The Holidays 2016

I got behind on my updates so I decided to combine Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years into one.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving was different this year.  Nana (Ina) decided to move from her home in Cotton, GA to a retirement home in Tifton.  It is a good decision because she is in her nineties, and cannot keep with up with the demands a house brings.  She has lived in her house for about sixty years, I believe, so even though it needed to be done, it was still a very sad and emotional time.

It was our year to spend Thanksgiving with her, but due to packing, we didn't do our traditional and elegant Thanksgiving meal.  Instead we picked up lunch from Moultrie (all the normal Thanksgiving food) and took it to her house.  Even though we didn't go all out like in years past, it ended up being one of the most special Thanksgiving meals I have ever had.  I guess knowing it would be the last family meal at her house and the fact we didn't have the stress of cooking a big dinner, we just spent time soaking in the moment.

After lunch we went to Aunt Linda and Uncle Darrel's house in Moultrie.  We played outside and had dessert. It was nice visiting with family.

Later we went to the square to watch the Lights turn on.  Sumner, I will always remember how much you loved this tradition.  Your love really got strong last Christmas, and you have been eagerly awaiting Thanksgiving night to see Santa turn the lights on! They count it down every year, and this year they were about 10 seconds late, and I don't think you will ever forget it!

Christmas

Christmas is such a sweet season, and truly my favorite.  We decorated early this year.... Thanks to stores starting early.... When Sumner and Anna Ruth saw the first tree lit up in a store window, all I heard about was putting ours up.  So we did! :) We put all of our stuff up the second weekend in November.

We bought Sumner a strand of the really big colored lights because he said he wanted to hang them around his room.  Needless to say, those things never got hung.  Instead Sumner is still playing with them (long after the Christmas decorations have been put away.) He hangs them all over the house and pretends they are the courthouse in Moultrie. You have got a HUGE imagination, sweet boy!

Unfortunately we all got sick the week leading up to Christmas (ear infections, flu, and a stomach virus.) Thankfully the worse part of it for the kids had stopped a few days before Christmas.  We did a lot of fun, family filled activities during the Christmas season.  Here are a few of the sweet memories we made that I pray I never forget:

• Watching the linemen hang the Christmas lights on the square (and the sweet man who gave Sumner one of the new lights they were hanging.)
• Walking around the park in Tifton and looking at all of the lights.
• Riding through the park in Tifton and looking at all of the lights.
• Watching two different "Journey to Bethlehem" programs at two different churches.
• Decorating the house for Christmas.  Sumner really enjoyed helping this year. 
• Making Jesus' birthday cake and Christmas cookies.
• Christmas shopping in Tallahassee with Yaya and Top. We stayed in Toys R Us for at least four hours! Then went to Krispy Kreme. On the way home we stopped in Moultrie and ate at BBQ Pit.  Papa and Walter met us.
• Going to the Albany Mall to ride the Christmas train.
• Polar Express train ride at the Agrirama.
• Matthew took the kids Christmas shopping for me.  They went to the Dollar Tree and Matthew let them pick out things they thought I would like.  It was the sweetest thing.  They chose fingernail polish, bath sponge, candles, Christmas ornaments, candy, sunglasses, lip gloss, and more! They were SO proud!
• Sumner's Christmas play at school.  He was the cutest Wise Man I have ever seen! He loved waving to us from the stage.
• Anna Ruth's Christmas party at school.  She was so proud of her songs she learned.
• Sumner stringing lights all over the house.
• Sumner took  the responsibility of decorating his own tree.  He had ornaments, but also used Anna Ruth's ponytail holders to sting on the branches as well as gift wrapping stick-on bows, and candy canes.
• Pictures with Santa (Anna Ruth's favorite event of the season...NOT!)
• Shopping at Flint River pottery for Christmas decorations with Anna Ruth. Then we went back a second time with the four of us.  That was a lot of fun.  After we left there we decided to drive a little further to Perry to get Anna Ruth a Christmas dress.
• Christmas parade in Tifton.
• Nana's Christmas Open House at her new retirement home.
• Teaching the kids about the joy of giving by buying Christmas presents for those less fortunate.
• Christmas party with our friends and Maggie Claire and Mollie's house.
• Walking under the lights at the square in Moultrie.  
• Riding under the lights at the square in Moultrie.
• Maggie Claire and Mollie's Christmas program at their church.
• Christmas cantata at Midway.
• Christmas at Grandma Murphy's.
• Christmas Eve day with DD
• Christmas Eve with YaYa, Top, Nana, and Gma Sumner.
• Christmas morning with the four of us.
• Christmas afternoon with Papa and Walter.
• Christmas night with the Sumner family.
• Uncle David surprising the kids with a toy tractor and trampoline.
• The kids using the remote to turn all the Christmas lights in the house on and off... on and off...on and off...
• Reading "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and other Christmas books.
• Wild Adventures with DD and Walter
• Bonfire and roasted marshmallows with just us 4.

New Year's Eve

Sumner had such a mature understanding of what New Years meant this year.  Out of the blue one day he told me that when he went back to school after Christmas it would be 2017 (in his words twenty-seventeen.) I was shocked and asked him what year was it now and he said 2016...  He described how it would be a new year because after December the months start over again.  When I asked him how he knew this, he replied "Mrs. Jennifer told me!" Have I ever mentioned he has the BEST preschool teacher EVER?

We spent New Year's Eve with our good friends (more like family) the Roberts.  We had a huge meal and all of the children played their little hearts out.  Y'all always have the best time at Maggie Claire and Mollie's house!  We left there house around 11:15.  Sumner was so excited because I told him he could stay up until Midnight and watch the ball drop.  To my surprise both Sumner and Anna Ruth were able to stay up! For some reason they did not show the ball dropping on TV like they normally do, so the kids were a little bummed about that. We knelled down together and held hands right before midnight and prayed God to please protect us and our loved ones through the new year.  We also prayed he would please always let the desires of our heart align with the will He has for our lives so that we always walk in HIS will!

Dear Sumner and Anna Ruth,

My New Year's prayer is and has been for a long time, my daily prayer for you both.  I pray you will both grow up to accept Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior at an early age, but at an age where you truly understand the magnitude of it all, and that you will follow Him all the days of your life.  I also pray that God will surround you with Godly influences and people that will point you to Him.  I pray that God will send you both Christians spouses that will serve Him and love you.  I pray God will allow more simplicity in our lives so time may slow down... even just a little.  I pray God to help me not be so sad about you growing, but instead to enjoy every stage of your life. I also pray that when the time comes (and I know it will) when you do not need me as much anymore, that I will rejoice in that instead of feeling such sorrow and loss.  What I pray for the most is for you to be all the GOD intended for you to be when he created you.   I love you both more that I could ever explain.  I thank God daily for entrusting me to be your mama. 

I love you as high as the sky and the ocean is deep and more and more and more!