We had a marathon Christmas this past year! We literally celebrated the entire month of December and even a part of January. It all started with our very own family Christmas which we celebrated about 10 days early! We had many Christmas decorations but no tree this year and you know what it still felt very festive!
Mav loved every second of our long Christmas season! He is growing up so fast. It was a lot different celebrating Christmas this year than last year when he basically didn't have a clue what was going on. This year he at least understood that after the fun of unwrapping something you get to play with whatever was inside.
Josh and I also enjoyed the whole getting presents aspect as well... of course (:
Then it was time to pack and get ready for our EIGHT TOTAL PLANE RIDE/three week trip to Dallas, Provo, Idaho Falls and Boise! We had practiced watching movies on the iPad and wearing headphones for nearly a month and before we knew it, it was time to go!
Mav was great on the first two plane rides from Greenville NC to Dallas TX. He and Josh even got some pretty good shut eye along the way!
Once in Dallas the festivities officially began! We went to the Gaylord Hotel and saw an awesome ice sculpture event!
They give you these really warm coats to wear in the freezing ice display room and Maverik looked so cute in his! When he walked he looked just like a little penguin waddling around!
The theme this year was Merry Madagascar after the newest Madagascar movie.
It was really fun for Mav to see all the animals.
Here is a cute glimpse of The Virgi...er... uh...ALL OVER THE PLACE Joneses! (:
I thoroughly enjoyed getting to walk around with these two cute boys/best friend cousins!
During our stay in Texas we went to the Dallas Arboretum and took family photos. This is a shot of most of the Jones girls after the professional photographer left.
We finally got our Santa shot while at the Arboretum and it did not disappoint! Maverik is not a fan of Ol'Saint Nick!
One night the boys and I went to the BYU v. Baylor game!
One night we went to the Rockwall Joneses house and had an awesome round of "Texas Snow Ball Fights" with styrofoam balls.
Bruce and Jerri gave all us tired mommy's an afternoon of pampering.
We went the the Northpark Mall for a blowout!
One word! AH-mazing!
On Christmas Eve we had the traditional reading of the Christmas story complete with getting to enjoy watching the story be enacted by our super super cute nieces and nephews and Mav! (:
Then it was time for the Christmas Eve gift
...and looking at the beautiful tree one last time before bed!
On Christmas Day it snowed! Way to go TEXAS!!!!
Then on the day after Christmas we flew to SLC with the entire Jones Clan- 10 adults, 9 kids, 1 airplane!
(unfortunately I had many pictures from our time in Utah but they are all gone now! They didn't upload with the rest of the pictures, however they did delete off the camera with the others after the upload and now they are gone forever!)
I did manage to find this photo on my Instagram account! It is almost a Utah picture, it was taken just a little north of the Utah/Idaho border.
Once we got to Idaho Mav had had enough fun. We was running a 102 fever (he even had a fever seizure). We spent the first few days sitting in my mothers basement watching back-to-back cartoons.
On about the fourth day Mav started feeling a little better and even wanted to play. He was in love with my moms piano and her big basket of toy cars!
By the time we went to Boise to see the Bates family Mav was feeling 100% better. While in Boise I assumed the position of head chef and made alfredo pizza. I even wore our nieces play mustache, upon their request, because it was more Italian. (:
We were also able to attend Gabby's blessing! Thanks Bates Family for letting us share in this special experience with you!
It was a wonderful Christmas and it was great to see so much of our family! What a whirlwind trip of a lifetime!
And here is one last silly photo! It is a Maverik gas station in Idaho... you know because this is possibly the one and only time we will ever find something with Mav's name on it- spelled correctly! (:
