Christmas!!

 Christmas Eve

 Santa came!!

 Christmas morning...Jake opening his bow and arrow.

 Jake opening his guitar.

 Jeremiah Culbreth spent Christmas with us. :)

 Anderson with his "baby." Hahaha.

 Look at Jake's face in the background.  So much sweetness in this one picture.

 Walker finally started opening his presents after watching Jake open his. Ha!

 Anderson got a Paw Patrol bicycle!

 Love this of my sweet Walker.

 This fort was our Christmas present to the boys.  The Statesboro High School Construction class has been working since October to build this.  We still have to add a slide, a few finishing touches, and paint it, but the boys LOVE it!

 More of Jeremiah. :)

Jake's Surprise Birthday Party

 How funny is this- they accidentally gave Jake a Georgia birthday cake instead of Georgia Southern. Hahaha!

 

 Jake was so surprised!

 Laughing about the cake

 Jaxson, Cole, Jake, Aiden, Brody, Chase, and Mixon

Someone crossed out Uga.  haha!

 

On December 23rd, we threw Jake a surprise birthday party at The Clubhouse.  His actual birthday isn't until Jan. 4th, but we chose to celebrate early instead of trying to fit it in with our crazy post-Christmas schedule.  It definitely made the surprise a lot more surprising, too.  Haha!  We invited his best friends, and the boys had a blast riding the Go Karts, playing laser tag, and playing out in the arcade.  (Walker had the stomach virus the night before, so he missed out on the fun. Boo).  Happy early birthday, Jake!!  

Christmas with My Dad

 

We celebrated Christmas with my Dad a few days before Christmas in Cochran.  We got together with my cousins and had a fish fry at my Granddaddy's old house.  It was by far one of the hardest days because you could just feel the absence of my mom and Granddaddy; that coupled with a stop to the cemetary and the sentimental gifts (a necklace with my mom's handwritten "Love, Mom" and a candle made of flowers from her casket spray) given to us, I think I cried 75% of the day. :( 

Christmas Programs x 3

Santa!

This is the Statesboro Mall Santa.  He told the boys they were "almost on the naughty list."  Hahaha.  Walker has been sweating it every night since and Jake has taken the approach of "Yes! At least I'm not on the naughty list!" (Which is where he probably deserves to be). Haha.  This trip to see Santa was pretty chill...we were the only ones there so we had plenty of time with Santa.  Anderson, however, still refused to get close to Santa and took off running when we tried to put him in Santa's lap.  Hahaha.  Maybe next year. ;)

Dad's Christmas Tree

 

 Right before Thanksgiving, the boys and I went and stayed with Dad.  Georgia Southern played at Georgia State, so we just made a weekend of it. While we were there, Dad asked me to help him with the Christmas tree, which was something my mom always handled.  She was oh so particular about her ornaments- ornaments were just her thing.  We only hung about 1/3rd of them; I just couldn't stop sobbing with every memory that the ornament held. :(  Jake was super cute, though.  He said, "If PaPa hung an ornament on every branch, then we're going to hang an ornament on every branch."

 This was my 2nd time being at home since my mom passed, so I decided to look around her room a little more.  I had asked my mom when she was first diagnosed with esophageal cancer to write everyone letters, so I've been on a mission to find those. I'm not sure that she even followed through with my request, but I remain hopeful that I'll find something she left for me.  Meanwhile, I have found several things she had hidden in a drawer like this, a "bucket list."

 I wish she would've kept going.  This was about 4 years before she was diagnosed.

 I did find a bunch of cards that she left for my Dad for the next few holidays.

I also found this voice recorded book she left for my sister's kids.  God I miss her.