Celebration #2

As mentioned in a previous post, we left our home on December 19 headed for the States. The first stop was Jacksonville, where we spent about 10 days and shared Christmas with my side of the family. Stacy and Paul drove in from Texas with their three--although they were actually at Disney World the day we got there. Here's the whole tribe together in our Sunday-go-to-meeting clothes (with beautiful handmade dresses for all the granddaughters from G.G.).

One day, some more relatives came to visit from Georgia. Here's a shot of Lee Anna and Autumn up in the magnolia tree with Camden, who is my cousin's daughter. That means she's Lee Anna's second cousin, right?

And you can't really tell it, but I'm pretty sure this picture was taken right outside Chuck E. Cheese's! You see, G.G. needed us all to be somewhere else for a few hours while she got Christmas dinner cooked, so we went and played games.

Our two were pretty excited about the water fountains in America! You just push a button and cool water comes out of the spout! And it's already clean enough to drink!

We went to church with Grandpa on Christmas eve, and the girls got to sing Silent Night with their mamas. I wish you could hear the piano accompaniment. It was awesome.

Okay, you know how in pictures of your family from the 1940s or 50s, nobody smiles at the camera? Well, I thought maybe there was something really fun or cool or exciting about taking a picture that way and that's why they all did it. So I got my family to try it. Turns out, nothing special happens. It just makes you look kinda weird.

So we did it again, with smiles! :) And yes, I have teddy bear PJs, just like everyone else. Aren't they cute? Thanks Mimi!

The first two nights in Jacksonville, we left all six kids at the Grandparents' house and the four parents went and stayed in a hotel. Well, poor GG wasn't getting much sleep like that! So, we took the kids with us for a few nights. Since we didn't have a fire place, we placed the stockings in a dresser drawer. They got filled up just the same.

And here's the moment the kids were waiting for! Presents! With 12 people all exchanging gifts, we didn't try to be real orderly and calm. We just let the kids run the show and give them out as quick as they wanted to. It was a flurry of wrapping paper and bows and new toys for about 30 minutes. Thanks G.G. and Grandpa! We had a blast!