Christmas was a very busy holiday for us. It was also a very difficult holiday. This was the first Christmas after having lost Roy. I'm not going to go into that. Instead, I'm just going to talk about how we spent our Christmas in Dixie....
We kicked off the Christmas season with our annual trip to pick out and buy our Christmas tree. The girls and Holly were excited about that. After getting the tree home, we spent the weekend decorating it. Yes, I said weekend! Y'all know me and my OCD tendancies, especially at Christmas. I had to make sure that all 2000 lights were placed perfectly on this 7 ft. Frasier Fir. Of course, I, then, had to strategically place all of my "special ornaments." All the while, the girls anxiously awaited to hang the rest of the ornaments with Jason saying, "Be patient. You know your mother." lol. I finally finished and turned the ornaments over to the girls. The tree was completed with Jason placing the angel on top as he does every year. It was once again, our perfect Christmas tree. We loved it. We turned off all of the lights and turned the tree on for the first time this season. It light the room with a warm glow.
Logan, Cici and Maddie came into town from San Antonio, TX to spend the holiday with us. We met them and Adam over at Nana's to celebrate Christmas. Nana fixed our traditional lasagna and CHEESECAKE! Christmas would not be Christmas without Nana's cheesecake! Maddie loved the lasagna. She wore it well. Abbey and Morgan loved carrying her around and playing with her. She is walking and talking now. She is just way tooo cute! Of course, with the boys, you never know what is going to happen when they get together. It's always very entertaining to say the least. This time was no exception. As they do every year, they sent Josh a picture message showing him what he was missing out on with Nana's cheese cake. And ended with me trying to take pictures of the 3 of them and Jason receiving a cup check. Only those 3. The Garrison Family Christmas was held at Aunt Nancy's club house this year. Marshall was able to bring Thelma for a short time. It was a nice trip out for her. She enjoyed being there and we were all thrilled that she was able to join us even for a little while. However, she tires easily, and wasn't able to stay very long. When Marshall left with her to go back to Autumn Care, a sadness fell over the room. Her presence was missed by everyone the rest of the night. We all still enjoyed it and each other. We were very thankful that she was able to attend for the short time that she did, and wished she could have stayed longer.
Jason and I can never make it through a Christmas holiday without a marathon wrapping session. This year was no exception. Once again, we sat in the floor wrapping, wrapping and wrapping some more. A few hours later, we put away all of the gift wrapping stuff. After the mess was cleaned up, with the tree lights glowing and Christmas music playing, we had our annual Christmas by the tree dance.
Christmas Eve day was a busy day. Lots of cooking and prep work to do before going to Mom's. Once that is done, the girls and I bake and decorate Santa cookies. We also have an annual tradition that is very dear to our hearts. It's always the first thing the girls ask about when Christmas comes around. We bake a Happy Birthday cake for Jesus.
Then, we were off to Mom's to celebrate Christmas with her and Mike. We had more food than we new what to do with. Mom says every holiday that she isn't doing that much next time because it doesn't all get ate. And, with each new holiday, she cooks even more than the last time. lol. She doesn't get any complaints as we all LOVE her cooking. Plus, we have enough leftovers to do us through to New Year's. We opened presents and sat around talking. Mom came up with a new game for us to play. We all had a big laugh at that one. After arriving home, we tucked the girls into their beds with visions of sugar plumbs dancing in their heads. Jason and I, hosted Santa once again. We helped him place the presents under the tree and offered him milk and cookies.
Oh Christmas Morning!!! The girls woke us up at 3:00 am with much excitement. We tried to persuade them into going back to bed and sleeping another hour or 2. It didn't happen. So, we hopped out of bed and followed them to the tree where we opened presents. The girls were so excited and happy with all of their gifts. Thankfully, they let us take a nap. It was much needed. Once we got up for the 2nd time, we cooked breakfast and had our traditional birthday cake for dessert.
Later we went to Felicia's mom's for lunch. Once again, we ate too much. It was all very YUMMY and worth it though. We laughed and had a great time there too. After leaving there, we went to the nursing home to spend Christmas with Marshall, Jennie, and Thelma. Thelma was so happy to have all of us with her there on Christmas. I actually think her face was lit brighter than the Christmas tree. That, for me, was the best Christmas gift this year.
The next day, we went to my Dad's and celebrated Christmas with him and Sarah. Of course with Dad, nothing is ever boring. He is always the life of the party. This year was no different. So, naturally, we had a good time. I love having a father that brings so much humor to life! That's always a gift.
If you are tired after reading this blog, then you can imagine how tired we were after all of the celebrations. It was a good Christmas. And a very peaceful one. Now it's time to celebrate the New Year. I'll post those updates in the next blog. I'll also update this one with pictures in a day or too. I hope everyone had a very MERRY CHRISTMAS!
