Christmas #5 - our house (Springdale)

We led a caravan from Ft. Smith to our house Sat. night to celebrate once more w/ just my immediate family. Steph, Aaron, Ayan, Mom and Dad all spent the night w/ us b/f Steph/Aaron headed to Branson the following day. We enjoyed all of their company SO much and wish it wouldn't have had to end! Mom woke up not feeling well Sun. morning, but Dad and Ayan came to church w/ us b/f heading home to eat yummy roast, carrots, etc. Thanks Mom!

We saved many of the gifts b/w the 8 of us for our house and it defin. helped spread the present opening chaos out a little! Kennedy and Ayan got to dig in their stockings from Gammi and Pops Sat. evening b/f the gifts started too. It was nice to enjoy some quality time just the 8 of us!

We are SO THANKFUL for ALL of the many gifts our family received this holiday season. Kennedy is a very blessed little girl and we couldn't be more thankful to have so many family members who love and encourage her.
However, we certainly know that Christmas is not AT ALL a/b the giving and receiving of gifts. It is definitely a/b the gift of a Son from our Father and celebrating our Savior's beautiful birth. I only wish that the media outlets and retail stores would clue in! Our Christmas was very busy, yet relaxing @ the same time! It was wonderful and extremely blessed! Thank you Lord for everything! We love you!

Christmas #3 - Nana/Grandad's (Ft. Smith)

We celebrated the Christmas holiday w/ Mom's side of the family @ Nana/Grandad's on Christmas Eve and most of Christmas day. We truly enjoyed having Steph, Aaron and our nephew Ayan Price home for Christmas this yr. (after being adopted this time last yr.). We also cherished Kennedy and Ayan waking up Christmas morning and opening gifts together! This will certainly become an annual tradition I assume! They really enjoyed checking out what Santa brought each other too!

Most of the time @ Nana/Grandad's was spent playing w/ the kiddos, breaking out Aaron/Steph's new 'Wii' and 'Rock Band', watching movies, eating, eating, and eating some more. It was a fun time for ALL! Oh yeah...can't forget to mention that Kennedy (as well as Ayan) didn't wake up until 9:30 a.m. Christmas morning! Yep...that right! 9:30! That's an every day occurrence in our household for Kennedy, but we were surprised that it still happened while staying @ a diff. house in a pack 'n play. Needless to say, ALL of the adults (including Nana and Grandad) all slept in 'till then as well! We didn't even walk into the dining rm. (where the tree/gifts were) until atleast 10 a.m. that morning. (Just had to rub it in a little bit for those who had to rise earlier than they would have liked!) : )

We slept each night @ their house, and spent a lot of great time together for a couple of days after Christmas too.

Christmas #4 - Mama's (Ft. Smith)

Christmas night we joined ALL of the Hobbs' family (Dad's side) @ Mama's for a wonderful dinner together. There were too many family members in that small house to even count, but trust me...it was a lot! And fun, of course!
This Christmas was a little bittersweet on that side of the family b/c of the fact that we just lost Papa (Dad's father) this past January (08). Therefore, it was everyone's first Christmas without him with us. We certainly missed him, but just tried to love on Mama and keep her spirits up as much as possible. It was a wonderful evening together!

We returned to Mama's the following 2 days to visit w/ her some more and to see even more cousins coming into town the Sat. after Christmas.