Christmas Morning

Christmas morning view! Santa brought the stuff on the fireplace and the stuff on the floor that was unwrapped. The girls were very excited about all of it, but the LOL dolls (for Emily and Hannah) and the PawPatrol dolls (for Claire and Abby) were some of the biggest hits from Santa! 

I had to get a picture on the stairs before they all came down!  They were just about to burst at this point! 

After checking out their Santa stuff it was time to open presents while the breakfast casserole baked!  

Emily and Hannah bought presents for their sisters this year and Claire was so excited about her gift from Emily! 

Emily says her Kavu bag was her favorite gift! 

The new kitchen was a gift for all four of them and they've loved playing with it!  

Emily and Pawpaw played some checkers with their new set!  

I don't totally understand what is so great about these LOL dolls, but glad they like them!!:) 

Abby got a new doll  house which has been a big hit!  

This girl loves to play with dollhouses like none of our others ever had!  

After presents we enjoyed a delicious breakfast together and then Grandmama and Emily had one more sewing lesson to finish up the bag! 

Grandmama made candy Christmas trees with them while Bert and I got packed up to head to Toccoa. The girls thought this was so fun and enjoyed eating them a few days later after we got back!  

We had a wonderful Christmas morning!  Grandmama and Pawpaw had to miss some other activities with other family members so that they could be with us and we appreciated it so much!  We loved having them with us!  

Christmas Eve with Grandmama and Pawpaw

We were so excited for Grandmama and Pawpaw to get to come up and spend Christmas Eve night with us this year!  They arrived mid afternoon on Christmas Eve and not long after they got here Hannah asked Grandmama to help her make a bracelet from a set she had already got for Christmas and of course she said yes!!  

Our church had a 5:00 Christmas Eve candlelight service this year, which was so special.  Our family lit the last candle in the Advent Wreath and the girls did a great job with their speaking parts and staying calm and quiet while Bert and I spoke.  

Claire did end up burning her hand a little during the candlelight portion of the service, which was slightly traumatic, but all was well just a couple minutes later.  

After the service we came back to the house for sub sandwiches and we let the girls each open one present, which they were very excited about.  We used to do this with my family on Christmas Eve and I loved the tradition of one present that night....always thought it was so fun!  

A few Christmas Eve family pictures!  

Later that night I caught these four watching a Christmas movie together!  

While Emily was getting her first official sewing lesson from Grandmama!  I am so excited about Emily learning to sew and I think it's so special that her Grandmama is teaching her.  She's such a loving, patient teacher and she said Emily was a great student!  

This was the finished product of what they made.  They actually finished this up on Christmas morning, but did most of the work on Christmas Eve night!  Go Em!  

Bert stayed up very late that night getting everything ready for Christmas morning and his dad stayed up with him.  I stayed awake until about 1:15, but then gave up.  I was glad Pawpaw was there to keep Bert company while he worked!  

Christmas in Jackson

The girls didn't get out of school this year until December 21st, which is later than normal.  We went down to Jackson that afternoon and enjoyed spending time with family!  

Many rounds of Uno were played and the big girls got pretty good! 

All the grandkids love looking at Grandmama's village....it takes her a long time to set it up, but they always appreciate it!  

We had the Watts Family celebration at FBC Jackson, which is where Grandmama goes to church!  We loved getting to see family and the girls thought it was soooo fun that they have an indoor playground in their church!  

We enjoyed delicious food and we got to spend time with both of Bert's grandma's and many other aunts, uncles, and cousins!  

We usually only get to see Bert's sister once a year, but it is always a highlight of the Christmas season!  

I loved this picture of Aunt Carrie and Claire! 

After eating is was time to open presents.  Emily and Rosemary helped distribute, which was a big job! 

We had a wonderful time with family and loved getting to spend time with all 3 of Bert's siblings and their families!  

MCBC Staff Christmas Party

We had the MCBC staff Christmas party at our house and had a great time!  We ate delicious food, sang some Christmas carols, did an ornament swap and just enjoyed the fellowship!  

The kids had fun playing upstairs with Ms. Karson!  

Toby got this cute picture of Hannah reading a book to Sawyer!  Precious! 

We're thankful to serve the church alongside these wonderful people! 

Christmas Parties and Plays

December was busy with school parties and plays. I sometimes felt like my head was spinning because I needed to send this in on Tuesday for Hannah and that in on Wednesday for Claire and this in with Emily on Friday, and on and on...  Even with the busyness it was a fun couple weeks, but I'm thankful that it slows down again in January!  

I helped the kids make necklaces at Hannah's class party!  The girl sitting across from Hannah in the picture below is Hannah's best friend in her class this year, Violet!  She's super sweet and I had a chance to get to know her mom some and really enjoyed that too!  

Violet took this picture for us! 

Mrs. Hiller loved her class gift and the kids were so excited about giving it to her! 

The same day as Hannah's party Claire had a Christmas musical so I left Hannah's party a few minutes early and raced to pick Abby up from a lady that was babysitting her for me and then ran to Claire's school.  I was sitting on the side (because I got there just a couple minutes before it started) and Claire couldn't see me and was looking for me the whole performance.  Bert was standing in the back videoing so she saw him.   As soon as she finished and came to us she said "I thought you didn't come, Mommy."  Poor thing!  

Claire was in the middle of the back row.  

The next day was Emily's Grinch party!  The ladies that put everything together did such a great job with it!  They had a cute craft and green hot chocolate and other green snacks....the kids loved it!  And I loved getting to be there with my girl (who was dressed like Cindy Lou Who)!

Emily's 3rd grade class 

Emily and Claire's class parties overlapped so Daddy had to get called into party duty because one of us was definitely going to be there for each party.  He took Abby to Claire's party and then I got there late as soon as I finished with Emily's!  She thought it was fun that both of us got to go to her class party!  Ha! 

Hannah's class had pajama day on the last day before Christmas break!  Always a fun day!

The 3rd graders do a play each December, so this was Emily's year!  

Their music teacher told them that anyone taking private piano lessons could play their Christmas piece as a part of the prelude before their play started.  Emily didn't want to do it at first because she said there were going to be too many people there, but her Daddy gave her a pep talk and she was all about it from then on.  She played it perfectly and we were so proud of her for getting up there and doing it!  

Emily was an elf in the play and had 5 or 6 speaking parts and did a great job with each of them!  

Emily asked Mr. Bob and Mrs. Sherry if they wanted to come see her school play and they happily agreed.  Mimi drove over from Toccoa and then of course all of Team Watts was there to cheer her on, so she felt loved!  

Hannah sat with Penny and Kaia during the play.  These three girls were all in the same class last year and were the best of friends.  This year they're all in different classes but Hannah and Penny play together every day on the playground.  They all three have siblings in 3rd grade.  

It was a busy, but fun week!