Saturday, January 2, 2016

All the Holidays

Another Christmas has come and gone, and I do have the pictures to prove it. This was an especially good Christmas season for the kids, but we all had a blast.

The Prequel:

Evil Genius's Indian Princess tribe got to ring the bell for the Salvation Army. It was such a great night! We got to sing carols, and hang out with everyone. Such a fun, memorable time.



Me and the EG doing some good


Also, Kelley got to make gingerbread cookies with the kids. They were ready for Santa




First Christmas: The Maness

Christmas Eve we were in Star, NC in the geographic center of the state with Kelley's Dad's side of the family. The highlight (for me, at least) was getting to hang out with cousin Diane. So funny!

Kelley, EG, Ella, Matt, Kaileigh

Me and Diane!
After that, Santa came for 2nd Christmas. It was a late night and an early morning, but the girls were stoked! Neena (Kelley's mom) stayed with us, as did sister Meri, niece Kaileigh, and her boyfriend Matt.  Then Mickey and Eleanor came over for breakfast too, so we had 10 people in our house for Christmas morning! This is what makes the holiday special for me. Spending this much time with family is so meaningful.

the strangest part is that I got no pictures of it. There are some on the big camera, but I haven't pulled those off of the card yet.

Later that day, we headed to Greenville to see my family, while Meri went home, and Neena stayed at our house (prediction coming) with Kaileigh and Matt for the weekend.

Saturday morning we did the Flynn Christmas (3rd Christmas) and it was a blast.





The coolest thing has to be a quilt that my mom made from 20 of my race t-shirts. I brought her the shirts back in the summer, so I know how much work this took to complete - a ton! I absolutely love it and this will be something I treasure for years to come. Some of the shirts had either gotten too old or to worn out to wear anymore, or just have special meaning for me. There is my first Ironman finishers shirt, first marathon, first half iron, and first triathlon (or any race) ever shirts on there. Plus some local favorites, swim races, the krispy kreme challenge shirt, I got a little bit of everything in there. Mom added drop shadows and special quilting patterns, and the fabric for the backing was some that Kelley found when cleaning out her grandmothers house. It's all very cool and was made with love.






It's as wide as a king bed. So comfortable!
4th Christmas was sunday afternoon with Mom's side of the family. This year was the first Christmas since her mom passed away, and everyone missed her and prayed for her. My Aunt Angie was also there, this was the first time in a few years she was able to make it thanks to cancer. She looked very different, but her unmistakable personality was still there! So nice to get to spend time with her and my Uncle Dean.

Mom taking pictures

hanging with my sweetheart

Dad, Morgan, and Martha

Uncle Butch playing with his grandson
It was a wonderful holiday season. We're all glad to see home again after such a fun trip, and glad to see New Years come too. Really felt the love this Christmas, and I think we gave it just as much as we got.

1 comment:

Lisa's Yarns said...

I LOVE the quilt that your mom made for you. That is such a thoughtful gift and the perfect thing to do with all the race shirts you had sitting around. your mom is very talented as quilting is so much work!

Sounds like you guys had a great holiday! It's great that you were able to see so much family! I love the picture of the girls baking with Kelley - their aprons are so cute!