the one with twins.

A couple weeks ago.. I went to take a Christmas picture of the twins.  You can see it here.  While there, we played around with some different picture ideas.. It was an absolute adventure!  Messy yet fun!  Here is a sneak peak.

Aren't they the sweetest things you've ever seen?

the one on Christmas.

I love living in North Carolina.  My main reasoning being the weather.  For each season, I feel like it is perfect... except for this year.  The weather this Christmas season has been so hot.. not a fan.  Mom & I were talking the other day and I was mentioned how different Christmas would be in Florida or in New York.. solely because of weather.  Anyways,  Christmas has been a little different this year.. but incredible none the less.

Christmas Eve we always go up to my grandparents house (mom's side of the family), we were eat Brunswick Stew & laugh like crazy.  When all of the family is together, it's a big ol' time... which makes the gifts seem obsolete. 

&& my uncles are so, so good at making Sam feel welcomed & loved in our family.. & I am forever grateful for that.

 All the grandaugthers got old aprons! 

&& the older granddaughters got one of our grandma's old skillets & a cookbook!

She may or may not have been dropping a hint.

Christmas schedules and traditions change every year..  some times multiple.  One of the changes in traditions for our family was that instead of Twice New Secret Santa.. we played Twice New Dirty Santa.

 It was a complete success.  I brought the tobacco stick star (pictured above) and came out with old camera & a scarf made of old t-shirts!

Once we got back home.. the kiddies exchanged with one another.

&& then Santa came the Simmons residents & it was a glorious morning! Pictures were pretty boring so we are just gonna move on!  Mom & Dad received their gifts from their babies & Im pretty sure they were thrilled with them!  So for the rest of the day we just sat around the house, watched movies, played cards, cooked and rested.

Later on, I went to Sam's house to exchange with him.. &&& he got me a bike!

eeek! :)

yes, the giant adidas sweater is indeed part of my Christmas dress outfit...  really, Sam & I were about to go for a quick bike ride!

For supper, we went to my grandparents on my dad's side of the family.  Where we ate goooood food && even better dessert!

With the cook, herself!  I sure hope some of her culinary genes didn't skip this generation!

Anyways, there is a clip into some Christmas day events for the Simmons household.

I hope you & your family had an incredible Christmas!

Let's continue to celebrate -- Jesus is here!  Alleluia!

the one in the gap.

I got a text from my sister yesterday that read "You never blogged Thanksgiving and it's almost Christmas".  She was right.. but honestly.. I didn't take that many pictures at Thanksgiving && I don't love to blog without pictures..  Instead of annoying everyone with my lens in their face, I enjoyed it.  I loved just being with everyone.  But... then again -- I am pretty much picture-less for this season!  It's a hate/love decision.

In the meantime, I can tell you about the time in between Thanksgiving & Christmas.

The day after Thanksgiving, every year my family heads out to Reed Island Farm in Virginia to get our Christmas tree.

As always, it was a complete success.  The ladies found the tree, the men chopped it down.

Then sometime that weekend, we decorated our tree with our "special ornaments".  Then mom & dad always seal it off with a precious little kiss.. aww. :) 

The end product turned out so fat & cute.

Ignore the skirt.. and a picture of the tree with gifts underneath it is coming as a later post, next week! 

Also, Im trying to learn how collage my instagram photos from my phone.. this is good as it got using Picasa -- I wanna learn via photoshop.. I'll get there.

[one] my latte from Helios cafe in Raleigh.

[two] my devotion & coffee one morning.

[three] our family decided to wrap all of our gifts with newspaper & red ribbons!

[four] my sweet grandma left me some of the dough to her infamous pinwheel cookies because she knows I like all baked goods raw. :)

In other news, baby brother has been doing work on the basketball court this season.  He is a senior, so I think he realizes that it's now or never.  With that kind of mentality, he is making his momma, daddy & sisters insanely proud.

 Now or never, baby brother.

So, on tap for the rest of the gap between Thanksgiving & Christmas...

- admiring all of the Christmas lights before they have to be packaged up for another year

- helping mom with last minute gifts/wrapping & dad with cleaning the house

- reading scripture to prepare for Him

- && editing some pictures for Jenny Lynn

See you next week!  Have the Merriest Christmas!