Christmases (plural)

We had Christmas with both families this year. Christmas Day, since my mom was up in the hospital getting her kidney transplant, we were at my parents' house (where the ham was) without my parents. Which meant my siblings and I were in charge of the food and what time we opened presents, and everything, just as if we were actual grown-ups! I think we pulled it off. Of course we missed my parents, but my dad kept calling with updates, and we all had her in our thoughts pretty much all the time.

The day after Christmas we drove to Charlotte, to be with Carlyle's parents and siblings. We had another Christmas feast (steaks! yum!) and another round of opening presents. The weather was temperate, colder than Florida, but pleasant (at least until Wednesday when we were driving on friend-and-family-visits and the winds came . . .Brrr!). It was especially nice to sleep in since Grandmother Sharon volunteered to be on children-duty in the mornings!

Here are some snapshots from our various festivities.

There were stockings here and stockings there.




There were kittens and cousins and siblings and babies.






There were dinosaurs here and dinosaurs there. We now have a dinosaur drawer, one of those three under the bunk bed. Very convenient.




They learned how to be good consumers. Or consumers of some kind. I didn't remove the red-eye in the second picture because it kind of seems appropriate (also, I'm tired.)




There was a Hawaiian theme, thanks to Aunt H.'s recent trip and gifts. Even Shadow the dog got into the act.






They took baths in the swimming pool (Grandmother Sharon's tub).



We ended with visits to friends even farther north. We actually caught up with two couples we used to work with at the bookstore, couples who also married and each have two daughters. It was great catching up and the visits were over way too quickly. I only have pictures from the second family, our friends Jared and Julie, but our girls had fun playing with all their new friends. Emily asked (whined), "Do we have to leave?" at each stop we made.

Pictured is J & J's 4 1/2 year-old daughter Mary, who was gracious enough to share her bedroom floor with both Penny and Emily. It only took the three of them about 45 minutes, and stern visits from each of the four parents in turn, to fall asleep. Not too bad, considering. Check out Julie's blog (you can see her socks as she takes her photos in my pictures) for better photos of the same event and the un-pictured (by me), adorable Caroline, who, at 9 months, wasn't quite old enough to join the slumber party.




These faces pretty much sum it up (although Penny's face is a little on the 2-year-old's-idea-of-camera-smile-equals-intense-scary-face side). Christmas was good, especially when you factor in the bonus kidney. (My mom is home now and looks great! She'll be taking the rest of the school year off on doctor's orders to avoid 6-year-old germs on her immuno-suppressed system.)




Tomorrow it's back to school for the kids, and my first full week of work and internship and class and oh-no-did-we-pack-lunches?