Did You All Enjoy Your Christmas?

[Janet]

Ours was very nice. Christmas for us started on the Wednesday the 23rd. We went to my Mom's house. Ricky was a little late in getting there because he had to work. My two brothers and their families were there too. Mom was feeling really good so she sat on the floor (as usual) and passed out the gifts.

We don't usually take gifts to Mom's. We don't buy for my brothers or their families...just got too expensive and no one really wanted to draw names. So we all just buy for Mom, but since she spends Christmas Eve with us, we wait and give her ours on Christmas morning.

Seems Mom tells everyone she wants the same thing so she'll make sure she gets it....lolol. I already took my gifts back that I got for her, but my two brothers were 3 for 3 in getting her the same thing....LOL. At Mom's, I recieved two books that I wanted....'The Perfect Dog' by Cesear Milan and 'A Letter To My Daughter' by Maya Angelou. Can't wait to start reading them.

This morning was very nice. Mom and I laughed a lot...she can be really funny. I'm so happy that we are getting along so good now. I still see all the things that I tried to stay away from in her, but now...God has given me the patience and the ability to forgive her and not see it in the light as I did before. For this I am very grateful.

Ricky got me Taylor Swift's CD 'Fearless'. I love listening to her music. For such a young lady she sure has many musical talents. Rick got me an external hard drive, cross necklace and he and Ricky got me 'PhotoShop Elements 8' for my computer. Anxious to learn that too.

I sure missed seeing a little one open presents. Just not quite the same without a young one at Christmas time and all the wonder they bring to the celebration.

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas with your family and friends.

[DianaB]

We had a nice Christmas too. Nate came over last night and with the snow drifting so badly he ended up spending the night in our guest room so we actually had him and Jaci this morning. We always fill the kids' stockings on Christmas Eve so Glen and I came up with some stuff to put in a stocking for him, several things made us all laugh!

The four of us opened our gifts together. Glen didn't get me any gifts this year since I bought myself some jewelry so I only got a few little things from Jaci. After lunch we opened gifts with the other kids and it's always so much fun seeing them open their gifts....the girls are always so excited about theirs!! I just love their laughter!!! Little Karlie was sooo much fun to watch as she exclaimed over each gift!!

Jaci and Dae Lynn always did something whenever it would snow together......they would run barefoot across the yard and back......so Jaci had Nate roll up his pant legs and all the time he was asking "Why?" She made him run across the yard with her in probably 8 inches of snow!!! They were both freezing by the time they got back inside!!! She'll probably still have him doing it even after they're married!!!!

Glen has an Aunt that's never been married and doesn't have a family of her own and when Glen found out that she didn't have any plans for today he went and got her and brought her out to our house so she could spend the day with us. She was so grateful that anytime she thanked us she had tears in her eyes. She's always been one that I enjoyed being around so I really didn't mind.

We all had such a good time. It's just always so short because some of the kids have to leave to go to other family gatherings. I understand but I hate to see them leave. All in all it was a good day!!

[Marilyn]

We had a very nice day. There were six of us for Christmas this year. One of the girls commented that we finally filled all the chairs at our table. Melissa and Garrett were here and left at 4 pm to go to Garrett's parents for Christmas and then they are leaving with his family for a week at Disney World tomorrow morning. We get to babysit their English bulldog, Mack for a week.

Karen and Carlton were here and left at 4 pm, too, to go to MeeMaw's (Carlton's grandmother's) to play football or something. One of Carlton's brothers (there are three boys total) is home from the Navy, too, and he hadn't been home in two years, so they are enjoying having their whole family together and having a new daughter-in-law. Carlton is the first to marry, so they have their first young lady in the family. I think his mother enjoyed buying girl things for Karen.

When the left, it was just us. Kinda weird. Karen hadn't had a boyfriend in quite a while that we saw her with, since this was a long distance relationship, to us, she went from single to married very quickly and it's taking a bit to adjust to.

