Our first Christmas as newlyweds was truly incredible. We got to spend a lot of good time with friends and family and we got a good few days to relax together without a million places to go and things to do. What a great gift to each other and us as husband and wife.
The Christmas season truly began when our friends John + Jamie allowed us to butt in on their family tradition and go pick out a Christmas tree from a lot and bring it home. So one cold Sunday afternoon in early December we headed toward the mountains of NC and met John + Jamie, John's mom, and her husband at Cracker Barrel for a great breakfast. We then hopped in the car and headed up the mountain to Motsinger's Christmas Tree Farm. What was extra amazing about this whole experience was the fact that it had snowed the day before we went and the entire farm was covered in snow. Since it hadn't snowed yet in Winston and I get 5 year old excited when I get around snow (I am definitely my mother's daughter!), the snow made it that much more incredible. I think we were all really excited about the snow. Once we pulled up, we got out and after a trip to their port-a-potty for John + Jamie, the search was on!
The trees covered in snow. It was beautiful!!
Can't search for the perfect Christmas tree without a few snowball fights. You've gotta watch your back at all times. Here is Jamie tagging John square in the back.
While we were all running around attacking each other and searching for our tree, we decided to have a photo shoot. Ja + I took really cute pictures of John + Jamie amidst the snowy trees. When it was Ja + I's turn, this is what happened. If anyone remembers the wedding and what happened as we were leaving Thalian, this should look familiar!
Once we had decided on a tree, after we had said, 'Hey Babe, what do you think about this one?' about 5,000 times, our big, strong men carried our trees to the front to have them bagged and tagged.
We got our 8' tree for $40. Not too shabby! And these trees were BEAUTIFUL and smelled delicious. If you weren't in the Christmas spirit before you got there, there was no doubt you were when you left. After we paid and louded the trees on the car, we had a nice cup of complimentary hot cider and off we went. Back down the mountain to begin our Christmas decorating. There was only once we had to pull off the road because we were about to lose our tree and John + Jamie couldn't bear to watch our tree fly down the highway. Good lookin' out guys!!
Once we got the tree home, it set up outside for a few days to open up and get ready to be decorated. After a few days, we had completely decorated our new house and it was beautiful. We did a lot of really awesome things, but here are some highlights.
If that wreath looks familiar, you may have seen it in the Pottery Barn catalog for $69. Well my talented and thrifty husband decided he loved it but was not going to pay that for it. So he went to Walmart and bought a cheap wreather and a container of silver and red ornaments and for a fraction of the cost, we had a PB wreath on our front door. And oh how proud he was!
December 18th was the last day of school for us, but we took that Friday off to head to Wilmington for Greg + Michelle's wedding on the 19th.
After the wedding we headed back to Winston because Ja had a basketball tournament for a few days. Once that was over we jumped in the car with the boys and headed to Jacksonville to spend Christmas with his family. We got down their on the 23rd and had a great time having drinks with old friends and getting to spend some time with the Whitehead's, Jason's best friend's family. Christmas Eve we had his family Christmas with a Golden Corral Christmas dinner and a few gifts exchanged. When we were talking about what we wanted for Christmas dinner, Ja's brother's girlfiend said we ought to have some friend chicken. To play along with that, I said we should add some macaroni and cheese. Then Ja said we should have some pizza. We all laughed because of how ridiculous the whole thing sounded, but then we ended up doing just that. And man, was it delicious. After dinner and presents we hopped in the car and headed to Wilmington for the First Baptist candlelight service. Even though Anna Brown wasn't there, I just couldn't have Christmas without going to Christmas Ever service at 11! Christmas morning we woke up and opened the rest of our gifts and had a great breakfast. Then everyone showered and we went out to Jason's grandma's house for his extended family Christmas dinner. After a great meal we hopped in the car in headed back to Winston.
Since we all have significant other's now, Mom just decided she didn't want to have to split holiday's or fight with anyone else about who got Christmas and who didn't. So to avoid that, we are always going to have Christmas on the 26th. That way we can be with our in-laws on the 25th and be together on the 26th. Leslie and Will also get to have their Christmas with Anna that morning and we will all be able to do the same thing once we start popping them out.
The Collins' Christmas this year was amazing. I'm not sure what made it so great, but it was awesome. We very rarely all get together, but we were all there and we laughed and ate and shared. It was amazing.
Anna was showing off her play set and even Jeffro got to enjoy it. Check out his britches and how busted the are! Oh, Jeffro!
Once we all played a bit and got to spend some time together, it was time to get things a-cookin! It was so fun to have all the Collins women in the kitchen. We all had to put on our aprons since we had our jobs to do! This is a priceless picture. I hope we can do this every year and see how things change and little ones get added!
It's also really fun to have little ones around. Nia is now in the 1st grade and Anna is a little over 2. We went for a family walk around the block and Anna and Nia rode in Anna's new wagon. Such a great time.
Once we all ate an awesome dinner it was time to open presents. Ja had a game that night so we quicky shoved food down his throat since we were waiting on him for presents. Banana pants was our elf and she passed out the presents and helped everyone open.
Greg + Michelle were in NYC for their honeymoon and flew into Raleigh that afternoon and drove straight to Leslie's for our Christmas. It was great to hear how their honeymoon was and get to enjoy their first Christmas together.
We all got to read our 'Stupid Poems' from each other and open some great gifts. The most amazing gift was saved until the end. A long time ago, Leslie had asked Jeffro to make her a toy box. He is a word worker and has access to all sorts of scraps and machines. She sent him a picture of what she had been looking at. Well that was over a year ago and no one had heard anything about it. Well he spent the 8 weeks before Christmas hand crafting her this AMAZING toy box. She was shocked and he was the proudest I've ever seen him. So after the tears had been wiped away, we all took a second to look at that incredible gift. It was huge. Made of cherry wood and lined with carpet. It was beautiful and fits perfectly in Anna's room, as if he had come and measured the fit. What an amazing thing to have and to be able to pass down. He needs to start working on some more, because I can promise we're all going to want one!!
The entire Hege family inside the toy box!
We are so blessed to have such a big, close, happy family. I LOVE when we can all get together because we all get along so well and laugh and talk and could do it forever. I'm already looking forward to next Christmas and like Anna said when they were packing up their decorations, 'Christmas always comes back!'
Josh + Patrick
