Christmas Eve & Christmas

Blog slackin'.

Time to write about the Forbes' first Christmas!


Christmas Eve we woke up early and got some of the easy baking and cooking done and the last minute cleaning. The gym was open, so Brandon dropped me off so I could squeeze in a quick swim, while he ran an errand. After the gym we went home, got ready for the day, and finished up some last minute cooking!


On Christmas Eve, we spend the day with my family. The Sheppards, and the Moores, and now the Forbes too! :) We always have way too much food. Our menu is always appetizers. We made...


Buffalo Chicken Bites

Taco Roll Ups

Peppermint Sugar Cookies & White Chocolate Chex Mix

And here is the spread:

We had the whole family, at our new dinning room table, for the first time. Talk about a great time.


While we cleaned up, the men played...


Dad tried to show everyone some kind of card trick, that he couldn't remember, so that was interesting.

Brandon & Jax wrastlin'!

After we pigged out, literally...we moved to the living room and were ready for presents! This year we decided to set a $30 price limit and do secret santa. Along with White Elephant Dirty Santa! So fun! I got Michael's name and got him this really neat GNC blender. It's designed to fit shaker cups, so he can blend up a shake, flip it over, throw in the lid and go! Brandon got Stephanie's name and he got her a Vera cosmetic bag and house shoes for trufflin! Stephanie got my name and she got me some stuff from the Bath & Body Works Aromatherapy line. LOVE this stuff! She got me the Stress Relief Bath Salt and Lotion. Perfect for use after a long run or in my case right now, swim! She also got me a big, deep, skillet-which is the only pot/pan we were missing! Michael got Brandon's name and got him knee straps for the gym, great gift...he loves them! For the white elephant gift, we actually lucked up! Brandon ended up with a converter {I think is what it's called} for the car. You plug it into the cigarette lighter and it has an outlet! Perfect for camping! I got a framed picture that says LOVE and a little Christmas decoration sleigh. :)

Stephanie actually won this, but gave it back to me♥

So cute, right?

After our Christmas Eve get together we headed to church for an awesome sermon! It was about opening the gift of Love on Christmas. The music was great and there was some snow that fell too!


After church we went to moms house to play some games and have some Egg Nog. That was the first time I had ever drank Egg Nog. It was good, but a very filling drink. We looked through old pictures, watched some of the Grinch with Jim Carey-has to be my fave Christmas movie by far. We also played Guesstures and Taboo! Brandon and I dominated in Guesstures {Yes, even with my boot on I had some great acting skills} and Michael & Kristina won Taboo. Fun times!


We left from moms and went home to get ready for Santa! We stuffed each others stockings and had them ready to hang up and we exchanged Christmas Eve Pjs! A new Forbes tradition, that we will continue on. Gotta be lookin' nice for Santa, right?

I got Brandon some reeeeeeeally soft IZOD Christmas pants with a white Polo t-shirt.
Brandon got me some Old Navy pjs! Red Candy Cane Heart Pants with a white long sleeve thermal.

Christmas Day


Christmas Day was amazing. By far one of the Best Christmas' ever. And everyone in our fam kept saying that over and over and over that day. It was so great to have everyone home and everyone together. Truly an unforgettable Christmas!



The three of us were so excited to wake up! I love, love, love my boys :)

Sweet Jax lovin' on his momma!
'Mom, put me down, Santa came!'

When you walk out of our bedroom you're in the middle of our house. With the living room to the left when I walked out this is what I saw!

It was tricky to figure out how we were going to do each others stockings, without each other seeing. Brandon is a peeker, so he put mine out first. After that I hung his up and covered them both up!


Jaxon got to go first. We wanted him to be occupied while we ripped into our presents!
Yes, that bone still has plastic on it. Haha

His stocking was filled with tons of treats, squeeky toys, and bones-but his favorite bone was definitely the one from his Virginia Beach Grandma! ;) She sends him some of the neatest treats!! Think the bone is big enough?

Once we were done with Jaxon it was our turn! Brandon did a great job on my stocking...look at that thing!

Here is the stuff from both of our stockings :)

After stockings it was time to open those presents! We were so exicted!! Like a bunch of 5 year olds gathered around the Christmas tree. It was such a special time.