We had a tradition of going to a movie late on Christmas afternoon, and this year, they aren't here to go. Rex has a bit of a cold, but told me if he's feeling okay, he'll take me to the movies tomorrow evening.

We went light on gifts this year, with the wedding and helping Melissa and Garrett with their mobile home. Rex and I are buying each other new office chairs for our home office, so we didn't exchange gifts today, just with the kids. I got a very nice new cutting board from Karen and Carlton, and two books from Melissa and Garrett.

It was a very nice Christmas!!! Our turkey dinner turned out really good, and we had everyone together. What more can you ask?

[Blueyes]

I'm so glad you both had a good day!! Diana, if I had snow... and Janet, if I only had my mother... Well, I am so blessed in so many other ways

We had Christmas with my brothers and their families yesterday. Michael and his family got here Wednesday and will stay until Sunday. We all got up at 5:00 AM today and opened presents. The little boys got new bicycles, and SO DID I, lol!! It was a really cold, but beautiful day, so we got to go outside to play

You know, I would never have believed I could make such good friends with a bunch of people online. I talk about you all to my family, and they know you by name, lol!! I love you ladies!!

[Janet]

We love you too Betsi....very much. You know, I hadn't posted very much recently and the reason......because I when I need someone....you're all here and I feel so much warmth that I start crying and then can't finish the post.

I wish we could all be able to meet in one place and that it wouldn't be a financial burden to anyone.

[Blueyes]

Surely we can meet someplace and come up with something that wouldn't cost too much. I've never been to Indiana

I was so glad you had fun with your mom, Janet. I know how much you needed it. A fun, relaxing day can go a long way to ease stress between people. You take care of yourself, and know that we are here for you!!

[gja1000]

HI Everyone! What a wonderful thread to read the day after Christmas!!! I love you all too, and I talk about you all to my family also. We will figure out a way to meet up someday, I just know we will!

Since we are all traveling right after Christmas (more on that later), we opted to not cook for Christmas this year. So, we ate dinner together Christmas eve at Mimi's cafe. It was really good, and we had a great time together. We let Abigail and Emma open one gift at the restaurant and they were both please about that.

After dinner we went to my daughter's and we played Skip-Bo (card game) till it was time to go home. My daughter has been knitting scarves and her husband got a loom and has been making knit stocking caps - I've posted pictures below of the snowmen hats he made for Emma and another little boy. Anyway, they were working on the caps/scarves all the while we were playing cards. My daughter knitted a scarf for Gary while we were all playing cards and he didn't even know it was for him till she finished! Bryan made him a hat also at the same time.

We opened our presents at my daughter's Christmas morning at about 7:30. I got some New Mexico Indian pottery, a necklace, purse, and an iron (my request). It was so much fun to watch the grandkids open their presents.

After presents I fixed breakfast. Next, it was time for the kids to get ready to leave for Colorado.

Gary and I went home to get packed to leave for Oklahoma today. BUT........ Oklahoma has a gigantic snow storm (14 inches and 60 miles an hour wind) on Christmas eve, so we were iffy about going today. However, we have found the main roads are clear, so we plan to go.

However, my daughter and her family are not so lucky. They are stuck in the Texas panhandle due to icy roads, and I'm not sure whether they are going to continue on to Colorado or not. I'm waiting to hear. They only found a hotel room last night because they had kids with them. The hotel was turning everyone away because the rooms were not cleaned - housekeeping had not been able to get there yesterday), but when the manager found out my daughter and sil had kids with them, they cleaned a room for them. They are still there and I am waiting to see if they decide to go on or come back home. They are with friends who have a time share and it ends on Wednesday, so if it takes them too long to get there, they won't have much time to ski/play. We'll see.

I've posted some pictures from this LENGTHY story!!!

1. Snowmen hats my sil knitted from a loom
2. Emma wearing her snowman hat
3. Gary in the hat my sil knitted on the loom and the scarf my daughter knitted for him while we were playing cards.
4. Ice on the road in the Texas panhandle where my daughter and family are stranded right now!