Christmas Numero 1

Since my amazing mother-in-law gave birth to four sons, she has always had our family Christmas the Saturday before Christmas. The other three sons spend Christmas with their wives families on Christmas Day. I have Christmas at our house every year for us, my aunt, and my grandmother. Shawn's parents join us every other year. We'd take them every year but we do share them with our nephew Andrew and his parents:)

This year for our family Christmas we met at Shawn's oldest brothers house. He lives in the same town as Mom and Dad but has a bigger house. We've become a pretty big group! Unfortunately one brother and his family chose not to come because of a misunderstanding that they are blowing out of proportion. They certainly missed out. The gifts we'd all gotten their sons are still waiting to be given:( But we had a fun time anyway. When there's food and presents, how can it not be a good time??

Of course, these three girls always make it fun:c)

Oh, and Fred. Fred knows how to show the ladies a good time. Fred is the ride...Scott is the driver and owner. Scott also knows how to show his nieces a good time. Rides around the pond were very exciting.I had to check it out for myself. After a big meal it was present time. My sister-in-law Elizabeth makes Mom a calendar every year with pictures of all of us. It's a highlight. But my favorite part of the picture?? Mom's sweatshirt. It says 'Grandma's Angels' and I gave it to her Christmas of '97. It was before we called her Gogo and when there were only four grandchildren. There are nine now and she's had all their names embroidered as they came along. I ordered the sweatshirt from Lillian Vernon. Anyone ever ordered from them? I've had issues. The sweatshirt came and said

Emily
Patrick
Mckinley
Phil

It was supposed to be Emily, Patrick, McKinley, and Phillip. I called that 1-800 number right away. I was told they didn't have enough room to finish Phillip's name. Um, hello, the picture in the catalog had 8 names on it! And then they told me that their computers couldn't capitalize a letter that was in a name. But since I'd ordered monogrammed things before with McKinley's name on it, I knew that was wrong. After much discussion it was found that everything I'd gotten before had been in all caps. Sigh. The sweatshirt could not be printed in caps. My stars. I asked for a refund. They asked for the sweatshirt back. Why did they need it back?? Anyway, I went to a local embroidery shop and had the correct shirt in 20 minutes. Take that Lillian Vernon. I love my three girls. Love, love, love. But every once in a while there's a little twing in me when I see a cute boy. I wanted a boy first, or not at all. I'm so glad we have a cute little nephew. He's never been social before but this visit, he was completely different. He got a toy that his Uncle Shawn couldn't wait to play with. He got permission from his parents, and they got right to it. Shawn was so cute helping him unscrew the battery compartment and match up the 9 volt connectors. Soon they were racing around the pond.But Shawn and his girls can't stay apart long. Soon he was driving Fred around the pond. And the video he took while letting my nine year old drive?? Hilarious. And on his phone. I'll work on getting that from him. Got it!
Our first Christmas was wonderful...but our second one? Even better.