Christmas Eve 2008

Our Christmas Eve tradition is to spend the day with my family in Columbia. We began the day with brunch at my Granny and Granddaddy's house. It was delicious...breakfast casserole, biscuits with chocolate gravy, cinnamon rolls, link sausage, and fruit. My aunt made one of those cool fruit display trees. After we ate, we opened our presents. Jackson was excited about the presents with his name on them. One of his presents was wrapped in Mickey paper, and he said, "I love this gift wrap." Drew and Jackson had so much fun playing and be the center of attention. After presents, the card games begin. The adults played Rook and Spades, while several of us played a mean game of UNO with Jackson. He loved it! Two things happen when you play with Jackson: he really wants to win and he shows all of his cards. He won a few and lost a few. UNO may be on his birthday wish list.

All of my family with my grandparents

Drew is getting tired from all the festivities. Poor baby was still sick:(

After all the fun at my grandparents' house, we drove about 2 miles to have Christmas with my Granny Evans and Aunt Gertie. My granny is 86 and my aunt is 95, and both have difficulty hearing. This makes Christmas with them rather humorous. We had to explain several of their gifts to them. My great aunt was amazed by a paper shredder that my parents got for her. She has been cutting up her mail and documents with her scissors. She thought the shredder was super cool. We'll see if she actually uses it. After we opened presents, we had an Italian Christmas dinner (lasagna). Here is a picture of Jackson delivering presents.

Jackson and Drew opening their presents.

After dinner, we went to my parents' house. Jackson and Drew put on their pajamas and we exchanged gifts. Drew loved my mom's tree. He really did not bother our Christmas trees at home after he was scolded a couple of times. My mom's tree had several ornaments where he could see his reflection, and he really liked that. Drew had to be put to bed after his presents were opened for him because he was so exhausted.

My brother got Jackson a Buzz Lightyear for Christmas. Before Jackson opened the present, he heard it say, "to infinity and beyond." He immediately knew it was Buzz and could not wait another minute to open it. He kept saying this is what I wanted for Christmas...a Buzz Lightyear that talks.

My parents got Jackson a Titans bike, which he loved. Jackson told Andy and me that he wanted a Titans bike. At first, we assumed this did not exist. However, a little Internet searching proved that it did exist. Jackson is so excited for some warm weather so he can ride it. He also got a horn to put on his bike.

After three Christmas Eve stops, we all headed home to get ready for Santa. Jackson and Drew were completely asleep when we got home, so Andy and I put out some milk and cookies for Santa and carrots, celery, and oats for the reindeer.