Joanne got me a Flip Camera! I was soooo excited! If you don't know what a Flip Camera is you are missing out. I didn't actually ask for this for Christmas, which is why I think I was so excited. I did want one though! Apparently Ms. Sneaky bought it a few months ago! It is so neat and we've already been using it!

She also got us this little organizer for Jax's things! At the top it says, 'My Stuff' and has a picture of him that she stuck in there :)

Joanne gave us this frame too ;) We love it!

Then she gave us a digital picture frame. I had never really payed them much attention, but they are so neat! Brandon let me bring it to work and put it on my desk!

Some of my favorite things I/Brandon/We got this year...


Lap Counter for swimming. It's a ring I wear on my finger and with the press of a button I can count my laps. It also displays statistics like the total elapsed time, total lap count, lap split times, fastest lap, slowest lap..etc. So cool!

We got house shoes with the fur! So comfy!

Brandon got me a robe. It is so soft and comfy. Perfect for lounging.

This is definitely one of my favorite gifts. Brandon got me this necklace that says, 'Do you know what I love most about us?' You flip it over and the back says, 'You!' He said, 'It's gold and silver...I know how matchy matchy you are so you can wear it with anything'. Sweet man of mine♥

Got some scarves and mom got me this awesome scarf hanger! No more broken hangers! That baby is filled up!

Got Brandon the Neutrogena Shave 'Line'. He loved it :)

Magic Bullet! HELLO! Thanks momma!!! Quick and easy protein shakes and smoothies here we come!

Brandon's Aunt Teri from VB sent us a box! We got some little Ornaments and a Mary, Joseph, and baby Jesus figurine. The awesome thing about this gift, it's the exact same as the big Nativity
Set we have now, so it matches! That's God working. We love it!

Brandon got me this Willow Tree, 'You have my heart' ornament. It was in my stocking :)

Brandon's big gift from me was a watch! He had no idea and didn't even ask for it, so he was so surprised. He has a black Nixon now, but it's not an everyday type of watch. I got on Fossil and with one look I found it. He loves it!

My last present to open was small and really light. I thought I knew what it was, but when I picked it up I was a little confused... When I opened it, it was a turquoise e-reader case. Smiling ear to ear, holding an empty case...I looked up at Brandon. He smiled back and me stood up and said, 'Santa told me he had a special delivery to make, but I need to go find it.' He walked in with another wrapped gift. I opened it and there it was, A Kindle Fire!!! I instantly tore into the sealed box and like a little kid I was zoned into my new toy.

After we got through with our Christmas we got ready and headed to moms for Christmas morning breakfast and some of dad's homemade gravy! YUM! I wait all year for that stuff! We had mimosas, a breakfast casserole, a french toast casserole, biscuits and gravy, ham, and chocolate covered strawberries!

We exchanged presents...which many were seen above. I did two DIY projects for my parents...

I made my mom a coaster and pencil holder for her work desk

I made dad this and put it in a frame...got some tears out of him ;)

Michael & Kristina and Brandon & I exchanged gifts for each other. Since they were moving and didn't have a lot of room to take stuff with them, we got them gift cards. But, we had to get them a gift too! We got them a reeeeally soft throw! :) Michael & Kristina got us, seriously the best gift. I opened the box and the note said 'We owe you 2 pina coladas' and I was like, 'Oh, they must be going to take us out when we come visit them in Fl?', so I'm like, '...ha?' And Micheal's like, 'No! Move it, and open it up!' And there was a gift card for Southwest! Helloooooooooo Daytona here we come soon! I mean, with all the money you have to worry about spending on vaca, plane tickets won't have to be one of them! What a great gift!! Can't wait!

Mom also got me this purse I picked out and she wrapped. ;) Love it. It's such a great color!

We went over the river and through the woods to my grandmothers house to a shrimp boil to spend the rest of the day!

That would be my mom, obviously creeping in the background.

Love you mom, but that's better ;)

For my grandmothers this year we gave them a framed picture of us from the wedding. Mawmaw loved it. Look at that face :) She is so precious.

For the rest of the night we went home, in a food coma, and went through all of our new goodies! Definitely a Christmas we will never forget. We are so blessed. I am so glad I've been blogging to keep all of these memories! It's almost been a year. Can't wait to look back.