Christmas Eve we woke up -wishing Grandy a Happy Birthday in San Antonio! Soon after breakfast (yes, still wearing our favorite Predators shirts from the night before) we were joined by Uncle Johnny, Aunt Kate and Tad!! Thanks to Grammy for doing lots of cooking , with help from many members of the gang and Pop for being Henry's Manny. We all made it through Christmas Eve Mass with all in tow as no Church School in session. As we went to sleep, magically it started snowing for a white Christmas in Nashville!
We returned to Gaylord Opryland with our friends the Whites, Grammy and Pop to see the Christmas lights and decorations. Although not as extravagant as in the years past, still so beautiful. Opryland Hotel was flooded extensively by the May floods and just reopened in mid November. We were excited to have Uncle Ed, Aunt Jess, Andrew and William join us. We followed up the lights with a great dinner at the Mexican restaurant!
December 22nd Mommy, Daddy, Grammy and Pop were lucky enough to attend one of Garth Brooks Flood Relief Concerts. Around the time Henry was born Garth announced one concert to donate all proceeds to the Middle Tennessee Flood Relief. The show on December 16th quickly sold out- 8 more were added. He ended up with 9 shows in less than one week- we were at the last show on the floor. The proceeds from the shows exceeded several million dollars. Garth and Trisha Yearwood performed with a tribute from Mayor Dean. They sang all of their hits with Garth's encores nearly meeting every audience request. The arena was packed, not a seat left empty. Everyone was lively and thrilled to be there. We were once again reminded of what Nashville had been through the first weekend in May and how lucky we all are. More importantly, we were reminded of the power of people working together and taking care of their neighbors. A good reminder for Mommy and Daddy during the holiday season- how blessed we are to have our friends and family and to have made a home in Nashville!
We really enjoyed every aspect of the holidays- picking out a tree, hanging ornaments and making/decorating Christmas cookies. Brady, in particulary, really embraced eating the cookies!
In early December we were thrilled to have a small amount of snow. The snow was accompanied by temperatures in the single digits, which is nearly unheard of in Nashville. Little did we know this snow was only a glimpse of weather to come...
