What A Wonderful Christmas!

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day was filled with good food, good fun, great presents, and the best company!

It all started when I got off of work at 5:00 thanks to my great supervisor, Mickey. Cary and I gathered up our gifts and items for the night (with Chester waiting anxiously by the door--he was so excited about going somewhere!).

Once loaded into the car stacked full with gifts, we drove off to Brenda and Gary's, where we sat down to a delicious meal of duck, potatoes, a broccoli/califlower/cheese casserole, glazed carrots, rolls...it was a feast! Brenda worked so hard on making all of these dishes, and it was all eaten and gone within 30 minutes. And then on to dessert--Cranberry, white chocolate pie and Praline Cheesecake!!!! The cheesecake was so melt-in-your-mouth good, I wish I didn't eat so much at dinner so I could enjoy it more.

After dinner, we went for a nice walk, checking out the Christmas lights in the neighborhood, a great way to walk off the food we had just ingested. The neighborhood is so nice and the air had a chill in it, so I enjoyed the outing very much.

After we got in and settled down, we popped in A Christmas Story to watch. This movie is great! I think each year I appreciate it more and more. And we made it through the entire movie!!! (for those who don't know, Cary and I can rarely sit through a movie to watch the entire thing at once...)

After the movie, it was almost 11:00, so Cary and I packed up and headed home for the evening.

The plans we had for Christmas Day: wake up at 6:30, open our gifts, and be at my parents' house between 7:00 and 8:00 (enough time, right?!) Well, we did get up at 6:30, and opened gifts, but we moved quite slowly and were leaving to GO to my parents' at 8:00, and on top of that, forgot Apples to Apples!

My gifts from Cary? A sweater, a scarf (I LOVE scarfs!!), a couple of books (one about London and the other is the new release from the author of Marley & Me, The Long Ride Home. I am now trying to figure out if I read that now or wait until the flight to England...
More gifts were a glass vase that I have been wanting to get from Crate and Barrel, Wall-E (my favorite movie!!!), and British Chocolates. What great gifts!

When we got to mom and dad's house, we ate some yummy cinnamon muffins (my favorite!) and then opened up some gifts. Then it was back on the road again to the apartment to grab Apples to Apples, as well as Cary's coffee maker (which turned out to be a big hit!) and drove back to my parents' to prepare for a big day of family gatherings.

Bill was already there when we arrived, and soon, the house had Grandma J, Grandma and Grandpa W, Amy, Mike, Steven, Spencer, and Stacy Corry (and their 2 doggies, Cricket and Roscoe), Deb, Eric, and Faye, Richard, Kim, and Ashton, of course my parents, and Cary, Chester, and myself. I continue my Thanks! to Roscoe for wearing out Chester--you are Chester's (and mine) new best friend!

The ever-famous gatherings never cease to fail with a lot of laughs and great memories. Cary and I sat down and played a game of Farkle with Mike and Spencer. Somehow, Cary walked away the winner, even though we have never played before....lucky. It was a fun game. It might be a good one to get for the apartment!

After that game was up (and Steven took my place at some point), The remaining group (except Richard, Kim, Ashton, and mom) sat down to play a game of Apples to Apples...there were 9 of us around the table--less than there was on Christmas Eve, but not much less chaotic). What a fun game! I've had it for a year, and I love to play it. My favorite part is arguing my case--especially if I really have nothing to argue, but I try anyways! Mike won, and lucky him--it was his first time to play!

After finishing the game, it was time to move on to Cary's family. So we packed up all of our goodies from this visit and wished everyone a Merry Christmas. The goodies I got (undeservingly) from my family?

From mom and dad: a sweater, socks (I LOVE silly socks!), a Wall-E ornament, some money for shopping, and the traditional nuts, fruits, and candy.

From my Grandma W: a cute little quilt for Chester, and a stocking as well.

From Grandpa W: a "Poor Man's Account"--a checkbook-like booklet with $1 bills inside--very funny!

From Grandma J: a beautiful Angel ornament, and a big bottle of body wash with Gingerbread man scent!

Thank you everyone!!!

For our final Christmas celebration, we were going to meet Brad, Faith, and Helen at Gary and Brenda's house. When we got there, Gary and Brenda were there, and Helen as well. Brad and Faith were on their way, so until their arrival, we all relaxed and talked about what goodies we have gotten so far for the day. Helen got a Nintendo DS, so I watched her play with it for a while--Fashion Designer--super cool!

When Brad and Faith arrived, everyone was still too full from our food earlier, so we decided to open gifts. There was wrapping paper EVERYWHERE!!!! I do hope that everyone enjoyed their gifts. I'm still trying to get to know everyone in the McFadden clan, but I'm looking forward to the future when I can get gifts that are more of a personal touch for them.

The gifts I got from this family? 2 turtle neck sweaters and suede jacket, green house socks with rubber dots on the bottom, a travel purse, a cutting board (unbreakable!), a container for our gift wrap items, candy, an ornament, and a Chris Tomlin cd (THE NEWEST ONE!!!!).

How on earth did I ever deserve such gifts?

How on earth did I ever deserve such FAMILY? And when I say this, I do mean all of my family. From the posts before (the 12 Memories of Christmas), you can see that my parents and extended family have been nothing but amazing, and that as a child (and adult) I have never been deprived of anything. I never had siblings (until I married), but my cousins have been what I would consider sisters growing up. I had parents and grandparents that no matter what I did, they loved me unconditional...and today, I want to remind myself to not take them forgranted. Each and every single person in my family is important to me, even if I have only seen you twice in my life (Ashton--the true hero of our family). Family, you are the reason why I truly consider my life blessed.

Ok...back to the fun. After opening gifts--Cary and Brad got mini RC helicopters and wanted to play with them but they needed to charge--we piled into Brenda's SUV and drove around Coppell looking at Christmas lights. This is the first time doing this, and it was so much fun! When we got to a neighborhood, Helen would stand up and look out the sunroof and Brad would roll around in the very back--sometimes it was unintentional, but yet very funny. We would ooh and ahhh over the lights outside the house (we found one with the leg lamp from A Christmas Story!) and then drive to another small neighborhood and do the same.

Cary finally became hungry, and we drove home, to a delicious dinner of bar-be-que. And more Praline Cheesecake!!!!

After dinner, the entertainment centered around Brad and Cary playing with their helicoptors. Those tiny plastic things are really durable! They hit the ceiling, hit the fireplace, get caught in the 'snow' and carpet, and still kept on flying. Even Helen got her try at it.

Tired from such busy 2 days, Cary and I drove home at 9:00 last night, just to walk into an apartment that was a mess from our gifts and wrapping...I know what I get to do for the weekend! ;o) But it was all worth it. This holiday definitly makes room in my favorite memories.

I hope that the next year will go by fast so that we get to enjoy the same things again soon!

Merry Christmas to All, and to All, a Good Night!