Actually this Christmas was pretty merry because it wasn't beary, but you'll have to "bear" with me 'til I get around to that...
Every year we have lots of places to go for our various Christmas celebrations. I'm not complaining, because I enjoy them and having so much family within (fairly) easy driving distance is a blessing. It's just a lot of places to go!
The first official Christmas gathering we had this year was a 70's-themed "Polyester Christmas Party" for our Sunday school class. We enjoyed it, but the best part was some of the hilarious costumes. Our thrift store search didn't turn up any Elvis-style jumpsuits, but we made do with what we did find, so we ended up a little more early-70's hippie style.
On the second weekend of December, we went down to have Christmas with Ken's dad and stepmom and that side of the family. Ken's company Christmas party (with the caricature artist a few posts back!) was the same week, and the following weekend, we had Christmas at Ken's grandparents' house. I just love them. They are the sweetest people, and their commitment to each other and to Christ is such an inspiration. Standing in the kitchen before Papa said a sweet blessing over the food, MawMaw said laughingly, "Papa and I started all this sixty-three years ago, and look at us now! None if y'all would be here if it weren't for us!" Steamy soap operas and romantic movies have nothing on MawMaw and Papa. Real romance is still being kind and considerate and loving after sixty-three years of marriage!
This was the first Christmas day in years, or possibly EVER, that I haven't had to go anywhere. I really think we are going to lay down a new family law: we're staying at home on Christmas and anybody who wants to see us is more than welcome to come visit. It was SO nice to just have a relaxing day at home with our little family.
Kathryn (and I) love the Paula Deen cookbook from Granma
Brandon, with a bow upon his head, handing me a gift.
Kathryn gave me a cute little birdhouse ornament
her dad made (with her supervision, of course!).
The new gloves mom gave Ken make good reindeer antlers.
We all got some nice presents, but we try very hard not to overdo it. We don't want commercialism to take over what we're really celebrating. Ken's gift to me was borderline too expensive in my opinion: a pocket-sized camera. I really did want one, though. I love my super-cool big camera, but when we're going on a field trip, or something like that, I just want something small to stick in my pocket and capture a few photos good enough for blogging and scrapbooking.
Our last two Christmas get-togethers were this past Saturday. We headed up to my dad's house on Sassafras mountain for dinner (that's Southern for lunch).
My dad and his girls. Clockwise from left is my neice Katie & her daughter Wren, my neice Sarah, my sister Debbie, me, Kathryn, and my dad.
It was super-foggy that day, especially on the mountain, so it took us a little longer than usual to get there. Now, back to that beary Christmas thing. My dad has quite a few bears that visit him. He once had EIGHT bears in his yard all at the same time! That photo at the beginning of this post is a copy of a photo Dad took from his deck this summer. I think that's the big male that was licking Dad's window one day. While Dad was building his little house, he lived in a silver Streamliner trailer on the property, and more than once a bear came pushing on the trailer in the middle of the night. We didn't see any this time because they are hibernating right now. Don't let anyone convince you that bears and wolves and even mountain lions do not live in north Georgia. Dad has seen wolves and mountain lions numerous times, and just a few weeks ago he brought home a dead wolf that had been hit by a car, and skinned it so he could keep the wolf-skin. I've been trying to get a copy of one of his bear photos for a while now, and just had to incorporate that in this post. When I was pregnant with Kathryn, I lived not far from where Dad lives now, and I saw several bears in my yard, too--but just one at a time! They are all black bears, and therefore not huge, but they are big enough! And amazingly quiet, which was the part that freaked me out. So no bears is a merry Christmas, as far as I'm concerned!
After heading back from the mountain, we had one more get-together, at my aunt Beckie's house, which is just around the corner from here. It's the same house where we celebrated my Grandaddy's 91st birthday a few weeks ago. This gathering is almost always the biggest. This year's head count: thirty-five of us.
I hope you had a beary merry Christmas full of joy and togetherness -- but without any actual bears!
Every year we have lots of places to go for our various Christmas celebrations. I'm not complaining, because I enjoy them and having so much family within (fairly) easy driving distance is a blessing. It's just a lot of places to go!The first official Christmas gathering we had this year was a 70's-themed "Polyester Christmas Party" for our Sunday school class. We enjoyed it, but the best part was some of the hilarious costumes. Our thrift store search didn't turn up any Elvis-style jumpsuits, but we made do with what we did find, so we ended up a little more early-70's hippie style.
On the second weekend of December, we went down to have Christmas with Ken's dad and stepmom and that side of the family. Ken's company Christmas party (with the caricature artist a few posts back!) was the same week, and the following weekend, we had Christmas at Ken's grandparents' house. I just love them. They are the sweetest people, and their commitment to each other and to Christ is such an inspiration. Standing in the kitchen before Papa said a sweet blessing over the food, MawMaw said laughingly, "Papa and I started all this sixty-three years ago, and look at us now! None if y'all would be here if it weren't for us!" Steamy soap operas and romantic movies have nothing on MawMaw and Papa. Real romance is still being kind and considerate and loving after sixty-three years of marriage!
This was the first Christmas day in years, or possibly EVER, that I haven't had to go anywhere. I really think we are going to lay down a new family law: we're staying at home on Christmas and anybody who wants to see us is more than welcome to come visit. It was SO nice to just have a relaxing day at home with our little family.
her dad made (with her supervision, of course!).
We all got some nice presents, but we try very hard not to overdo it. We don't want commercialism to take over what we're really celebrating. Ken's gift to me was borderline too expensive in my opinion: a pocket-sized camera. I really did want one, though. I love my super-cool big camera, but when we're going on a field trip, or something like that, I just want something small to stick in my pocket and capture a few photos good enough for blogging and scrapbooking.
Our last two Christmas get-togethers were this past Saturday. We headed up to my dad's house on Sassafras mountain for dinner (that's Southern for lunch).
It was super-foggy that day, especially on the mountain, so it took us a little longer than usual to get there. Now, back to that beary Christmas thing. My dad has quite a few bears that visit him. He once had EIGHT bears in his yard all at the same time! That photo at the beginning of this post is a copy of a photo Dad took from his deck this summer. I think that's the big male that was licking Dad's window one day. While Dad was building his little house, he lived in a silver Streamliner trailer on the property, and more than once a bear came pushing on the trailer in the middle of the night. We didn't see any this time because they are hibernating right now. Don't let anyone convince you that bears and wolves and even mountain lions do not live in north Georgia. Dad has seen wolves and mountain lions numerous times, and just a few weeks ago he brought home a dead wolf that had been hit by a car, and skinned it so he could keep the wolf-skin. I've been trying to get a copy of one of his bear photos for a while now, and just had to incorporate that in this post. When I was pregnant with Kathryn, I lived not far from where Dad lives now, and I saw several bears in my yard, too--but just one at a time! They are all black bears, and therefore not huge, but they are big enough! And amazingly quiet, which was the part that freaked me out. So no bears is a merry Christmas, as far as I'm concerned!
After heading back from the mountain, we had one more get-together, at my aunt Beckie's house, which is just around the corner from here. It's the same house where we celebrated my Grandaddy's 91st birthday a few weeks ago. This gathering is almost always the biggest. This year's head count: thirty-five of us.
I hope you had a beary merry Christmas full of joy and togetherness -- but without any actual bears!
