Christmas in Bartow-- Part I

Christmas is my favorite event of the year. (Not to be confused with my favorite season of the year, which is definitely not winter). I love celebrating Jesus' birth, and especially love teaching the boys about the purpose of the holiday. We have really struggled with what to do "about Santa." We don't celebrate Santa, or promote belief in Santa...but we also haven't actively discouraged the boys from hearing about or talking about Santa/elves etc. I see nothing inherently wrong with Santa, but I also do not want anything to overshadow the real reason to celebrate (Jesus was born!). I don't want the boys to one day learn that Santa is not real and then also question whether Jesus is real... But, right now Carver kind of believes that angry birds are real things...and that Mickey Mouse is real and things like that are just a normal part of growing up and being a kid. So, I don't know. I'm just going to forget about Santa until next year and then we'll re-evaluate where we are.

For two years I've been planning on us going back to Bartow for Christmas this year. So excited! There is just something about going home for the holidays. No matter how old I get, or wherever I live, home will always be our house in Bartow. Lyle and Courtney and their families had to bail on celebrating Christmas there (boo), so that meant it was just my family at my parent's house. The week we were there was absolutely perfect. I am so thankful for all we did that week, and thankful that my parents are incredible and generous and thoughtful and willing to do anything we want to do. The boys had a great time and it was exactly what I had hoped for in my first Christmas back in Bartow in about six years.

We packed up luggage, boys, dogs, and strollers and headed down on the Thursday before Christmas. The drive was long, but the boys were GREAT.

A picnic lunch is sometimes so much easier with small boys and dogs.

On Friday we headed to Orlando to spend a couple of days there celebrating Carver's 4th birthday!

The weather was very warm...

On Saturday we headed to Sea World to celebrate Carver's big day!

SO excited to have Courtney, Darin and Whitney meet us there! I love how Courtney loves my boys so well.

Court took Carver on his first roller coaster ride :)

Daniel took the big kids on another ride.

Sunday we headed back to Bartow in time to go to my home church. I have been there so infrequently since I moved away that it still feels a little strange to return with my kids. Crazy.

A few pictures after church. They were not being particularly agreeable.

Oh those curls!!!

Sunday night we had the extended family over for appetizers and some time to spend together.

The spread....

Cargy spent the evening fascinating by the ornaments on the tree.

Monday we rested from the crazy weekend...

Quiet day playing at the park.

There are a lot of things that the boys really love about Grandmama and Granddaddy's house. Carver gets so excited every time we head down there. He LOVES my parents and their house. He loves the cows and goats and their cat, Chloe (or Cleo, as Carver refers to her). For this visit, my parents set up a small tent for Carver and he was SO EXCITED. He got to sleep in the tent, and he and Carson both played in it. I'm pretty sure he will expect it to be there every time we visit now.

He was too scared to feed the goats. And he would not let us take the crackers away from him to give them to the goats. So, Cargy participated by holding the crackers and watching from a safe distance.

Carver and "Cleo"

Carver's cozy tent.

Much more to come-- stay tuned for Part II!