christmas in asheville

 We spent about a week in Asheville over Christmas.  With a carefully orchestrated schedule, we had so much fun celebrating Christmas with both sides of our family.

We started out the week at the Hymel house.  Jon, Kelsey, and Farrin were all in town so it was nice to have everyone together.  Lucas of course was spoiled by everyone, but especially by his Nana and Poppy.

Always more interested in eating the paper than what's inside

Lucas's very own teddy bear!  Uncle J knew Lucas would love his teddy just as much as he used to.

Nanny Farrin helping Lucas open his gift from her

such a fun bath toy! the whale squirts water from his spout

a Charlie Brown Christmas!

Everyone had too much fun, even the dogs :)

the crew at a brunch at the Summey's house

the crew again

The later part of the week we headed to the lake to have Christmas with the Hudsons.  Lucas enjoyed hanging out with his cousins, Carly, Lily, and Savannah, Uncle John and Aunt Gina, Uncle Wes and Aunt Sis (Steph), Granny and Grandad, and MiMi and PaPa.

MiMi and PaPa with the grandkids!

the crew

Lucas with his cousins

The girls heading on their Christmas scavenger hunt. I can't wait until Lucas is old enough to run around with them!

Lucas had too much fun watching the girls go crazy over all things Justin Bieber, so he just crashed!

Carly was especially fascinated with Lucas. She held him all night and was so so sweet to him. She told us her favorite part of Christmas at the lake was opening presents and holding her baby cousin. She would pet his hair and talk about how soft it was, and at one point she told Brandon's mom "MiMi, my cousin Lucas is a boy and he is really cute. But he has eyelashes like a girl!"

Lucas loves his LeapFrog dog, Scout! It's programmed to say his name, sing to him, and talk about his favorite things.

ham.

It was such a sweet time, getting to spend Christmas with our families. I am filled to the brim with overwhelming joy and thanksgiving when I think of how well our families love Lucas. Everyone made sure that Lucas's first Christmas was so special, and for that I am so thankful.

merry christmas!

I have to say, Christmas with a 9 month old is so fun.  Everything is new! and sparkly! and fascinating! The lights, the wrapping paper, and the ribbon are all too much for this little boy to take in.  But as a parent, I'm learning what it means to see Christmas through the eyes of a child.  In a way, I'm seeing things for the first time too.  I'm so thankful for my family this season, but even more so for the birth of my Savior who absolutely changed everything.

my most favorite picture ever. Lucas and Lexi. Waiting for Santa.

Christmas pajamas! 

My other most favorite picture ever.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

santa! i know him!

Pardon the Elf reference.  It's one of my favorite Christmas movies, so I couldn't help it.  

We took Lucas to see Santa!  For some insane reason, I had it in my mind that it was going to be this magical wonderful experience.  In my head, Lucas was going to gaze up at Santa with wonder and awe, maybe even give his beard a tug, and both would have a twinkle in their eyes as they smiled at each other.  Not exactly.  It was magical, don't get me wrong.  The set up was beautiful and you couldn't ask for a sweeter Santa.  He even smelled like peppermint. But Lucas didn't respond quite like I had envisioned. 

First, let me tell you a little about this Santa I know.  You see, I'm convinced he's the real Santa.  His wife, Deb, works with me at the hospital (you didn't know Mrs. Claus was a pediatric nurse, did you?)  Every year at Christmas, Santa (known throughout the rest of the year as Steve) stays busy visiting the kids at the hospital and doing community events such as this one that we came to.  They are genuinely wonderful people and bring Christmas joy to tons of families every year out of the goodness of their hearts.  The stories that Deb tells of their Christmas-ing adventures truly make you want to be a kid again.  Check out their website and you'll be amazed at some of the things that they do.  They personalize each child's experience that would make any older kid drop their jaw in disbelief that Santa knows their name, their pet's name, and other facts about them before they walk into the room.  Very cool. Santa also has another unknown talent of making the BEST barbeque that I have ever eaten.  At our staff's summer party for the past few years, Santa Steve has brought the pig!  He smokes it at his house and brings trays of delicious southern barbeque for our staff to enjoy.  How awesome is that?!

