Christmas!

Hope everyone had a wonderful, merry Christmas! Ours was quiet and relaxing. KJ originally woke up around 5:30 AM but Chris was able to convince her to go back to sleep. T came downstairs around 9 AM and I think we sat down to breakfast around 10:30 AM (I made that breakfast casserole I love so much!). KJ's big gift this year was a camera (and she LOVES it!). T's big gift was a new jacket that she's had her eye on. Chris & The Girls bought me a handpainted window I'd been jonesing for, some of my favorite Yankee Candles, new leather gloves (have no idea where the old pair went), some kind of gadget that is supposed to fix my Sirius radio (which reminds me...I have to call Best Buy to have it installed), a new Vera Bradley ornament, some new jammies and a couple of books I had wanted. The Girls & I bought Chris a blue-ray DVD player and some new movies. I also bought him a book his friend Rod co-wrote from Amazon but it won't be shipped until January 4th or so.

KJ developed one of her headaches later that afternoon so while she napped Chris, T & I watched a bunch of old family videos. So funny! It's sad that Chris's family doesn't get together for Christmas Eve they way they used to. Since Chris's dad passed away in November '98, we moved from Cincy to AL, Joe & Laurie moved to FL and then to SC and Chris's brother Drew passed away in October '08. Tony is still in Miami so the only one living near my mother-in-law is Chris's sister Lynn.

The day after Christmas we drove to ATL to spend the weekend w/ Chris's nephew Louis, his wife Melanie and their precious little girl Eva. We had so much fun and it was wonderful to spend time w/ them. Eva's a little cutie-patootie and I wish we got to see more of her. Mel & Lou are moving to New Orleans in April and I wish they would leave her w/ us for a long weekend or something while they house-hunt. She really liked Trixie and was not afraid of the dog at all. She kept calling Trixie the "puppy" and gave Trixie lots of kisses and hugs all weekend. Trixie was exceptionally well-behaved at their house and loved all the attention from Eva.


So tonight T & I are getting together w/ some friends for dinner at my favorite Mexican restaurant (basically the same ladies I got together with last week for a Dirty Santa party). Not sure what Chris & KJ plan to do. Maybe they'll start to dismantle some of the outside Christmas lights if it's not too cold out. Up North we always left our Christmas lights and decorations up until after "Little Christmas." Down here, everyone has taken their decorations down by the 27th, 28th the latest. You can't even tell there was a Christmas in my neighborhood.