Post-Christmas Recap
I would be remiss if I didn't post some sort of roundup of how my Christmas, as well as the days leading up to it, went down.
As you might expect, Anna Kate and I have had lots of fun times together over break. Our first Friday out, we went to eat at Sticky Fingers (because every so often, you just have to give in to the hankering for chicken tenders dipped in Carolina Sweet) and saw The Holiday at the theatre. A fun, even charming, holiday romp, and I'll certainly take it over the latest Tim Allen Christmas movie we have every year. The following Sunday she came over for our family's Christmas luncheon. I showed her the Clemson highlight video I put together (it's a little ways down if you'd like to view it for yourself) and also endured a couple hours' torture when we broke out the home video collection. Let's just say I was first cousin to the Mexican jumping bean as a child and leave it at that. Of course I balanced the scales a couple days later and saw some of her videos :) No one can look so irresistable back into and emerging from a Christmas tree the way she can. And so good with lyrics at such a young age :)
Last Tuesday, I visited AK's school, Waterloo Elementary, near Laurens, to help her unpack her new classroom supplies and assemble some furniture. Learned a few things about myself in the process. Turns out I'm not half bad at basic carpentry, and I'm easily frustrated by stuff wrapped in heavy plastic. Oh well. Made for a few laughs. We hung out at her Mom's house the rest of the evening where we had KFC for supper, followed by the Clemson/Georgia Southern basketball game. We won, of course. 72-60.
Wednesday evening was especially nice. I went with AK's Mom, step-Dad and grandma to see the Greenville Symphony Orchestra. The musical selections were excellent despite the fact that they didn't do the theme from The Polar Express as promised, much to AK's disappointment. The childrens choirs were great, but the ballet dancers for the Nutcracker sequence were something else. You might be surprised how much leg strength goes into standing on your tiptoes for minutes on-end. After dinner at Stax Omega, we got to see AK's step-Dad bring his huge Polar Express display to life. Fun times, indeed. Be nice if my family had the patience to assemble something like that.
On Friday night, AK again joined us for our annual family gathering in Due West. We had an exceptionally full house this year which made things even more exciting. My aunt made her usual breakfast dinner, and I got to see my three cousins that are now living in Georgia. They are just adorable. Especially Maddie :) Every few minutes it seemed, she was giving me hugs and wanting to ask me something. So precious. After a ride home with my sister at the wheel (and my Dad making the same wrong turn he does every year and taking us through Anderson), Anna and I had our own Christmas time at my house. Among the highlights of the terrific gifts she got me were Shrek 2 on DVD, a digital camera (I'm a Johnny-Come-Lately with technology), a cute little bear that we named Reggie, and two orange shirts. I loved each one of her presents, and I hope she loved hers as well :)
As for Christmas Eve and Christmas...when you know and love the real meaning of the holiday, you try to look for the finer pleasures. Things that are not wrapped up in boxes or packaging. One of mine was seeing my granddad back home again, and looking in better spirits than I've seen him in awhile. He was much more animated and tried to be involved in every facet of the gathering; he was proud to announce that he did nearly all of the Christmas shopping on our side of the family. It was so awesome to see him up and about again. Even had a nice effect on my grandma, as she too seemed more talkative and engaged. So that was definitely a gift from God. Thank You, Lord. We had our snack supper (cooked weiners dipped in marinara sauce taste surprisingly good) and present time afterward. Baxter did a nice job playing Santa (with the hat to match). Without a doubt, this year's gag gift was the peppermint pigs. Hard, pig-shaped peppermint candy that you have to chisel pieces off with a mallet to suck on. Interesting choice. Then we shot off fireworks in the backyard, and likely disturbed all of Whitmire in the process. Fortunately, no one has ever called the police on us and really, who says you can only shoot off fireworks once or twice a year? Honestly?
Christmas Day, the highlight was my sister's new (relatively speaking) Land Rover. I knew it was coming a couple weeks in advance; that's the advantage of being home for that long. And Baxter got the skating rail that he's been wanting (he was a bit too nosy for his own good when he spotted it a few days ago in the bushes, but he didn't say a word until yesterday morning). I'm beginning to wonder if I'm chronically slow when it comes to opening presents. I still had 11 gifts to go by the time my brother finished. Susannah's begun to catch on to my method, though. So I didn't feel quite as awkward opening my last few items when everyone else in the room was all through. Naturally, not long after my Dad's Christmas breakfast (delicious as always), it was back to bed for me. Mostly because we began at 4:30 AM. My siblings' fault, not mine.
Anyway, I headed out that evening with Anna to her grandparents' for their meal and presents. That was also fun. She tried to warn me ahead of time about what I was in for in the company of her extended family, but I enjoyed myself very much. And they even got me a few items like a Rick Warren devotion and candy bag. That was nice :) We had a bit of an adventure coming back with our vehicle low on fuel and nearly all of the gas stations closed early, but we finally lucked out in Fountain Inn. Whew :)
Hope your Christmas holiday has been full of warmth and good cheer! God bless!
