Well Christmas has been said and done for 2 weeks now and I am just now recouping enough to tell all about it. I had a really hard time getting into the spirit this year for some reason but it came and went none-the-less. I am glad Santa's trip didn't depend on my attitude. If so, there would have been a lot of sad children around the world.
Back to our first Christmas. It in itself was wonderful. I will treasure the experience and traditions we started for as long as I live. We kicked our Christmas bruhaha off with a trip to Zoo Lights with some friends. This leads me to one of the best parts of my Christmas.
I was straightening the house for our guests. I was putting things in their rightful places when I placed a present under the tree. Thats when I saw it. The presents of all presents. In that moment I was Ralphie, and I had just spotted my very own Red Rider double action carbine BB gun under the tree. It was my very own D-SLR camera. From N. And I was shocked. See, I had put a very small bug in his ear earlier. A bug that may or may not have sounded like a whine. And probably most certainly lasted for weeks. But like I said, it was just a bug. So when I saw this under the tree (he had just placed the box under it without wrapping it) I went crazy. It was no time before I was digging in and snapping photos of anything and everything that crossed paths with the lens. Once our friends got to our house we not-so-patiently asked them to take a picture of us in front of our tree with the new baby, uhem, camera.
Here is the finished product. And that devil tree.
N, you are precious.
We then ventured on to our destination that I probably could have lived my life without. But we did get a pretty nice picture out of the $14 deal. I guess all wasn't lost.
The very next day we loaded up ourselves, all of our luggage, and 3 animals (one being a 5 week old kitten that was a gift for my sister-in-law) and were on our way. Our first stop was to drop off the animals because a lab is just way too big to tote and keep happy for 6 hours. Once that was over we headed on to Louisiana, birthplace of yours truly. We stopped at both of my grandparents houses and got into the Christmas spirit.
At my dad's mom's house we had boiled shrimp, which is an awesome tradition that we cajun's have conjured up. It was so good that I was too messy to take pictures of the meal and too full to take any afterwards. There, we mourned the first Christmas without my grandfather and talked a lot about him. We also hugged my grandmother too many times, talked until we wore ourselves out, and loved each other even more.
After that we were on to my mother's parent's house. They live in a 3 story, hand-built log cabin which oozes with Christmas spirit when the season rolls around. It was a quick cure for the grinch within. We opened presents, loved on a precious 4 year old cousin of mine, and kissed more grandparents. It was a treasure for sure.
This is my mom's family. Minus a few members. (Notice the log cabin....ahhh, I can smell it from here.)
The blanket in the bottom left was my present from my grandmother.
She said she made it, but I think she got it from God himself.
It is that heavenly.
Like I mentioned, I have a 4 year old cousin and she always gets out all the old toys that we used to play with. She found these old block and when opportunity for a good picture calls, you just gotta answer.
It was definitely worth standing in the cold on their pond porch, don't you think.
Yes, I said it. This log cabin looks out onto its very own pond. Its ok to be jealous. (giggles)
We said our goodbyes there and we were quickly on our way to N's family. It was Christmas day and we were ready to break into our gifts. (Did I mention that we are the equivalent of a 5 year olds when it comes to presents? Because we so are.) We got lots of cool stuff (movies, wii games, tools, and lots more goodies) but I got the presents of all presents. Oh wait, I already got that. Ummmm, ok I was the present next to all presents...I got my very first sewing maching. Another whiney bug got this job done, too. I was so excited and have loved playing on it. All friends reading this need to take heed...only handmade (sewn) gifts from this point on!
Here we are with N's family. I grew up taking a family picture every Christmas so I was very delighted to introduce this tradition to the Russell's.
N's grandmother, Gigi, is in the red. This is one woman that I have come to treasure.
This is my niece, LG. She got a new bath toy so we the adults felt it necessary to bathe her asap so we could play with the toy watch her play with the toy. It needs to be said that she did not help any possible baby fever going on in the Russell household. And I ask you people, could she be any cuter? I think not.
N and I also took our very first of hopefully many more traditional Christmas pictures. The what-will-become-infamous pajama picture. I can't wait to see what these become in the future.
What a good husband he is to wear blue and purple too short flannel pajamas.
Soon all was said and done with and we loaded up all of our belongs minus one kitten that was happily received but my SIL and headed home. It was so good to get home and unpack it all, but it was hard to know that it was all over.
Lydia took the news that there were no more presents the hardest.
She wouldn't even take "Smile for the camera" for an answer.
So that was our very first Christmas and it was unforgettable. There was many treasures to be remembered but I can't contain myself when it comes to praising the Treasure that started it all. Mary's treasure. A treasure that I didn't deserve. A gift that can't be topped. Jesus was the name and hope was the bow that tied it all together. Without Him it would all be in vain. The treasure that one day sooner than later, I will be able to thank face to face.
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