Nashville: Lights at Opryland

After walking downtown, and finally making it out of the parking garage, we made out way back to the hotel.  Emily was kind enough to drive us over to the Opryland Resort.  The amount of lights they put out is amazing! I read somewhere there are over 2 million lights (inside and outside)!

There was this spectacular outdoor nativity display

and every couple minutes there was an audio recording that would tell of the Christmas story

Until next time...

Candle-lit Dinner

While making supper last night, the power went out!  Luckily, there was only a few minutes left for the enchiladas that were baking in the oven, and the rice had already boiled and was chillin' on the stovetop.  The older kiddos were concerned about how we were going to see to eat, but no fear! Momma found a couple candles.

A little more than half way through our meal, the power returned, but Dallas and Reba were having so much fun with the candle-lit dinner, they asked to keep the lights off!  So, we did.

Until next time...

Lights Under Louisville

For those that don't know, Ma-maw LOVES Christmas lights!  So, when she heard about Lights Under Louisville, she was quick to send an email to us girls asking to go while we were home.  Lucky for Ma-maw, not only does she have three girls that love to look at lights, she also has two grandbabies that LOVE to look at the lights!

 

The light display are underground through Mega Caverns.  They had different themes as you made your way through.  Here are just a few of our favorites...

 

Pre-Historic Christmas

 

I want a hippopotamus for Christmas...

The kiddos loved the monkey - probably because they are monkeys themselves!

 Little Bo Peep

Tinker Bell! (and Peter Pan)

 The Peppermint Mill

Choo-choo!

Here Comes Santa Claus...

on a Harley?

by helicopter?

The Reason for the Season

 

 

Frosty the Snowman!

Near the end of the display, they had this beautiful tunnel of lights to drive through!

Bye, bye Santa!

Until next time...

Oh, What Fun!

It is to ride, in a one two horse open sleigh!
Aunt Katie treated us all to a sleigh ride through Humboldt one evening.  Lucky for us, the weather was mild for the second weekend of December!  The kiddos loved listening to the sleigh bells on the horses and admiring the lights.

Downtown Humboldt

Near the end of the ride is one house that is known for it's decorations - the following pictures are all from this one house!

Our sleigh driver told us it costs $6 an hour to run the lights for this house alone!

A nice family shot at the end of our trip

Dallas wanted to pet the horses

And, of course, so did little sister!

Until next time...

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

I finally drug up the decorations one day while the kiddos were napping and Doug was working in the garage and barn.  Once I got the tree together, these were the only lights that lit up on my pre-lit tree...

Frustration!

Luckily, I had a couple strands of white lights that I was able to put on to make the tree decent.  Here's the finished product...

The kiddos loved helping us pull the ornaments out of the tubs and finding the perfect place to hang them on the tree.  We were having so much fun, I forgot to take any pictures...

The kiddos each have a small tree in their room.  Ma-maw started this tradition on Dallas' 1st Christmas.  She gets the kiddos an ornament each on Christmas to hang on their special tree.  She tries to get an ornament that is a reminder of something special to them that year.

This is Dallas' tree (2008 - baby's 1st Christmas, 2009 - animals {from going to the fairs with Ma-maw and Pa-paw}, 2010 - a steam engine train)

This is Reba's tree (2009 - baby's 1st Christmas, 2010 - Santa Claus {for visiting Santa the first time})

Doug and I were even able to decorate outside!  Sorry, my pictures aren't the greatest, but you get the idea :)

Until next time...

Winter Wonderland

Even though winter does not officially begin until December 21st, it has definitely arrived here! The temps have been hovering around freezing during the day and then dipping close to zero at night. Over the weekend, we bought Dallas another hat (we are having trouble keeping them on) and mittens. Here's the little guy bundled up to go to town.
I finally did it...I put up the Christmas tree. I was trying to decide if I wanted to set it up or not. I didn't want to be constantly pulling Dallas out of it. I then decided to set it up in the back of my living room where Dallas does not play. Of course, I had to set him in front of the tree to get a picture, and he would not look at me.

When Doug got home, he helped get a good picture.

Here is the finished tree!

We also finished the outside lights...take a look:

After a couple years, I am finally able to have my snow globe! If you remember, last year, I was not able to do lights because we were getting our house re-roofed, and Doug was out of the country with work.

As far as winter weather, we received a lot of ice through the night. The vehicles were covered this morning. The freezing rain is still falling, and they say it will turn to snow later today. Many schools in the area closed for today...let the long winter settle in. Oh, and we are to get our next winter storm beginning Sunday.

Until next time...