[L’s favorite outfit of the week]

[Garden Lights at the Atlanta Botanical Garden]


[L’s first visit to Auburn]


[the best baby accessory]

[family Christmas in South Alabama]



[Christmas caroling around Samson]

[anyone recognize Santa?]

[L’s first dolly is a hit!]

Oh what a fun weekend! We traveled down to Samson, AL for our annual Sims/Smith/Finch family Christmas over the weekend, and we had the best time introducing Leighton to yet another set of extended family. She’s been such a trooper with our car travels these past couple months, and while I think it was bit overwhelming for her to see so many new faces at once, she was a great little traveler. We got to spend quality time with my grandmother Nannie, aunts and uncles, cousins, and their many kids, and it’s so wonderful being able to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas together.

My aunt rented giant bounce houses and slides for the weekend, and I’m pretty sure my brother was one of the “kids” who enjoyed them the most! Craig has his turn playing Santa this year (shh, don’t tell!), we ate way too many sweets, we met some new additions to the big family, and Leighton got her first dolly. It was a lovely weekend, as always!

We also stopped through Auburn on the way down this year. We took my mom to Momma Goldberg’s for lunch (an Auburn staple) and L signed her name on the wall (actually, she wrote LLCoolHayes… of course). We visited downtown and got some AU goodies at J&M Bookstore, where my dad worked when he was in college, and then finished off our detour with milkshakes from Toomer’s Drugs. It was the perfect little pitstop!

I can’t believe it’s already time for Christmas this week. We’re looking forward to lots of fun gatherings and dinners this week with family — and of course, sharing this holiday with Leighton for the first time!