The Mother Load

Wow!  What a day....  We are, once again, in Asheboro.  Rather than celebrating Thanksgiving, we are celebrating Christmas.  Even though we are celebrating a much different holiday, we still have so much for which to be thankful!! 

We arrived yesterday and luckily, did not encounter any of the treacherous roadways.  We really did not see much inclement weather until we arrived to Randolph County.  There was some leftover ice on the trees.  The Lee's driveway was a little slick, but we managed.  For those of you who know what the Lee's driveway is like, it really wasn't slick until you were by the door.

Today, we lounged around and decided to lay low in the morning.  We ran to the mall for the kids to look at books and play a couple arcade games...Jackson LOVES the arcade games!  My children's favorite part of the day:  this afternoon when we unloaded the MOTHER LOAD!!  There were SO many presents under the tree, it took us several minutes to "unload" the tree.  Jackson and Eliza did an excellent job putting every one's gifts into piles...and both had a slightly (OK, hugely) larger smile when the present in their small hands ended up in their pile.  We opened and opened and opened some more! 

"Eliza, where are you?!"

Jackson poses by his presents

After dinner, Charlie, Jackson, Eliza and I enjoyed playing with the Light Bright Jackson received.  We talked about how Charlie and I had one when we were little and how much fun it was.  Jackson and Charlie worked on a snail, and Eliza and I worked on a kitty.  Light Brights may have changed, but we still had the same ol' kinda fun! 

Family fun

Jackson's finished product.  How fun!

Eliza had fun, this year and last, prancing around with my new purse.  Last year, I received a zebra print purse (which embarrassingly, I'm still carrying!).  This year, I received a gold, very gaudy (my philosophy: the gaudier, the better) purse, that Eliza liked to prance in.  This year she added a very cool scarf I got. 

Christmas 2009: Eliza playing with mommy's new purse.



Christmas 2010: Eliza prancing....



Jackson informed Charlie and I tonight that his Star Wars gifts were the best he received.  He got 3 (yes, three) Star Wars transformers and 2 different Star Wars Legos.  He and Charlie enjoyed transforming the transformers and building with the Legos.  A proud mom moment: when Jackson sat down at the kitchen table, pulled out his Legos and stated, "OK, first we have to organize!"  Yep, he is his mother's child!  Now if only the Legos came with a small rubbermaid for storage?!?!

Jackson opening one, of his 3, Star Wars transformers.

This is Tatum's first Christmas experience.  She was with us last year, but she was only a week old.  I remember that she sat mostly in her animal bouncy seat....well, actually, Eliza enjoyed sitting in her bouncy seat.  As you can imagine, Eliza was much too big to fit in her bouncy seat.   This year, Eliza enjoyed playing with some of Tatum's toys.  After Eliza had opened all her presents, she moved over to Tatum and played with Tatum's new instruments (with Tatum's permission, of course). 

<>

Christmas 2009: Eliza having fun playing in Tatum's bouncy seat

Christmas 2010: Eliza playing with Tatum's instruments.

In trying to teach my children that not every grandchild is able to get all these presents for Christmas, I stop and listen to what I'm telling my children.  We don't deserve any of this, but we are very lucky to have it!  We are such a blessed family!!!