It was a Holly Jolly Christmas

So, almost a month (to the day) AFTER Christmas, I am finally getting around to giving you some highlights:

We decorated our Christmas tree, or as Daniel referred to it, "the Diffus Tree." After it was decorated he would rejoice over the Diffus Tree each time he saw it. One time he even walked up to it, patted it and asked "mommy can I climb da diffus tree?"

We went to a Christmas concert with our beloved Mrs. Jennifer (Morgan) where the boys got to see their idolized Mac Powell (and the rest of Third Day) as well as Jars of Clay. It was a great time. The best parts were watching Gabriel be in awe over the crowd of people in the Forum praising God at the same time and watching John Mark when Third Day sang the song Born in Bethlehem (which the TRCC kids sang this year). John Mark adored that song and really began to worship with it. Precious.

The boys debuted their musical talents with the rest of the kids from TRCC one Sunday morning singing some Christmas songs taught to them by Aunt Joan. Gabriel is on the back row in the navy and John Mark is in the pale blue on the front row. (Yes, you will notice, MY kids are the only ones not wearing proper festive Christmas attire. We didn't have any this year!)

After a wonderful chili supper and gingerbread cookies for dessert with our friends, the Vances, we got to ride around Rome looking at Christmas Lights (aka Diffus Lights) in one of these:

I had casually mentioned to the Vances how I wish one of us had a vehicle large enough to fit us all in (with all 5 kids) to ride around and look at Christmas lights together. They arrived in a short bus! (Actually, the PC name is mini-bus). Suffice it to say, he has connections. The kids loved every minute of their bus ride!

We inaugurated our warm, footed pajamas. If you look closely you can see a band-aid strapped across Daniel's nostrils. He went to the bathroom, got the band aid, unwrapped it and put it there. He said his nose "huuuht (hurt)."

We took what ended up being a 5 hour Xterra ride (with the boys three across, touching each other, use your imagination) to rescue Memuph from the final clutches of Atlanta. She got to stay with us for awhile and go roped into helping make Christmas cookies. Mom was ready for some eggnog - the fully leaded version, after the former experience, Memuph after the latter.

We also got to see our sweet new cousin Libby Kate in all her Christmas finery. Too bad you can't see the tiny patent leather shoes on her feet.

After Christmas we went to Gatlinburg for a Youth for Christ conference. The only thing the boys wanted to do was climb a mountain. We hiked them up to the top of a mountain to see Laurel Falls. It was incredible . . . and incredibly crowded. I mean it was practically January.

This was a picture of the boys at the falls, right after Mom fell and busted it on the wet rocks, promptly taking down Gabriel and John Mark with her. But after we ran into someone we knew up on the top of the mountain by the waterfall! On the way down the mountain, the boys were DONE. Daniel literally fell asleep upright and walking and John Mark started getting sick. Did I mention we still had to drive home?