Judd Christmas in the Tennessee mountains

Christmas afternoon, we loaded up and headed to Sevierville, TN to celebrate Christmas in the mountains with our Judd family. Last year we decided instead of doing big gifts for everybody to take a trip together and do a book exchange. It proved to be a great idea and was an enjoyable time together. We all gathered in a great big cabin, each took our turn at making meals and spent lots of quality time together. We played games, did some crafting, took plenty of hikes, did a little shopping... all that stuff that "togetherness" offers. One of my favorite adult times was one night after the children were tucked in bed, we had a sharing time with a little twist. My sister-in-law, Heather, offered up the great idea to have everyone write down their goal for the upcoming year on a slip of paper which we collected in a bowl. As the bowl passed around the group, we each drew a slip and after reading it, guessed who wrote it... then the person that wrote it expounded upon their goal and also shared what the Lord had been teaching them in 2009. It was such a neat time to go a little deeper with one another and share about matters of the heart. Our days in the mountains certainly created plenty of sweet memories and hopefully were the start of some new Judd family traditions.

so sweet of Aunt Katie Beth to make Ginger Bread Houses with the kids

headed out for a hike

Paul, Rebekah, Avery & Adam

such a cute little group of cousins who adore one another

the love shared among these brothers and sister... it's something special!

they have so much fun being together... plenty of laughter

Mark, Heather, Anderson & Carter

Mary Scott does adore her Papa

my craft that I worked on long and hard during our trip... it was fun sitting around the table crafting with my sister-in-laws who made one, too

Aunt Katie Beth playing with the kids while we packed for our travels back home