As you might expect, Anna Kate and I have had lots of fun times together over break. Our first Friday out, we went to eat at Sticky Fingers (because every so often, you just have to give in to the hankering for chicken tenders dipped in Carolina Sweet) and saw The Holiday at the theatre. A fun, even charming, holiday romp, and I'll certainly take it over the latest Tim Allen Christmas movie we have every year. The following Sunday she came over for our family's Christmas luncheon. I showed her the Clemson highlight video I put together (it's a little ways down if you'd like to view it for yourself) and also endured a couple hours' torture when we broke out the home video collection. Let's just say I was first cousin to the Mexican jumping bean as a child and leave it at that. Of course I balanced the scales a couple days later and saw some of her videos :) No one can look so irresistable back into and emerging from a Christmas tree the way she can. And so good with lyrics at such a young age :)
Last Tuesday, I visited AK's school, Waterloo Elementary, near Laurens, to help her unpack her new classroom supplies and assemble some furniture. Learned a few things about myself in the process. Turns out I'm not half bad at basic carpentry, and I'm easily frustrated by stuff wrapped in heavy plastic. Oh well. Made for a few laughs. We hung out at her Mom's house the rest of the evening where we had KFC for supper, followed by the Clemson/Georgia Southern basketball game. We won, of course. 72-60.
Wednesday evening was especially nice. I went with AK's Mom, step-Dad and grandma to see the Greenville Symphony Orchestra. The musical selections were excellent despite the fact that they didn't do the theme from The Polar Express as promised, much to AK's disappointment. The childrens choirs were great, but the ballet dancers for the Nutcracker sequence were something else. You might be surprised how much leg strength goes into standing on your tiptoes for minutes on-end. After dinner at Stax Omega, we got to see AK's step-Dad bring his huge Polar Express display to life. Fun times, indeed. Be nice if my family had the patience to assemble something like that.
On Friday night, AK again joined us for our annual family gathering in Due West. We had an exceptionally full house this year which made things even more exciting. My aunt made her usual breakfast dinner, and I got to see my three cousins that are now living in Georgia. They are just adorable. Especially Maddie :) Every few minutes it seemed, she was giving me hugs and wanting to ask me something. So precious. After a ride home with my sister at the wheel (and my Dad making the same wrong turn he does every year and taking us through Anderson), Anna and I had our own Christmas time at my house. Among the highlights of the terrific gifts she got me were Shrek 2 on DVD, a digital camera (I'm a Johnny-Come-Lately with technology), a cute little bear that we named Reggie, and two orange shirts. I loved each one of her presents, and I hope she loved hers as well :)
As for Christmas Eve and Christmas...when you know and love the real meaning of the holiday, you try to look for the finer pleasures. Things that are not wrapped up in boxes or packaging. One of mine was seeing my granddad back home again, and looking in better spirits than I've seen him in awhile. He was much more animated and tried to be involved in every facet of the gathering; he was proud to announce that he did nearly all of the Christmas shopping on our side of the family. It was so awesome to see him up and about again. Even had a nice effect on my grandma, as she too seemed more talkative and engaged. So that was definitely a gift from God. Thank You, Lord. We had our snack supper (cooked weiners dipped in marinara sauce taste surprisingly good) and present time afterward. Baxter did a nice job playing Santa (with the hat to match). Without a doubt, this year's gag gift was the peppermint pigs. Hard, pig-shaped peppermint candy that you have to chisel pieces off with a mallet to suck on. Interesting choice. Then we shot off fireworks in the backyard, and likely disturbed all of Whitmire in the process. Fortunately, no one has ever called the police on us and really, who says you can only shoot off fireworks once or twice a year? Honestly?
Christmas Day, the highlight was my sister's new (relatively speaking) Land Rover. I knew it was coming a couple weeks in advance; that's the advantage of being home for that long. And Baxter got the skating rail that he's been wanting (he was a bit too nosy for his own good when he spotted it a few days ago in the bushes, but he didn't say a word until yesterday morning). I'm beginning to wonder if I'm chronically slow when it comes to opening presents. I still had 11 gifts to go by the time my brother finished. Susannah's begun to catch on to my method, though. So I didn't feel quite as awkward opening my last few items when everyone else in the room was all through. Naturally, not long after my Dad's Christmas breakfast (delicious as always), it was back to bed for me. Mostly because we began at 4:30 AM. My siblings' fault, not mine.
Anyway, I headed out that evening with Anna to her grandparents' for their meal and presents. That was also fun. She tried to warn me ahead of time about what I was in for in the company of her extended family, but I enjoyed myself very much. And they even got me a few items like a Rick Warren devotion and candy bag. That was nice :) We had a bit of an adventure coming back with our vehicle low on fuel and nearly all of the gas stations closed early, but we finally lucked out in Fountain Inn. Whew :)
Hope your Christmas holiday has been full of warmth and good cheer! God bless!
posted by david @ 9:56 AM
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