Christmas in Review...

What a great time we had this Christmas holiday... It all began on Saturday morning with a visit from my dad. He arrived early Saturday morning on his way to my grandmother's with a Rudolph blinking nose and antlers. He delivered gifts to our family early so that we would not have to haul them all thoughout all our Christmas stops. I was glad of that when I received a new floor mate to help me clean all these tile floors in my house. (Just a side note, Kristi, I know how you feel about the excitement of getting a vacuum for Christmas!!!... I think we are getting older.) The girls had a great time with my dad and our first mini-Christmas.The girls began their Christmas with lots of goodies. Lainey was excited about her twelve dancing princesses doll and the movie. Emiley got a new cowgirls shirt and the Dora tent "of her dreams." Abbey also got a new cowgirl shirt and a Toy Story 2 DVD to replace the VHS that got eaten by our VCR. Then it was off to my brother's to have Christmas with them and my mom. So we loaded the car and headed to Brady. We enjoyed the drive in the rain and got to Chad's mid-afternoon. The girls played with their cousisns Whitney and Garrett all afternoon and we opened gifts about five o'clock before we enjoyed a great dinner of enchiladas, tamales, and nachos. The girls got some really cute "leisure" suits and purses with matching wallets and umbrellas. We then loaded everyone up in the suburban and looked at Christmas lights. When we got back to the house we enjoyed some egg nog and a game of Scene It. We finally got the kids to bed after 10. The next morning my mom headed home and Chad and I and our families headed to Ballinger to my Uncle Randy and Aunt Beverly's house for the annual Everett Christmas Eve. It was a beautiful day and the girls had a great time outside with Whitney and Garrett and Mills and Mason. We had Mima's famous dressing, ham, turkey, and much, much more for lunch and supper. The girls got many more gifts and we even tracked Santa all day on the computer. We saw him go from Russia, to Africa, to England...Tonya and I did escape for a short hour for a walk at the track and a one last trip to the store. After a very fun day in Ballinger, we headed to San Angelo to Mi-ma's house. The girls were too wound up to go to bed. I think Lainey finally went to bed about midnight. They were up of course by 7 to see what Santa had brought. So we all got up and watched the girls... and all the excitement once again. They all got a pair of spurs. Emiley got her microphone and also a rock star outfit. Lainey received everything ballet and a surprise doll. Abbey got the Jessie and Woody doll she had wanted for so long.

We then all got dressed for the day and headed over to Will's Aunt Donna and Uncle Wylie's house. They were excited to see the girls and we had a great visit with them Christmas morning. We then headed back to Mi-ma's for Christmas lunch. After a two hour nap by all, we headed to see Will's sister, Molly, and her friend Paul. We had even more gifts, food, and games. About seven o'clock Christmas night we headed for Hamilton. The girls ate a sandwich, chips, and water for supper in the car and Will and I stopped in Santa Anna for an Allsup's bean burrito and a coffee. We enjoyed singing Christmas carols on the way home. The girls of course tried to see who could sing the loudest. Then we read the story of Jesus's birth from the books of Luke and Matthew. We enjoyed talking abou the different accounts that are recorded in the Bible. Lainey was worried about why the wisemen were not mention in Luke's account... It was an awsome conclusion to a very busy three days.