The Webb Family: An early Christmas Celebration

I love to watch the excitement of Christmas come to life through the eyes of my children. This year might have been the best yet. Payton definitely understand every part of Christmas - from Baby Jesus to Advent candles to Christmas carols to Santa to presents on Christmas morning - and, Owen is still too young but he loved all the sights and sounds. He would ask for the lights to be "off" (which means ON to him) and as we would drive through the neighborhood to look at lights he would gasp and say "Ohhhh....lights!" I love the innocent excitement!

On December 9th both of our parents headed to our home for our annual family Christmas celebration. We always have it a few weeks before Christmas and we enjoy the time to be with our parents before the hustle of the Christmas weekend.

Looking back....
We actually started this tradition the 1st year we were married and living in Durham - it honestly all started because I was so excited to have my house decorated for Christmas but so sad that my family would not be able to see it - so, we invited them for the night and for a big family dinner. For our 1st Christmas we celebrated with my parents, my grandparents and Chad's parents. Here are a few shots of that 1st family Christmas celebration in December 2005:

My Papaw Joe and Nannie Evelyn who seem to be enjoying my fabulous red velvet cake and Cathy's mini cheesecakes!

Cathy and George

(funny to me that my table centerpiece is still the same....6 Christmas seasons and 3 houses later!)

My Mom and Dad

Chad and I in front of our 1st Christmas Tree (which had previously fallen over and was tied off with fishing line!)

With my grandparents, all smiles and such wonderful memories!

Fast forward to December 2011 and things look so different! The celebration now includes a full weekend of events with two sweet kids and this year, I didn't have time to make that red velvet cake!

We are still all smiles when the weekend rolls around!

On Friday night, we loaded up George & Cathy's car...and really, its about as full as it can be....and we head over to see the James Island County lights and visit with Santa.

Owen didn't exactly love sitting on "Ho Ho's" lap...but, enjoyed looking at him from afar!

Payton was happy to sit on Santa's lap and read off a few things from his Christmas list - of course, he didn't forget those drums!

Owen walking and looking with Grandma and Grandpa

Owen and Mommy

After enjoying the lights and our visit with Santa, we piled back in the car and headed to dinner. This year, we let Payton pick the spot and ended up at Outback in Mt. P.

On Saturday morning we were up and out early. We were happy to have everyone here for Payton's 1st flag football game. So much fun!

After his game, we had to make one stop - Santa had requested a little more info on Payton's drums so we headed to a shop to do a little research. After sending a message back to Santa with a more precise request, we headed downtown. The Charleston Place has great display of trains at Christmas. We thought the boys would enjoy and they did. It was a small area but I think they could have watched for hours. The adults were hungry, so we headed out to lunch!

Model trains at the Charleston Place.

After lunch at TBonz and a few treats from the market, we walked around downtown and then headed home. We enjoyed the rest of the day at home and had a nice big dinner with Ham, Mac N Cheese, Broccoli Casserole and bread. We used the time to snap a few shots for the family Christmas card as well....with a few extra hands this is what we got: