...In the last few weeks, I've been surrounded by "sick" folk with various forms of "bugs" ... but remained healthy! I was thinking I was in the clear ... but NOPE! Christmas Eve I felt rather squeemish, and then Christmas Day I woke up rather ... sick! But what can you do but forge ahead? So that's what we did! At one point during the Christmas dinner, it looked like a scene out of "Home Alone" where everyone is bumping into each other scattering to get everything ready ~ we had 14 people partaking of our Christmas feast, and even though I was less than well, we did have a lovely time together ... one of the happiest Christmases I can remember!
Presently, it is late in the afternoon on the Monday after Christmas. Andrew, Sabrina, and the children have gone downtown to visit one of the museums for the afternoon, so I am going to try and do a little "catch up" with this blog.
CHRISTMAS DAY 2009:
Grandpa Jones and I were abruptly woken up at 7:45 a.m. Christmas morning! How on earth did we manage to sleep in?! Yikes! The little kiddos had been awake for ... a long time (!) and really wanted to open their stockings. They had already read the Christmas story (without us) and were ready, set, go (!) to attack their stocking stuffers.
Since Karis is the youngest of the family, she was the first! I loved her comment when she yanked this Ken doll out of her stocking: "Oh goodie! A BOY Barbie!"
Jackson got some very very cool stuffers too: LEGOs, NERF equipment, and I forget what else (see what happens when you don't journal right away?)
Olivia's stocking was stuffed full of the very things this beautiful young lady enjoys. She was so pleased!
And then it was Sabrina's turn ...
I loved this expression! Well ... it's not every single day you receive DIAMONDS for a present!
Aren't they beautiful?
And lastly, Sir Andrew opened his stocking which was full of very very nice pens for his office (I was coveting some of those pens!) and I believe Sabrina purchased a beautiful new watch for him that was hiding in the bottom of this stocking ... I think we took a little break and had breakfast at this point and I haven't the slightest idea what I fixed or how many of us ate any of it at all! Because very soon, we were back to opening more presents. I'm going to run a few pictures of that process, commenting only when necessary.
Okay ... Grandpa Jones thought this was pretty hysterical. This package of Littlest Pet Shop had this warning label plastered across the top. Read it carefully because Karis had her third b'day last February and will turn four in just two months ... so ... hmmm ... it's not for children UNDER 3, but it IS for children ages 4+. Sigh. I guess Karis will have to wait two months before she can play with this! (I hope you know I'm joking).
This is the beautiful calendar Sabrina made for Grandpa Jones and I. Doesn't she do a nice job? We will treasure these great pictures of her family ... all year long! :)
Jackson's passion is LEGOs. He likes to build models by himself, but he also likes the very detailed models that are SO difficult to build! I do have a picture (somewhere) of Andrew building some of these presents for Jackson ...
See how slightly enthused (!) Jackson is when he opened the gift from his Uncle Adam and Aunt Emily?
And Karis Danielle received a Pixie outfit (that is the cutest little costume I have ever seen) from Uncle Adam and Aunt Emily ... we took SO many pictures of her wearing it and it was difficult to choose just one!
Dylan and Kelly were supposed to travel to Minnesota to join her family for Christmas, but our wintery north put a halt to that plan for them. I was sad for Kelly ... but I was happy that we got to share our Christmas with them, as well as with Shane, this year. 
I love this digital frame that I received as a present from ... Adam and Emily ... I have wanted one for ever so long!And did I mention how nice it was to have Shane sitting here in our front room enjoying our day with us? I know I have, but having him here just made my Christmas extra special.
And look at baby Jeremiah's outfit ... what a little doll!
Grandpa Jones could not have been happier than he was toting this precious grandbaby around with him all day ...
Aunt Sabrina did get a FEW turns holding her newest nephew ...
And then it was time to sing HAPPY BIRTHDAY to JESUS! I would show you a more detailed picture of the cake, but it was SO pathetically decorated ... long story ...
Ah yes! Here is the snapshot of Andrew putting one of the LEGO models together. He did a very nice job of it and Jackson was pretty thrilled to see it all come together.
Grandpa Jones and I got Karis Danielle a little tin tea set ... I think Sabrina was enjoying herself hugely playing with it ...
What a great picture! MOST of these pictures are from Grandpa's camera. I didn't do much with picture taking Christmas day.
Christmas 2009 is over ... lots of nice memories were made ... and hopefully JESUS was honored and adored throughout. I have more stuff to tell you about and some more pictures, but it will have to wait for another day when hopefully I am feeling better! Take care now!
P.S. We talked on the phone with Jesse, Diana, Emma, Christopher and Matthew in El Paso. We passed the phone around and let Jesse talk to several of the family ~ and then later in the evening, we happily talked to Nicolas in Bandera. Our Bandera grandchildren were napping at the time, so we didn't get to hear their voices ... I also spoke to my brother, David (Florida) who was heading over to EPCOT with his school choir to do some singing ... and I talked to my sister, Ruthanne (Detroit) as well. Nana and Roy were prevented from joining us because of the very slippery road conditions, so we were sad for them! But I was able to go and visit them on Roy's 89th birthday two days later ... I'll show you some of those pictures ... later. :)
