This past weekend we had our first Christmas of the season. Joel's grandparents live in Texas in the winter from November-April so we have the Delaney Christmas the weekend before Thanksgiving. There is quite literally 2 straight days of eating, with a little football, gift opening, and chatting thrown in between eating sessions. It starts Saturday with platters of appetizers and goodies in the afternoon while we watch college football. Then, Saturday night we have homemade pizzas and watch more football. Sunday morning is a big breakfast for whoever wakes up in time, then gift opening, then another huge meal consisting of Thanksgiving/Christmas food. This year it was roast, ham, potatoes, corn, green beans, rolls, salads, pies, etc.
We are very blessed, and there is lots of love going on in that family. His grandma Alice has a tradition of making a grandma tree every year. She gets ornaments for each grandchild and now great grandchildren and puts them on a tree with the year on them. It is so fun to look at the past years' ornaments, and she always has a different ornament or theme for each year. This year it was small stockings that hung on the tree, but sometimes it is candy canes with their names on them, or handmade ones with their pictures. She also wraps a gift for everyone. One year it was jeans, one year it was slippers, once it was pajama pants, and last year it was wallets/purse clutches. This year it was mittens/gloves! She is so cute and clever! We all get the same gifts but she takes so much time to figure out what colors/styles/sizes fits each of our personalities best, and with 22 of us, that's quite a task!
With this being Tessa's first Christmas, she also got involved! She got a book and some money from GG Alice and PaPa Dale, some jammies from Aunt Annette and Uncle Scott (and Lindsay and Alex!) and of course, she got involved in the lottery. GG Alice and PaPa Dale wrap up a $1 scratch ticket for each person in the family and put them in a big basket. Then, you pick your box, open it, scratch your lottery ticket, and get whatever you win! Usually no one wins more than a dollar or two, but someone won $10 this year, and Joel won $4. Not bad!
All the families got together and bought Dale and Alice a computer this year! Joel and I got them all hooked up and showed them how to use the computer, as well as download Skype and get them on the internet, creating an e-mail address and sending test emails to everyone! They'll be able to use this in Texas now, since they have WiFi in their community park. It'll be nice to be able to send them pictures and updates via email, and, of course, video chat with them on Skype!
We are now back home after our first long trip away from home. Tessa did great, although babies do require a lot of stuff to pack!
No comments:
Post a Comment