Another Christmas has come and gone and we are left with the sad job of taking down the decorations. But, we have a lot of wonderful memories from this Christmas Season.
CHRISTMAS ACTIVITIES. As I mentioned last Saturday we went to Kenny and Lori’s for their annual Christmas party which was a lot of fun. Sunday found us at church for both morning and evening services. Mom and Pauline came over to our house for supper after the evening service.
Christmas morning, after opening our own presents, we headed over to Mrs. Connie’s for the annual Christmas brunch where there was more food than any of us needed to eat. For supper Vicki made soup and we all went over to Aunt Mar’s to eat.
The sad part of Christmas this year was that Aunt Mar had been fighting a cough all last week which was diagnosed as bronchitis. She wisely decided to skip out on all the Christmas activities in order to get better. I know it was hard for her to stay home and we all missed her very much. At least she felt good enough for us to eat supper at her house Christmas evening and come back for supper again Tuesday evening. It should be noted that even bronchitis did not keep Aunt Mar from canceling her hair appointment.
Wednesday we went to Opry Mills to meet with Jonathan and Sheila Leach (college friends) and their three daughters. We enjoyed visiting as we browsed around the mall and had an adventure at the Rainforest Café. Thursday we went out to eat and to see Charlotte’s Web. And Friday all the cousins from Ashland City came over for chili and soup.
All in all it has been a nice, relaxing holiday.
WHAT WE GOT FOR CHRISTMAS. You know you are blessed when your daughter is complaining about where in her room she is going to put the stuff she got for Christmas. I will not inventory everything the kids got for Christmas, but here are some highlights.
Jenna is an avid reader and enjoys movies as well. She got several books and movies to add to her collection. I’ll have to say her 20Q is pretty addictive. This handheld game asks 20 questions to guess what you are thinking. Whoever programmed it has my respect.
Ben’s favorite present is probably his Superman laptop. It is his constant companion in the van. Another hit for him is the Gum Ball machine from the Bradley’s. He now considers himself a businessman and even hired Jenna to write up the following sign on the Magna-Doodle stationed by the machine: “PAY! If not you will be found.” The machine accepts all coins, but he prefers quarters of course! It is for a worthy cause, all of the proceeds will go toward a Disney trip in 2008.
This was another year of Thomas the Tank Engine for Nate. He got an expansion set from Santa and the Water Tower Steam Set from Kenny and Lori . He also got several engines from G’Anne. He greeted each gift with, “Oh, I love Thomas and he loves me!” He has enough track now to invade both front rooms of the house.
Probably the coolest gift in my opinion was the dominoes. These aren’t marked for playing the game of dominoes, but for setting up to enjoy the domino effect. The set included what looks similar to a gun clip. The dominoes are stacked in the clip and the clip is inserted into a little truck. Turn the truck on and it rolls across the floor setting the dominoes up for you. It’s pretty slick!
On the way home one evening, Benton was unusually quiet. When he did speak he started expressing his appreciation to Vicki for all the hard work she does to keep our family running: cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. Vicki was grateful for the acknowledgment but was later shocked to learn that I hadn’t put him up to it. She was very pleased to realize he had no ulterior motives...his thankfulness was Vicki’s best present this year.
A PROMOTION. Nate is now heavy enough to move up to a booster seat. So Wednesday I took his car seat out of the van and replaced it with a smaller booster. This will make loading and unloading so much easier and give the van greater seating flexibility when we take Mom and Aunt Mar out to eat.
When we broke the news to Nate, Ben quickly offered his congratulations saying, “Way to go, Nate. I knew you could do it!” When Nate understood what was happening he said, “Good-bye old car seat [it was sitting in the back hall at this point]. I hated you.” Then he turned to us and said, “I’m ready to go somewhere!”
CHARLOTTE’S WEB. We just can’t think of how they could have made this film any better. It will be as much a classic as the book and the first animated movie. If you enjoy movies, go see this one. I think E. B. White would be proud of this rendition of his story.
HAPPY NEW YEAR We are about to head to church for a family game night to celebrate and ring in the New Year. We hope and pray that 2007 will be a wonderful year for you!
Joe
