Christmas Eve Eve

Christmas Eve Eve was a busy whirlwind of a day!  The Tennessee crew drove down to my folks house and Lana had a big pot of shrimp soup on the stove for us.  Quick lunch and then it was time for Wrapapalooza 2017!  All the gifts I had purchased and shipped were waiting in the closet to be wrapped and it took about two and half hours to put the pretty on them with ribbons and bows. It was glorious!  

Next up, was a trip to the grocery store to get our supplies for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.  I don't know how shopping for groceries can be entertaining, but when you take Bob with you there are always going to be some laughs.  Once the groceries were unloaded, I snapped this selfie with my crew and then headed out to Mal's where I would be staying for the next couple of nights.

Can you even stand this darling room Mal had waiting for me?  It was adorable!  It was actually their daughter MM's room, but she had moved out to make room for Bebo to stay for a couple of days.

I did not get a picture of the basket of goodies they had waiting for me, but it had magazines, snacks and some signature Blowpops!

This cute water bottle was so handy and I used it just about every day of my stay.  I also hit that Vanilla Crown pretty hard too!  So thoughtful!  

I know this picture doesn't look like it, but Brett was thrilled with the combination padlock and chain challenge!  Really, he was! 

We got to open some presents with MM!  How fun it is to have a ten year old in the family that keeps the magic of Christmas alive!  

Brett got a pad of paper and started working combinations. 

Only took him 26 tries!  I thought that was pretty quick.  He is kind of a smarty pants. 

Then Bebo pulled out the rocks and paint she had drug all the way from Texas in her suitcase.  MM loves doing crafts so I always try to have a little craft for us to do together.  I have been picking up rocks on my walks in Texas for weeks and was looking forward to getting them painted. 

MM had a cute little paint palette and we squirted all our paint choices out and did some mixing and blending like real artists.  Dirtied all the paint brushes. 

Look at this darling sleigh this kid whipped out!  My rock was having problems and would NOT dry!  MM painted three to my one.  On mine I wrote "2018 - Make it Rock!"  Get it?  It is a rock and I said make it rock.  So clever.   Meg and Brett were also rock painters and I think we can definitely call this craft project a success.  I will be hiding the rocks around the neighborhood for people to find so no picture of the finished products. 

When the rocks were all painted, MM still had some energy so we broke out Disney monopoly!  By midnight, we were all getting delirious and were talking exclusively in British accents.  It was quite confusing and entertaining!  

A great day all around! 

I think I told you in a previous post that I was mostly dreading this trip home for Christmas.  I knew it was going to be so different from all the previous years during my marriage and I was afraid I would be sad for what no longer was.  Nothing could have been further from the truth.  I laughed so much.  Felt so much love.  Got to spend good quality time with my people.  It was good. It was so, so good.  I wasn't sad at all and fell into bed this night with a giant smile on my face.  So blessed.  I know not everyone has this kind of family.  I know it is a gift.  I am so grateful.