Back to our visit.  It was set up in a private room at Deb and Steve's church in Hillsborough. Santa knew Lucas by name before we even walked in the room (thanks to Deb, modern technology, and an invisible ear piece.)  Brandon, Lucas, and I walked slowly up to Santa.  Now Lucas doesn't know a stranger. But this big man in a red suit made Lucas verrrry cautious.  He just looked at him, then looked at me, then looked back at Santa.  We just stood their for a while and talked, then I put Lucas on Santa's lap.  His first response was to try to escape:

But after Santa talked to him and we reassured him, Lucas just turned and stared at him.

He never cracked a smile.  He just studied the jolly old man and stayed cautious and serious.

This was about as close to a smile as we got, even with us jumping up and down and acting like fools to try to get our usually smiley baby to crack a grin:

Who knows how next year might go?  Regardless, thanks Santa for letting us see you for Lucas's first Christmas!

decking our halls

I love decorating for Christmas.  I mean, I really really love it.  We put on Christmas music and light a Christmas candle and get to work!  This year was a little different though, finding time to decorate with our very now-mobile boy getting in to anything and everything.  So we decorated in stages, mostly during nap time and after he went to bed for the night.  Here's a glimpse into our home!

First, we had to pick out the tree.  We have gotten our tree from the same people for the past 3 years in a row.  They are the nicest people with really beautiful trees.  It was extra cold when we went out to get it, so Lucas is bundled up in his hilariously huge winter coat.  First, we had to look at every tree to make sure we found the perfect one.

How's this for a star on top of the tree?

Lucas was fascinated by the loud tree shaker that got all of the extra needles off. He watched intently as they shook it and then ran it through the net.

Nice face, Lucas. He's not so keen on the big blow up Santa.  Brandon on the other hand loves it.

The cutest elf I have ever seen.

Next step, decorating the tree!

Lucas's very first ornament.  Appropriately, an owl. I stitched his name and the year on the wings.

With lots of presents underneath for our wonderful family

If you have ever spent any time around me at Christmas, you will know that I plan on becoming a professional gift wrapper one day.  Probably when I'm old and retired and my hands are wrinkly and arthritic, but I will be one of those gift wrappers that you see.  I love it.  Every year, Brandon spends far too much time with me in the wrapping paper and ribbon aisle as I am obnoxiously giddy picking out wrapping supplies.  I'm not allowed to get glittery ribbon anymore, however, after last year's glitter explosion with some gorgeous lime green sparkly ribbon I used.  Oh, it was wonderful!  Even though we found green glitter for months. We have had to block off the room with our Christmas tree in it because of a cute little boy who thinks that ripping the paper and untying ribbons is the funnest thing ever.  Such is life.

This year, I have been slightly obsessed with art made from pallet wood.  If I could, I would open up a cute little shop and sell pieces of pallet art.  I made 2 for our house for Christmas this year.

The first one is the scripture Luke 2:11.  I originally had it displayed on our mantle, but I ended up moving it to the table with our nativity set on it and making a different one for the mantle. 

And that's the true meaning of Christmas, Lucas.

Here is the same piece, now watching over the willow tree nativity set.

Here is the piece that is now on the mantle.  I love the song "Oh Holy Night," especially this verse.  A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices.  Amen?  I have been reminded all to much lately how weary our world is.  But a thrill of HOPE, Jesus, allows us to rejoice amidst all of the suffering and pain.  He will make every sad thing come untrue.  And for that, friends, I will rejoice.

 

And let me say a little side bar about our stockings.  I have to be honest.  I don't like them.  The green one in the middle is Lucas's this year.  And yes, it was Lexi's last year and the year before. So now Lexi doesn't have one, and they don't match.  And it drives.me.crazy.  I had every intention of making these burlap stockings for us that I saw on Pinterest this year:

but remember that cute little boy?  Yeah, didn't happen.  I LOVE these stockings. I think they are perfectly rustic and classy and beautiful. And the sparkly letters are the perfect addition.  I love them. The only thing that I would maybe change is the light blue fabric under the white fabric.  Light blue doesn't match my style, so I might leave it white or do red instead of blue.  I'm not sure.  I don't know if I'll ever get around to making these, but a girl can dream, right?  So if any of you crafty folks want to bless us with stockings like these, I will love you forever.  

Moving on...Dining room table:

And finally, here's our lit up house at night!  Our outside lights have seen better days, but it's the second time we strung them since the first time we discovered that every strand had a section that didn't work.  

So, from our house to yours, MERRY CHRISTMAS!