Holmes Family Christmas

Grandma and Pawpaw's grand kids: Maddy (7), Gavin (almost 6), Alli (almost 5), Lainey (5 1/2), Cade (8 1/2), and TJ (3 1/2).

TJ was really excited about present time, along with all the other kids.

So apparently, Alli didn't want the Dirt Devil vacuum and she made it known. It was really more that she was expecting something else (which was in the next gift she opened), but she was not happy. We need to have a little talk about showing gratitude regardless of whether or not we like our gifts. What's even worse is that this was a gift from my mom that my mom gave me money to pick out for her- sorry mom. I had no idea it would receive such a negative reaction.

Alli and Wilson- he loves her and she loves him- some of the time :-)

The Star of the Play

This year Alli was the star of the Grace Point Church Kids Day Out Christmas Program, literally...

"And it was the most beautiful star they had ever seen."

That's her doing her twinkling hand motion. Is that not the cutest thing you've ever seen?

That costume, and of course the pretty little girl wearing it, really did steal the show. People kept asking if they could take a picture with her afterwards. She was so proud. What's funny is that she was kind of upset about being the star. According to her, the star wasn't as important as the angel and she really wanted to be the angel. But on the way home she kept saying, "Everyone wanted to take a picture of me!" She was pretty excited about it.
And the star's little brother was quite a star too. He stood up there just like he was supposed to, did all the hand motions and even sang a little (especially when it came time to sing "Happy Birthday" to Jesus). He was one of the only kids in his class that wasn't either crying, running away or staring blankly into space. Dwaine and I were really quite proud of both of our little stars.

Events like these are truly precious memories that we will cherish forever. They won't be little forever so we are trying to soak them up in all their cuteness while we can.

Thanksgiving

Just as we were starting to think we weren't going to have any big Thanksgiving plans this year, we ended up with 2 family Thanksgiving dinners planned. One at my Nana's house on Thanksgiving day with my folks, my aunt and uncle and Nana. This is where I spent most of my Thanksgiving celebrations as a kid with aunts, uncles and cousins. Lots of good memories!Alli and TJ with Grandma and Pawpaw.

So happy to see Nana looking good and feeling good. She means so much to us.

Then we got to host the Dement family Thanksgiving at our house. Above: Aunt Christie, Meg and Alli.
Alli and TJ absolutely adore their cousins Lyndee and Meg and why wouldn't they? They played hide and seek with the kids, drew fun pictures, loved on them and gave them lots of attention. They are so sweet and we only wish we could spend more time with them.

Lyndee loving on TJ.

We are so blessed and have much to be thankful for! God is so good!