Christmas in Review

This year we celebrated Christmas in our new house. We were able to get the Christmas lights up on our new house before the family arrived. 

Grammy & Paw Paw (Dan's parents) came up from Florida for several days. During their stay, we enjoyed going shopping, opening gifts, eating turkey, going to Gatlinburg, catching a movie and more. Dan and I enjoyed riding the chair lift in Gatlinburg- my consolation for not being able to enjoy the hot tub at the cabin we rented.

Grammy and Paw Paw did everything they could to find out baby girl's name :)  (Much like Elizabeth's parents did when we visited them for Thanksgiving!)  Grammy said all she wanted for Christmas was for Santa to give her a piece of paper with the name. Santa left her a special letter in her stocking commending her for her Christmas spirit and belief, but said he would respect the wishes of Dan and Elizabeth in keeping the name a secret.  We like Santa :)  and now Grammy is not sure she believes anymore.

Dan received a very special gift this year. His parents brought up a letter that his Dad had written to him 10 days before he was born. Attached to the letter was a bi-centennial silver dollar. (Dan and his Dad have a special hobby of coin collecting)  This letter and coin have been in Dan's baby book and now Dan was inspired to do the same for our baby girl. While in Gatlinburg, we had to stop at "Tennessee's largest coin collecting shop" to find a special coin for our baby girl. Dan ended up choosing a 1910 silver half dollar in really good condition. You see, Dan was also given a coin from 100 years before he was born that is in his collection. He thought having the 100 year old coin for the baby book would be special. So now a family tradition will continue.

We really enjoyed our last Christmas before baby. Next year will be exciting in a whole new way as we will experience the holidays with our baby girl!