Briley: Loved Santa, got mad on Christmas morning b/c "Ho Ho ate his cookies", favorite present was his train table

Lawson: Loved Santa, thought his elf Zicked ate the cookies, favorite present was his Cars scooter

I love how both boys have their night nights in their picture :)

After the excitement of opening their presents, I got ready for our traditional Christmas breakfast. As soon as Nick and I were married, we started a tradition of me making a big Christmas breakfast. I love cooking, but I'm not a morning person, so breakfast is kind of a big deal. Everything has to be an easy overnight kinda thing, so that I can just stick it in the oven in the morning. I've always wanted to have THE traditional meal that everyone was excited for. However, I just hadn't found THE recipe yet. Until... now, thanks to the the Pioneer Woman. I've been eyeing the recipe for her cinnamon rolls for forever, but they just looked like too much work. This year I got brave and made them. They actually weren't that bad, and everyone LOVED them. As soon as they came out of the oven, I knew I had found THE recipe! So, here's our newest tradition - Pioneer Woman's - now Mommy's Cinnamon Rolls. We had enough for 3 breakfasts and one dessert, and B told me that I was "the best roll cooker ever". Now that, my friend, is the best compliment ever!

Here's the yummy meal that we ate as we celebrated Jesus' Birthday.

After breakfast, they were ready to go outside and try their new scooters.

We took a break swinging, where Lawson made the cheesiest face ever, and B showed off his jumping skills.

We spent the rest of the day home, opening and playing with new toys.
The love for Buzz is intense.

And the love for Skylanders, even more so.

Santa came!

This year B had "Smoofy" paper and L had "Buzz, and Jesse, and Hoody". Briley woke up and peeked at the tree, went back upstairs, came back down, checked out his stocking, and then came to wake us up.
Lawson was right behind him and was so excited about his Lightning McQueen scooter that he took right off on it!

Then, they dug into their stockings.


Daddy was a little confused about the strange objects in his stocking. (or he pretended to be b/c he guessed that he was getting a brew beering kit.)

Present time!

Some big hits were:
Buzz

Mario Kart Kinex

Skylanders

and "two batmans" toys.

They both also got new boots from Mommy and Daddy.

It was a fun morning for everyone, and according the B, "the best Christmas EVER!"

When we were in Memphis, we spent Christmas Eve with our family. So when we moved to Nashville, we wanted to have lots of traditions that kept us busy to keep the day special. I love Christmas Eve almost more than Christmas Day. You can feel the excitement all day long.

We started off the day with the boys opening a present from each other. We started this tradition last year so that they could have an early present to open. They each pick out a present for each other and help me wrap it. Lawson got a dinosaur and B got a Mario robe.


Next we headed to church. We have finally found a church that reminds us of Hope in Memphis. It's still different, we're still getting used to a new church, but in all we're really liking it. Briley joined us for the candlelight service this year, and we loved it. He sang every song very loudly even though he had no idea what the words were :) It got quite a few grins. Of course I forgot to take their picture in their Christmas outfits again. The only one I have is a blurry one of L man and me.

When we came home, we baked some cookies, and I made cinnamon rolls. Last year we went out to eat, but this year we decided to grill out steaks at home. After dinner, we headed out to leave apples for the reindeer (Mommy ran out of carrots) and sprinkle our reindeer food.

We set out cookies and chocolate milk for Santa. Lawson was finally awake to participate this year!

We took baths,

Put the cookies and milk by the fireplace,

and were tucked in and asleep at 8pm.

Because one day those little feet and short legs will be able to touch the floor, and I want to remember as much as I can.

Day 2 started out at the Log Cabin Pancake House across the street from our hotel. Oh. my. goodness. We heard that the French Toast Royale was "famous", so I had to try it. Best breakfast ever. We went back so that I could have it again the next morning.

After that, we headed straight to the Sky Lift. B and L had been asking about it since we arrived, so it was the thing to do.

Nick and I rode this forever ago when we went to Gatlinburg when we were engaged. It was the last time we'd been there.

So we get on the lift, B is with Nick and L is with me. As soon as we start going up, my hands start dripping sweat, my heart starts pounding, and I can't get the vision of Lawson falling off out of my head. I am so not afraid of heights, but going all the way up that mountain with my little bit made me a nervous wreck. I'm surprised I didn't kiss the ground when we got to the top. Needless to say, Nick went down with Lawson.


Next, we did lots of walking, shopping, and candy tasting.

We even ran into Santa!

Lawson was exhausted, so we headed back to take a nap while daddy and B went to the arcade. I changed up the cheesy beach/foot picture and replaced it with a fuzzy sock/fireplace pic. Nick and B came back, and Nick crashed while the Energizer Bunny played Angry Birds.

Lawson was missing his "cuppy", so we had to get a much needed milk fix.

Beyond breakfast, we weren't too in love with any of the places we had tried so far, so we went with a safe bet, Mellow Mushroom.

Lawson was obsessed with the mushroom costume. We had to chase it around the restaurant just for a hug. Then we literally squealed to the entire restaurant that he hugged the mushroom. Crazy kid.