Christmas #1

All the kids ready to open presents!

Well I mentioned at the end of this week that we had a bunch of Christmas celebrations to attend.

Today was Christmas #1.

We headed down to Camden yesterday morning. Once there I dropped Marcus off at his mothers for a visit then I drove over to my best friend Stacie's parents. She is visiting for the holidays & I have not seen her since June so a visit was definitely on the schedule! It was so good to see her. Her two daughters, Anna Claire & Gracie, are just absolutely beautiful. Anna Claire just lights up when you get her talking about Christmas & Gracie is just a joy to watch as she explores everything around her. Stacie & I had a nice visit for about 4 hours and then I went & picked Marcus up to head to my parents. My sister & her family arrived about 30 minutes after we got to my parents house. The twins were already there (my brothers eleven year old boys); meaning that the house was rocking when everyone arrived. After dinner we watched a Christmas movie together & just chilled. Thanks to my wonderful winter cold cough I could not sleep well so the internet & satellite television are like the best friends ever! :)

Today though was the big celebration. We had a delish breakfast: toast, eggs, cheese grits, 4 kinds of sausage...oh so good. Then after that we all went in our different directions. The rest of the family was scheduled to arrive around 3p.m. so we had a little while. Marcus, Jessica, Jon, Christian, Coy, Colton, & I decided that playing capture the flag in the front yard would be fun so we all bundled up (btw um it was like 75 degrees on Friday - what the..crap.. happened today???) and began the game. We ran, we chased, we fell, we laughed, we really had a great time. There is just something about getting out there with those kids & really getting into the games with them, it is exhilarating & familiar. Those reasons you loved games like that as a kid come crashing through your memory... as well as some why you don't do this stuff as often - um I landed on some pretty big rocks at one point & um, it hurt. :)

Then my mom got a terrible migraine. One of those day-controlling migraines that make curling into a ball the new downward dog. Anyway, so Nina & I took over the kitchen and set to cooking the dinner for everyone. Yep - it was fun, tiring, and so yummy. The house was soon full of smells & even more people. We were missing four though (John (Erica's husband), Stephen, Lindsey (Stephen's girlfriend) and Ryker (Diane's son) ) so there were some wonderful faces we did not get to see & were greatly missed. But once the presents were passed out - mad chaos! lol. I still get thrilled to open presents at Christmas. The gusto is there, but even with my exuberant personality & gifts, there is not quite a perfect word to describe the delight of a child. They are just amazing. It was just a lot of fun. So Christmas #1 is now a blog entry, something that has passed, but the pictures, the moments are so current so fresh I just had to share them!

Nina & the boys on one couch as we watched Christmsas movies!

Me & the girls on the other couch!

My Capture the Flag TEAM!!
Nina & Dad waiting patiently as the presents are about to be handed out!

Mom, Mindy & Eric being silly!

Hannah playin with her presents! Singing along to some Taylor Swift! :)

Our OH SO TIRED Uncle Peanut at the end of the festivities!