Holly Jolly Christmas Weekend

This past weekend Sam and I spent getting into the holiday spirit. On Friday night, we met up at Sam's work downtown to go to the Nashville Christmas parade. The crazy thing is that in all these 9 years of us dating/married we have never been to the parade downtown. We started the night at my favorite place ever, which is of course the Old Spaghetti Factory.

We finished eating just in time to make it outside to see some of the fireworks. The Rudolph Run 5K had just finished, so we were just in time for the parade. We watched the whole thing, including all 5,000 shriners! It felt that there were that many at least! :)

 The Goodlettsville Little League led the parade. 

 This is Holiday Barbie in a box. Yes, they put a person in the box and she stiffly waved at people.

 Santa ended the show. 

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

After a lazy Saturday morning, Sam and I took some Christmas card pictures with my sister and her little family. It is always a good time when you get us together! When you throw in a crazy cute toddler you have an even better time! After pictures, Sam and I headed over to the Barrios house to spend the night enjoying some Christmas stuff in Nashville. There were a million other people who had the same idea to go to Opry Mills, so we passed on our eating plans and hoped the crowds got better. We took the girls to see Santa at Bass Pro after we ate!

 

This guy threw me off. At first glance I thought there was really someone under there...turns out it's just a machine. 

The girls rode together...we threw the boys in their own car...so we had some good laughs singing Christmas songs at the top of our lungs as any girl does! :) Amanda and I are still in a debate on the ending of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. She says it ends "like Dallas minus J.R." who knows that the means?? I say it's "like George Washington." People are crazy I tell you...not knowing the real added ending to Rudolph! ;) We headed over to Opryland Hotel after seeing Santa and getting some coffee to see the lights. Sam and I hadn't been back since it flooded, so it was nice to be back and see everything looking nice. I still think I could go every year and still not have a clue where I was. It was raining, so we didn't get to go see the lights in the front and the nativity scene. :( That's the best part in my book. 

 She's been my girl since she was 3...

 The life of the party! :)

It was such a good time and made many new memories! There are so many more coming our way I am sure. Let the Christmas parties begin!

Tis' the Season

It's that time again when we get to get together with our friends and family and I think we brought it in pretty nicely. We had five Thanksgivings with our friends and family, which was more than our usual Thanksgivings get together. Amanda and I took off that night to go for our annual Black Friday shopping excursion. This year the stores opened earlier than normal, so the shopping started well before midnight and we stayed out until the sun came back up to greet us! It was a really fun time and brought on the Christmas season.

This past weekend Sam and I went to Gatlinburg for a little getaway with some friends of ours. We took this trip last year at the same time and had a blast. This year did not disappoint. We got to enjoy Friday off from work and walk the streets of downtown Gatlinburg. Saturday morning the girls were surprised with a girls day spa treat that the boys had already booked before we got there!! It was so nice to enjoy some time with the girls, but even nicer to have a massage while doing it! I also got my first facial, which I thoroughly enjoyed too! We took some time that night to do a little Christmas shopping while the boys watched football. The weekend ended way faster this year that is for sure, but we came back ready to face the last few weeks before Christmas!