Christmas Time in Tennessee

We also got to spend some time in Tennessee with MiMi and Papaw this holiday season. It was Kaiya's first plane ride. At first I was nervous about flying with Kaiya, but the thought of spending between 10 and 12 hours in the car with a baby who isn't in love with her carseat was enough to convince us to give the friendly skies a try.

Of course we shouldn't have been nervous, Kaiya is such a good natured baby (she must take after her father) that she had fun the whole way.

Here she is sitting in her own seat on the airplane, with her favorite toy, the ever present wisk...



When we got to Brentwood, we had Christmas with Jamie's sister's families. Kay had to leave to go back to Florida, so we missed her, but we got to see Rhonda and John, and for the first time Kaiya got to meet her cousin Jennifer. We saw Pam & Steve and their kids Austin and Kaitlin, as well as their significant others, Tara and Ian. Austin hasn't been around babies that much, so everybody thought it was funny to put Kaiya in his arms and watch him squirm, but I thought he did great.

Doesn't he look like a natural?



The next day we had Christmas with Carolyn's side of the family at Charles and Wylene's house. We got to spend time with JoAnn, Kenny and Laura (unfortunately Beth, Jessie & their girls were in Arkansas), and Kaiya got to meet Sheila (the most hilarious member of the clan), Denise & Rodney and their girls, Brittany, Carmen & Mandy, who are too sweet for words.

While we were there, JoAnn brought a child's rocking chair that had been MiMi Carolyn's when she was just a little girl.


We also made the long haul out to East Tennessee to see all of Kaiya's Great Aunts & her Great Uncle. It was great to see them again, and I am reminded that they are just about the nicest group of people you could ever want to be related to (that is unless you are talking politics or Cowboy football with Uncle Billy Joe).

Among the people Kaiya got to meet were Aunt Bernice...


Also the eldest member of the Seal clan, Aunt Agnes...


Finally, what baby's first Christmas is complete without... a new car!!! (or at least a new motorcycle)


Actually, there is an interesting story behind this motorcycle, MiMi won it in a raffle before Kaiya was even born. She only bought one ticket, and I can only imagine how many hours of enjoyment were purchased with that one dollar. Kaiya is already on her way to becoming a Motorcycle Mama!