Louis Family Christmas

We headed up to Arlington last week to spend the 25th with my family. We stayed with Tom, Rebekah, and Henry while we were there. Evie and her cousin Henry had a great time together! Every morning, he would wake up and call out for her "V-V" (that's how he says Evie)

A lot of the cousins were able to get together for a lunch at my Grandmother's condo

Me, Evie, my Mom and my Grandmother



8 of the 10 Louis grandchildren were able to be there. Evie loved being around all of her cousins! Here she is playing with Paw Paw and Alice. My parents have some small trees decorated with candy in the kitchen, and the Little People nativity set up...so of course, Evie spent a lot of time in this area.

Tom and Rebekah have a park near their house so Henry showed Evie all the cool toys

On the 23rd, my uncle, aunt and cousins from Dallas came over to my parent's house for a big dinner. I was really excited to get lots of family pictures throughout the trip!

Evie and Henry in their sweet Christmas outfits!!

Evie usually has some hesitation when it comes to warming up to men...but her great Uncle Alex won her over! They spent a lot of time together reading Sports Illustrated.

The kids' table

All of the cousins

We had a special treat on Christmas Eve! Our friends Travis and Lauren, who live in Fort Worth, had us over to their house for breakfast! They had sent Evie this adorable shirt for Christmas - it says "Cute as a" and then has a giant button on it. We wanted to get a picture of Evie and their dog Olive in her Christmas outfit - this was the best one we could get! Evie was leaning away from Olive as much as she could!

While we were at their house, it started to snow! We all went outside to get pictures - although you can't really see the snow much in these pictures.

Later that night, we met back at my parent's house to go to their Christmas Eve service at church. Evie loves her sweet cousin Isabelle - and was constantly asking Pat Pat to pick her up! Everyone loved her plaid dress that Carly and Micah sent her for her 1st birthday.

So, although it was only lightly snowing in the morning, it continued throughout the day! By the time we were heading to the Christmas Eve service, the snow was actually sticking!!

After the Christmas Eve service, everyone spent the night at Pat Pat and Paw Paw's house. Yes, everyone! I'm not sure how much sleep we all got but it was fun to all be together! All of the grandkids helped make cookies for Santa.

Here is the Whiteside Family Santa's Cookie plate ready for the big man himself!

We actually had a white Christmas!

Paw Paw had treat bags for all of the grandkids - items like Cracker Jacks, Little Debbie cakes, etc. He even let everyone pick one treat to eat right then. Poor Evie and Henry - they were only offered some animal crackers from their parents! : )

Time to open some presents!!


Evie got this toy from her cousin Isabelle! You pull the string and the dog walks behind you. Evie has already loved playing with it! She also got a book on the color yellow and a book on the color purple...coincidence? No, the New Orleans Louis Family are huge LSU fans and they are starting early on the recruitment!


Pat Pat decorated each of the grandkids' gift boxes! Evie loved playing with the letters and pom pom balls!

Pat Pat and Paw Paw know how much Evie loves purses - especially Mommy's purse! So Evie got her very own stocked purse: a wallet with credit cards and money, sunglasses, a scarf, tissues, a day planner, and a cell phone. She also got her very first A&M outfit (I know, it's very sad that we haven't bought her one before now!)

Daddy racked up lots of great books: Lonesome Dove, Streets of Laredo, The Tipping Point, and a few chess books. He was so excited when we got home to start reading them!

Pat Pat and Paw Paw have their "favorite things" each year. This year Pat Pat had a gift for the girls and Paw Paw had the guys. Pat Pat made everyone a reversible apron, with different fabrics depending on the person! Paw Paw got each guy a minor league baseball team hat - they were given away white elephant style where you can steal the one before you. It was a lot of fun to watch!

The kids built this great snowman before all of the snow melted away!

Christmas night we went back to my parent's house for dinner. The older grandkids put on a nativity performance!

Rebekah brought some poppers that her family always has. Each popper had a little toy, some jokes and these paper hats.

We had a great time in Arlington but missed my sister Alex, her two kids, and Walt, Megan and Jackson - who all live in Charlotte.

Next we'll get to celebrate a late Christmas with our Whiteside Family over New Year's - we can't wait!

I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas!

Our Early Family Christmas

We had our family Christmas a little early since we spent the 25th with my family in Arlington.

Evie was a little sleepy when we headed over to the tree for stockings and presents but surprisingly she didn't ask to eat breakfast once! We were sure that she would be begging us to eat the entire time. It was so much fun to watch her be excited about the big wrapped gifts and want to find out what was inside!



She was a little slower than we anticipated on the unwrapping so we still helped out.

She was so excited to see a 115 piece food set!!

"Get it open! Get it open!"

Now on to her big gift...

Evie's very own kitchen! We've already moved it into the kitchen so we can all cook together!

Time to open stockings!

I was very excited about my Chocolate Bar chocolate covered Oreos!!

Daddy made me take a picture of him holding up every single item in his stocking...rather than uploading tons of pictures, here's one with his favorite candy bar.

"Is it time for me to open mine now?!"

Evie loved taking things out of her stocking...then putting them back in...then taking them back out

She got a puzzle, a book and LOTS of socks!

Evie had one more gift to open! Our friend Chris from DC came over for lunch earlier that weekend, and brought Evie a present! He was so sweet to think to bring her something!!

He did a great job picking out her toy - a phone! As many of you know, Evie loves her phones! She will take random items around the house, hold them up to her ear, and talk away.

Ryan and I loved watching Evie open her gifts and play with her toys! We couldn't get over how much changed she had changed since last year's Christmas.

Lights in the Heights

We've heard great things about Lights in the Heights but this was our first year to go. There is a parade throughout the neighborhoods and then people walk around to see the decorated houses.

Evie wore her new reindeer shirt that Jenny helped me make - they both have matching bows!

Zack was on call, but the Burkhart women met us at the parade. We wanted a picture of the girls in their matching shirts and bows but they weren't too excited about being put in the same stroller.


Evie: "Why...why would they do this to us??"

Bekah: "This is not ok!"
Evie and Mommy in front of Santa Claus on motorcycles. A Santa walked by her at one point in the night. Evie froze in fear and whimpered until I picked her up!

Some of the houses are included in the Lights in the Heights so they have bands playing on their front porches

Family picture in front of a borderline Griswold house

The rest of the night Evie got to ride on Daddy's shoulders! As you can see, she was so excited!!

We're so glad we decided to stop by! We gained several tips for success by watching the other parents - a wagon is key for next year!