation with our neighbor's kids a few weeks ago. I asked them what Santa was bringing them and they really didn't have an answer. These guys are preschool, 1st grade and 2nd grade - old enough to fully understand what is to come, yet they didn't really see the value in all the stuff that is Christmas. Wow. I would love to think Gabbie will be the same way and have been looking for ideas for keep Christ in Christmas and simple - focusing on Jesus' birthday versus the over-commercialization of the holiday. Don't we all want to do that?
So last night on Facebook, our Family Pastor from church posted this little poem their family uses to keep Christmas simple, "Something you want, Something you need; Something to wear and something to read." WOW that was perfect.
We pretty much followed this for Gabbie this year, but what a great standard to establish for years to come. Love it.
I wrote this entire blog post just so next year I can hopefully come back and read this and remember our new little poem....
I hope you enjoy and hopefully this little poem will help you and your family as you establish traditions in your household for Christmas!

Fun Christmas Pictures from this year - the above is with Santa (obviously) and this one is us with the BABY frames we gave to tell our parents, sisters and brother in laws last year on Christmas when we announced we were pregnant. They have my original due date on them as well. No, it does not mean I'm pregnant again...

I remember when I was a teenager my dad telling me that as you age, your life goes by faster. That's hard to understand when you're a freshman in high school praying that you can fit in.
It seems like as soon as I got pregnant and started measuring time in weeks ("I'm 22 weeks") that my life suddenly hopped onto the fast forward button and it hasn't slowed back down. Now I'm measuring life in months ("she's 4 1/2 months") and every time I blink, we're in a new month. I've decided that my dad definitely knew what he was talking about way back then (I'm sure he'd love to know I'm admitting he said something wise and true), but it doesn't always make it easy.
I could post about how wonderful Gabbie's Christmas was, but I mean come on - will I ever really say it wasn't good? It was fabulous. She got WAY too many toys. If that's even possible at 4 months old. So now Brent and I get to decide what we're going to do about it. If you've ever been to my house you know I cannot stand clutter. My friend Kelly is amazed when we have yet another yard sale - it's truly because I don't like opening closets and having a bunch of stuff. (By the way, all of our pictures from Christmas and New Years are in an album on the right instead of in this posting)
Dear Lord, please help me figure out how to cope with the clutter that is about to come known as toys. YIKES
What a thing to complain about though, right?
(side note: if you gave Gabbie a toy for Christmas, please know we are SOOOO grateful and appreciative. And no, it will not end up in a yard sale....this year at least - just kidding)
Quick rundown of our Christmas events:
big Christmas party at our house with the UTC clan, Tre and Brittany spent a few days with me, then we were in Chattanooga for Christmas: Joel & Judy's one night, my grandparents the next, then Christmas day with my parents; I visited my friends Gena and Chad in Knoxville to meet Ariana for the first time, got to see Stephanie and Loni who came in from San Francisco, came back home to Nashville where my sister, brother in law, niece and nephews came in on New Year's Eve - we all celebrated together and hung out on NY Day, then the next day we drove to Birmingham to have Christmas with one side of the Whitakers, then drove to Hartselle the next day to have it with the other side of the Whitakers...whew...now we're home for a few days and we're not going ANYWHERE in the month of January. It's been crazy to say the least. But through it all, I still have the best little traveler EVER!!

We have been reflecting on 2009 and all that was accomplished, goals we achieved, some we just missed, and others that we'll return to for 2010. Instead of fretting over those goals we didn't achieve in 2009, we've decided to revisit them for 2010 and know that if you meet all your goals, maybe you're not pushing yourself enough to do things greater and bigger.

Brent and I have been working on our goals for 2010. We have a lot of exciting things in store and have asked God to lead us and guide us in our planning. I read great perspective on goal planning the other day: instead of making plans and asking God to bless them, seek first HIS plans for your life and ask for the direction and guidance you need to achieve those goals.

And while I didn't mean for this to turn into a motivation about goal planning, I would love to encourage you to sit down with your spouse (or even if you don't have a spouse, do it by yourself and find someone to hold you accountable) and make goals for this year. Just don't confuse them with resolutions. And because Brent and I are nerds, we actually have all our goals from every year that we've been married. We're able to go back and see how much our goals have changed from each year.
I will admit that it's not always as easy for me as it is for Brent. He always seems like it comes naturally for him, but for me, it takes time. That doesn't mean we don't do it. He sets his, I set mine, then we come together share our individual goals and determine goals we want to accomplish together, as a couple. Maybe it sounds cheesy to some of you, but look at it this way: if you don't have a road map, how will you ever know where you're going? (maybe we should think "if you don't have a GPS system...")
Instead of wandering through life looking for purpose and direction, use the month of January every year to decide where you want your life to go.

The whirlwind called "the holidays" has begun.
I have always loved this time of year. Really. I love it. I think it is because it was never stressful for us growing up. My mom really really enjoys Christmas. I am talking wake up at 4:00 a.m. on Christmas morning using Jingle Bells saying Ho Ho Ho-can't open one single present until the morning of-you can't even peek into the living room until we're all awake-kind of LOVE Christmas. She definitely created traditions for our family. Until you get married and have to share the holidays, you cannot truly appreciate what you did as a family growing up.
I cannot imagine ever saying, "I dread Christmas." It saddens me deeply to hear anyone say that. What can you do to change that mentality?
While all of us might be guilty of dreading this time of year in some fashion, I want to challenge you to think about all those people (especially right now) who can't even afford to have a dinner with their family. They can't afford to pay their electric bill or mortgage. Much less buy Christmas presents for themselves, their children or anyone else.
Today I heard a 92 year old woman reminiscence about her Christmases as a child. She told really great stories about Christmas being so special to them as children because they literally had nothing. Stores at that time only sold toys during Christmas. No other time. There were no Black Friday sales. There was barely enough heat in their house. They would take one of their own black stockings and hang it on the fireplace to wake up on Christmas morning with it filled with an orange, a quarter in the toe and the "most wonderful nuts." Can you imagine your 11 year old getting excited about "the most wonderful nuts" in their stocking this year at Christmas? Pretty sure there would be some disappointed kids.
I have been thinking all day today about what simple times those were. Brent and I are so blessed to live with more than we need - we always have food on our table, fire in our fireplace, nice clothes to wear and a home bigger than we could ever need.
This Christmas, what do you have enough of?
Have you considered what YOU can do for SOMEONE else?
If you have children and you want to instill Christmas traditions, have you considered starting your own tradition of helping someone else at Christmas? or some other tradition to truly teach them what Christmas is really all about and not just what the commercialized version means...
I think many times we don't do something for other people because we think we have to spend a significant amount of money. If you've ever been in lack, were you really all that picky on what you received? Did you really care if the person who gave you something spent $50 or $5?
Tonight I struggled with wanting to spend $100+ for a family in our church in need this Christmas. I really wanted to do that but couldn't. Instead I picked up a few nice things from the $1 Target bins and I know these little girls are going to love it. Think about how humbling it had to be for these parents to admit they needed help for Christmas. Do you really think they'll care that I bought their little girls stuff from a dollar bin? Doubt it.
So I challenge you this Christmas to set aside some money from your Christmas budget and see what you can do to impact the lives of another family. The Salvation Army Angel Trees are packed full this year of families in need. Homeless shelters and food kitchens are struggling to make ends meet. Pick up a few extra cans of food when you shop for your meal this week and drop it off at your local non-profit.
If for nothing else, do it for the way you will feel once you've done it. But know that the impact on the recipient will be much greater.

Matthew 10:42
And if you give even a cup of cold water to one of the least of my followers, you will surely be rewarded.