We left a fantastic Kearney Christmas weekend midday on Sunday and arrived around dinnertime to Matt & Tommie’s house in St. Pete Beach. I rode with my parents and both little ladies in their new Explorer (with a car seat borrowed from Louis–thanks Louis! I am #momoftheyear and totally forgot Caroline would need a seat for the drive. Welp. Can’t think of it all, all the time!) Louis drove Mike and Matt had his family in the Lincoln. It was so nice to get to Matt and Tommie’s and their house looked BEAUTIFUL all decked out for Christmas!

That first night, Vivi made herself right at home in her flamingo jammies:

And Uncle Louis brought an awesome gingerbread house that we all worked on the entire week:

We pulled out the matching Christmas jammies for the kids (which Caroline called her ‘candy canes’):

We didn’t have the best weather that week, and both Mike and I were putting in full days teleworking, but we made the best of it with fun playground time when the rain held out.

We made cookies and Christmas treats with Tommie:

Tommie made an amazing Christmas Eve feast with some help from her #1 Sous-Chef:

And we had a wonderful night preparing for Santa to come!

After dinner, it was time to set out cookies and milk for Santa and carrots for the reindeer!

Pa read The Night Before Christmas to the little ones and we tucked them into bed in Pressy’s room.

While little ones were sleeping soundly, Santa came to visit!

And early on Christmas morning, these two got ready to see for themselves that Santa came:

Yeah, they were pretty excited! Preston got a lego train that he was sooo excited about. Vivi got this cool car toy that was a crowd pleaser:

Kay Kay gave Caroline a retro record player, just like the one I had as a kid. She also gave her Mr. Sketch markers, which were a huge hit.

Vivi loved the puzzle that Santa brought her but not nearly as much as she loved her new toothbrush!

Caroline loved her Tegu magnetic wooden blocks, well as a cool lego ball run game from Uncle Louis, and her train set from Santa.

Caroline made sure Bryce enjoyed his first Christmas:

After gift opening, we took family pictures outside in the Florida sunshine. Finally, we got the weather we love.

And these two spent the whole day serenading us about how it was a marshmallow world…

Later that night, we all gathered at Kay Kay and Pa’s house for a delicious Christmas Day dinner where a number of memorable events occurred.

Caroline and Vivi sat in the same chairs my brothers and I used as kids:

Caroline pronounced the delicious lamb that Kay Kay served “too wrinkly” to eat and threw a fit about eating one green bean–a requirement in order to have an ice cream sundae. I run a tight ship, no?? Then, afterwards, she had a potty accident in the middle of Kay Kay’s living room floor. Awesome. By the end of the night, this was me, with my own sundae…

God bless us. Everyone!

On December 26th, we enjoyed time outside at the beach, where Vivi and Caroline got to feel the breeze in their hair:

We all got to enjoy the boat for a bit–Vivi definitely enjoyed herself…

Especially when the boat took a detour to scoop up a Publix sugar cookie!

These buddies enjoyed looking for dolphins together:

With Caroline clutching her contraband cell phone Christmas gift from Kay Kay, of course.

Vivi enjoyed soaking up the last of the Florida sunshine and family (and snowglobes)!

We headed home the next day, with full suitcases and happy memories…till next time, loved ones and Sunshine State!