My Christmas Week, part 2

Friday, Dec. 23: Keith, Henry, and I had a hot dog lunch with the Dales. That evening was Christmas with Dad's side of the family. I believe Perrin has a little crush on our extended cousins, Lindsey and Leslie. Who could blame him?

One of Henry's gifts that night was Cranky. As soon as he opened it, he marched himself down the hall and placed it on the train table in the playroom. We had a hard time pulling him away.

Saturday, Dec. 24: Our newest tradition of lunch at Ike's. Breakfast for dinner was a change this year, since we had church the next morning and wouldn't have time for our usual Christmas morning breakfast. Stephanie and Perrin made a birthday cake for Jesus.

"Momma, can I lick it?"

Kisses. Always kisses. Sometimes we have to pull the bigger boys back, for fear that their hugs might hurt little Grady

Then we decided to do shots under the other tree. Grady said, "Enough!"

That's a lot of pictures of little boys in pajamas, but believe it or not, I actually showed restraint.

Sunday, Dec. 25: Christmas Day! We celebrated first at church with a service open to all ages. I'm always a bit nervous about that, but Perrin and Henry were surprisingly good. Afterward we opened gifts with our immediate family. (We would normally do this in the morning, but Christmas on Sunday changed things up a bit. No worries, though. What's better than being in God's house on His Son's birthday?) The Dales spent the afternoon with Jonathan's family, as they always do. Mom, Henry, and I napped. Christmas evening is always with Mom's family at Grandma's house - my favorite! No one cooks like her and we always laugh a lot. This year Henry was introduced to Ray Stevens.....