We spent this year at home for Christmas...and boy, it was nice! No driving out of town, no packed itineraries, no rushing from place to place, just Ron, myself and the kiddos spending more family time together then we have in ages. Wednesday, the 23rd, after work I took the kids to see a live Nativity scene in Bethlehem, GA. We had done that once before right after we moved up here, but it had been years. Some friends met us out there and we had hot chocolate and enjoyed watching the performance. (note: the one at Lake Lanier lights is better though) As we were getting ready to leave, LeAnne tripped on a curb and scratched up her face, bent and scratched her glasses, scraped her knee and busted her lip. Poor thing.
Thursday, Christmas Eve, I was off work all day. The first time in a couple of years. So LeAnne and I went to the grocery store and bought stuff for Christmas baking and dinner. Came home and baked a pumpkin pie and a pecan pie. I had never baked a pumpkin pie before (his mom normally makes him one in Albany, so I've never bothered). Wasn't sure how it would turn out but Ron said it was the best pumpkin pie he has ever had! Ron got off of work in time for us all to go to the Christmas Eve service at New Community. They had communion and real candles for the candle light service. I don't think I've been to a real candle light service before and I know it was the first time for the kids. It was also the first time that we, as a family, had ALL taken communion together. That night after the kids were in bed we wrapped the last of the presents and stuffed the stockings.
Friday, Christmas Day. Told the kids to stay in their rooms until 7 am and we would come and get them then. LeAnne was up and waiting, we had to wake James Stephen up. But he woke up quickly and was excited. Everyone had fun opening presents, even Barkley. I got a pink Nike gym bag, two books, a silver Pandora snowman charm, a gift certificate for a deluxe mani/pedi and a whole bunch of stuff to keep in my gym bag (like body spray, antibacterial wipes, travel deo, Zone bars, travel lotion, pedometer, etc). I could tell Ron put a lot of thought into my gifts this year, and I have to admit, I was impressed that he thought of the spa gift card. He has never gotten me anything like that before. I hope he enjoys his massage gift certificate I got him. (the rest of his stuff was tools) After all the presents were opened we made a pancake, egg and bacon breakfast. The kids got large remote control cars and we went into the cul-de-sac and raced those for a while. Ron bought us all a remote controlled helicopter, supposedly from Barkley. But it quickly became apparent that he bought it for himself..LOL. We all got family games from "Santa." Ron had beginners luck on Yahtzee and beat me. Lunch was BLT's. Spent more of the afternoon watching The Christmas Story and playing with everything. For dinner we grilled steak and lobster tails along with baked potatoes, steamed broccoli and crescent rolls. This was the first time the kids each got their own lobster tail. We used our Christmas plates and candles. Afterward we all piled on the sofas and just chilled out, the kids in their new Snuggies. No one really wanted the day to end and we stayed up super late.
Saturday, December 26. Woke up with my cold/sinus crud being worse so went to the pharmacy and got my antibiotics filled. Then we all went shopping, the kids had money burning holes in their pockets, but everything they wanted was sold out. Had lunch at Chipotle. Spent more family time together. Chris came over and he and Ron installed a new toilet in our master bathroom. The earlier showings of Avatar in 3D were sold out so after Chris left, we went to the 10 pm showing. LeAnne brought her Snuggie and within 45 minutes was sound asleep wrapped up in it, with her 3D glasses on. She was so cute curled up in that chair. It was 1 am before the movie ended. I told Ron it reminded me of Matrix meeting some environmentalist. He called it a tree hugger movie. My favorite part was the glowing plants. Overall, it wasn't what I had expected though. Woke LeAnne up, she said something about "tomorrow" and we said, "It is tomorrow!" We all laughed at the look on her face.
Sunday, December 27. We slept in due to the fact that it was "tomorrow" already when we got home from the movie. I went to the gym while Ron and LeAnne spent some more time racing the cars. That afternoon she and I had eye appointments. We both got some new glasses. Hers, of course, are to wear all the time, we shall see how often I wear mine. I don't particularly care for how I look in them. They should come in sometime next week. Came home and we took down the Christmas tree, wreath and all the other decorations and got it all back into the attic. Knew we would be out of town over New Years, which is when I normally take the stuff down, so went ahead and did it. It was so nice to be home all weekend and have the family time that we did.
Happy Birthday, Jesus! Thanks for coming to earth to save us and make us part of Your family. If our long weekend of family time here was so nice and relaxing, I can't imagine what a celebration we all will have in heaven with God our Father!
Monday, December 28, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
Christmas in Albany
We went down to Albany on Saturday. Had lunch with Ron's Granddaddy Cannon at the classic "old people" place to eat....Quincy's. Dinner was at his grandparent's, the Wingate's and we got to see the newest addition to the family, Langston Spring, born two weeks ago. We had Christmas with the Stewart's on Saturday night. My mother-in-law even got our dog a present! It was a lot of fun and then my sister-in-law and I went riding around looking at Christmas lights. There is this one guy in Albany that has displayed a convertible with a waving Santa Claus in it and lights and music every year, this was his 50th year! It made me feel like a kid again to see it!
Sunday morning we stopped by my grandparents, the Sheek's. Then off to Leesburg to see my brother, Jonathan, and his girlfriend, Katie. Our last stop of the weekend was my parents. My mom organized a "Happy Birthday Jesus" party for all the grandkids. All seven of them were there and they did crafts, had "Happy Birthday Jesus" plates, cups and cake and she read the Christmas story to them. It was a great way to remind all the kids the real reason for the season.
