Christmas Recap--*Warning* It's Long!

We had the BEST Christmas ever!  For John and I, getting to experience Christmas together with both of our "new" families was really special.  We are lucky to have both sets of our parents and grandparents all in Alex City, and I think we did a good job of spending time with everyone.  

On Christmas Eve morning (post Whitney's bday bash), we woke up on Dobbs at my parents', ate breakfast and lounged around.  We were to be at Willow Point by 11:30a for the Howell Family Christmas Brunch.

 

 Right here, I am regretting the second serving of hashbrowns I took in.  Thank goodness Mrs. Jane was kind enough to lend me some sweat pants afterwards!

Three generations of Howell men

Bloody Marys...yumyumyum

Later that afternoon, we took communion before heading to the Benton Family gathering.

At the Benton's we enjoyed steaks, twice baked potatoes...& Paula Dean red velvet cake--divine.  Check out the millions of babies on this side of the family--don't need to drink the water there!

We love Fannie Bell.

From the Bentons', we ventured back to Dobbs Rd. to wait for SANTA! 

I didn't take any pictures that night, because we lounged around and watched Christmas Vacation, during which John fell asleep.  I should have though--because Mom bought Dad a new TV and it is CRAZY--LED or something?  James Bond looked like a home video it was so REALISTIC.  

I was highly excited about Santa coming, and presents, and John told me he felt like a dirty old man because he was married to a 13 year old girl.  I gave him his very own Christmas PJs and told him I had let Santa know where he was, in case Santa was confused.  I proceeded to make Mom tuck us in and John was probably extra scared at that point.  Then I gave him a Benadryl to make him go to sleep because he was bouncing off the walls. Not really ;)

John and Blake's loot.  Santa set John up on the piano!

Mom & Dad's loot is on the couch--please note Dad's Shih Tzu calendar!  My loot is in the chair.

We did not snap pics of us opening gifts, I know-sad, but we just get carried away.  John gave me a Garmin Forerunner (it keeps up with your pace, mileage etc;), my parents gave me shopping money, an awesome Nike running suit, a set of our fine china and flatware...lots of stuff--so fun!  John got a Home Depot gift card and clothes and tools...I gave him a new pair of driving loafers and gift card to get a massage.


All the grandparents and cousins came over for brunch and by this time we were dressed and ready to pose!

Mom had the tables looking gorgeous!!  Her Christmas china is Spode.

I love our tea set!  So shiny!

 

Grandkids with Gran and Harold

John and I with my sister, Blake

 Ever'body-check out Iris's lovely festive bow.

me and Granddaddy

Miss Shirley!  

I must also point out that Granny and Harold hooked John and I up with one of these:

I was beyond thrilled.  LOVE my fam.


We headed down to the Howell's after lunch, to discover that Santa had come TWICE!

 Mrs Jane and Mr. Scotty loved their volleyball set we gave them!  We are ready for some volleyball tournaments next summer.  Good thing I played in highschool so as to better dominate everyone (*eyeroll)

Mr. Scotty got TWO Vinturi Wine Aerators.  Great minds think alike!  We also gave Mrs. Jane her necklace she is wearing above.

Hadley posing with her coin purse and scarf we gave her!  We got her a necklace too, but the scarf is covering it up.  Had really racked up...Hunter boots, Iphone4, and Kris just outdid himself...David Yurman...a trip to SFO....can someone say SPOILED ROTTEN?!  Had, you must have been REALLY good this year!!

Mrs. Jane bought me one of Whitney's necklaces she makes!  It's garnet.  Very cute.  I also got a ZEBRA skin rug.  I.loved.it.  It's in the bedroom right now, so as to not get too much Mona traffic on it , but it goes nicely in there.  It may transistion to the office later.

John got a new pair of muck boots, tools, clothes (he's pretty easy to please!) and a BlueRay player--which has been fabulous.  We were given the DVD Life and it is amazing to watch on that.  And of course we hooked up Netflix to it and are live streaming SVUs at night.  If we don't answer your call, it's because we are hosting our own SVU Marathon.  Please try to understand.


Hadley gave me Gold Glitter Toms and I've worn them EVERY DAY.  OBSESSED.  So comfy.

 

For dinner we had homemade tomato soup...it was SO tasty!  I may or may  not have dipped four pieces of bread in it.  The rest of our evening was spent playing Scrabble--we got pretty into it and Hadley killed us everytime.  It's all about the two letter words!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!   Til next year!

**I wanted to add more pictures but I've used up my 1G in Picassa and have to buy more?  This may be a dumb question, but if I delete pictures in Picasa will it delete them from the blog?