Sunday morning we stopped by my grandparents, the Sheek's. Then off to Leesburg to see my brother, Jonathan, and his girlfriend, Katie. Our last stop of the weekend was my parents. My mom organized a "Happy Birthday Jesus" party for all the grandkids. All seven of them were there and they did crafts, had "Happy Birthday Jesus" plates, cups and cake and she read the Christmas story to them. It was a great way to remind all the kids the real reason for the season.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
Thanksgiving (and the week after)
Ok, so Thanksgiving was a week ago and it is now December. I've been a slacker as far as my blog goes. So just gonna attempt to do a quick update and get caught up. This is more a "family diary" entry, so if you are looking for one of my more devotional centered entries, this isn't going to be it. :)
Wednesday, after work, we headed down to our hometown to see family. Thursday was a packed full day! We had Thanksgiving lunch at Ron's grandparent's home and then we played a game his mom orchestrated. Since we won't all (cousins, grandparents, etc) be together at the same time at Christmas she decided we would do "Gobbler Gifts" and we drew numbers and played the whole "steal" gifts thing. My kids brought homemade cocoa mixes and chocolate dipped marshmallows on a stick they made. I made some gift cards with photos I have taken and Ron took a gift certificate for electrical work. It was a lot of fun! Then in the afternoon we went to my parent's home. Everyone of us eight siblings were there, except for one. It was so nice seeing everyone. After dinner we continued our decades old tradition of a hayride down country, dirt roads...in the back of a trailer on hay bales, in the freezing cold! We took Barkley this time, I even bought a cute little fur lined coat for him, which one of my brothers razzed me to death over! This year we had 22 (I think) of us in the trailer, plus a couple more and some little ones in the truck. Our family just keeps growing and growing.
Friday morning Melinda, LeAnne and I went "Black Friday" shopping. This was the first time that LeAnne got to tag along. We didn't go super early or was really out to get anything in particular so it was fun and relaxed, not crazy like some years. We went to Chick-fil-A for breakfast at the mall afterward. For lunch, Catherine, Christina and I went and ate lunch at Corner Cafe. Was a cute little place and we sat on the patio. Actually, we were the only ones willing to brave the chill and sit out there. It was great catching up and chatting. (By the way, if you ask the waitress there to pick out the grapes in your fruit bowl, she will just laugh at you!! LOL) We went and checked out Thomas and Christina's place and had a yummy, seasonal latte from Starbucks. Friday night my parents took the kids to see the 3D Christmas Carol movie at the theater. Ron and I and some of his family went and had mexican while the kids were gone.
Saturday morning we visited with my grandparents. Then Ron decided we weren't going to stay, as originally planned, until Sunday, but to come on back. Probably missed a lot of traffic by doing that. We also got back in time to go to our favorite sushi place and eat a super late dinner there.
Sunday morning Ron started getting sick. By yesterday he went to the doctor and has a mild case of pneumonia. So he missed work yesterday and today, which besides him feeling bad, sucks because he has no sick leave or time off left this year.
Last night I went to my Esther Bible study. Only four of us showed up, but the lesson was really good (DVD session #5) and we got a chance to sit and talk in a more intimate setting afterward since there wasn't as many of us. I love those ladies!
Glad tomorrow is Friday...glad for this week to be over and who knows...the weatherman says we may have snow flurries on Saturday, how exciting if we do!
Wednesday, after work, we headed down to our hometown to see family. Thursday was a packed full day! We had Thanksgiving lunch at Ron's grandparent's home and then we played a game his mom orchestrated. Since we won't all (cousins, grandparents, etc) be together at the same time at Christmas she decided we would do "Gobbler Gifts" and we drew numbers and played the whole "steal" gifts thing. My kids brought homemade cocoa mixes and chocolate dipped marshmallows on a stick they made. I made some gift cards with photos I have taken and Ron took a gift certificate for electrical work. It was a lot of fun! Then in the afternoon we went to my parent's home. Everyone of us eight siblings were there, except for one. It was so nice seeing everyone. After dinner we continued our decades old tradition of a hayride down country, dirt roads...in the back of a trailer on hay bales, in the freezing cold! We took Barkley this time, I even bought a cute little fur lined coat for him, which one of my brothers razzed me to death over! This year we had 22 (I think) of us in the trailer, plus a couple more and some little ones in the truck. Our family just keeps growing and growing.
Friday morning Melinda, LeAnne and I went "Black Friday" shopping. This was the first time that LeAnne got to tag along. We didn't go super early or was really out to get anything in particular so it was fun and relaxed, not crazy like some years. We went to Chick-fil-A for breakfast at the mall afterward. For lunch, Catherine, Christina and I went and ate lunch at Corner Cafe. Was a cute little place and we sat on the patio. Actually, we were the only ones willing to brave the chill and sit out there. It was great catching up and chatting. (By the way, if you ask the waitress there to pick out the grapes in your fruit bowl, she will just laugh at you!! LOL) We went and checked out Thomas and Christina's place and had a yummy, seasonal latte from Starbucks. Friday night my parents took the kids to see the 3D Christmas Carol movie at the theater. Ron and I and some of his family went and had mexican while the kids were gone.
Saturday morning we visited with my grandparents. Then Ron decided we weren't going to stay, as originally planned, until Sunday, but to come on back. Probably missed a lot of traffic by doing that. We also got back in time to go to our favorite sushi place and eat a super late dinner there.
Sunday morning Ron started getting sick. By yesterday he went to the doctor and has a mild case of pneumonia. So he missed work yesterday and today, which besides him feeling bad, sucks because he has no sick leave or time off left this year.
Last night I went to my Esther Bible study. Only four of us showed up, but the lesson was really good (DVD session #5) and we got a chance to sit and talk in a more intimate setting afterward since there wasn't as many of us. I love those ladies!
Glad tomorrow is Friday...glad for this week to be over and who knows...the weatherman says we may have snow flurries on Saturday, how exciting if we do!
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