Christmas Eve and Christmas Day 2009

Our celebration of Christmas began at The S&S House in Archdale. Thank you to Sherman and Sandy for hosting our family get-together on Christmas Eve. With Jenny and Family in SC with The Depps, with Matt B in Apex with Kristen's family, The Vasbinders, we had one child home with us, Adam! He worked in Boone on Christmas Eve, but drove down the mountain in time to join us at my brother's home. Sandy's family was there also and it was great to see Mike, Peggy and their children.

Brandon (Mike & Peggy's son), Sherri, Savannah (Brandon's

daughter), Tommy and Sherman. Lots of wonderful, delicious

food...and desserts!!!

Belle had a good time too! She's such a sweet dog!

Kit and Adam waiting on my laptop to work correctly so

that we could watch "the elfing" video clips!

Sherri is cleaning up. Sherman and Gladys Ann are in

conversation. So happy that GA could be with us this year.

Sandy and Peggy having conversation. Great to see Peggy

once again. Peggy and Mike graduated from HS with me.

We were Bulldogs together!!!

Sherri cleaning up again...she usually has a smile on her face!

Christmas Day! Adam went to Melissa's for a wonderful

breakfast with her family. Kit and I ate the can of 8 cinnamon

rolls all by ourselves! Thanks for fixing them Kit! We enjoyed

a skype videocall with Matt, Kristen and Turner! We put the

food together and traveled in the pouring rain to Julie and Joel's

house for The Boones to be together. We love that Jenny

called during lunch to say Merry Christmas!

The food was great, as usual! Here we have Emily, Bryson,

Katie and Jodie posing on the couch. I'm so blessed with 4

beautiful, inside & out, nieces!! We love our great nephew,

Bryson, too! Background folks are Marilyn, Adam & Kit. I

think that is Jay & Paul on the left.

Emily and Bryson live in Alabama now. We were blessed

that Doug was able to come home for a few days from

serving in the Army in Afghanistan. It was great to see all

3 of them!

Doug, Jay and Paul - Three great guys!

Kit is playing with Bryson's Transformer gun...dangerous!

Marilyn and Ron - love them!

Emily and Doug - love them too!

Adam tries to help his Dad with Bryson's gun!!!

Opening presents! Of course, Bryson got the most and

he should! He was our only grandchild present on this day

as the others were with their other grandparents having

fun! It was a good Christmas Eve and Day with family. We

are so blessed!

Celebrating Christmas 2009 - At the Beach!

Our immediate family headed to the beach the weekend of Dec. 18th. It was the year for the inlaws to have my children for Christmas Day. So we went back to the wonderful beach house that we were in last Jan. for our Beach Christmas!

Adam and Melissa with Kit and I to Apex to meet up with Matt B and Kristen. Jenny and Matt D. followed us in their van. As the 3 vehicles caravaned to the beach, Addi joined us in our car. As you can see, everyone in the back seat fell asleep on the way! Above you see Addi and Melissa. Below is Addi and Adam.

Here's the beach house that we love! Last Jan., there was a beach across the street. There has been so much erosion, that huge rocks have been put into place to slow it down. No beach to walk on here, but some beach down the street that was walkable. Amazing how powerful the ocean can be!
We decorated the area around the fireplace to make it more Chrismasy. Putting out all of the presents was fun too.
Each child had a snowflake with their name. They liked that!

This was our Christmas Day morning at breakfast. Jenny and Matt D made us a pancake breakfast with homemade syrup! YUM!!! Jenny is a great cook! Our tradition is to have canned cinnamon rolls on Christmas morning, so those were made also.

Here's Jenny working on the pancakes. She's a great cook!

She must have gotten it from both of her grandmothers, not

her own mom!!

Melissa and Adam enjoying their breakfast. Melissa is a

great cook also. So is Kristen! I guess I just lost my desire,

or maybe I never had it to begin with!!!

Maddox is our biggest pancake eater! I don't know how

many he ate this morning, but he and Uncle Adam had a

competition going on as to who could eat the most. Our

Maddox won!!!!

Turner enjoyed the pancakes also! No syrup though! Poor

little guy, he had a cold w/a cough during our Christmas

weekend. But he was still so good natured.

I don't think that Cyrus had any pancakes, but he was still

such a happy boy in his Christmas suit!

Addi enjoyed helping Uncle Adam give out the presents!

Uncle Adam enjoys giving out the gifts so that he can look

for the ones with his name on them!!!!

Cyrus enjoyed part of the gift opening, but then had to

take a nap.

This was the quietest that we had seen Maddox! He just

sat still as his presents began to surround him!

Turner got a big gift and decided that he needed to see

what was inside!!!

Grandad Kit waiting patiently until it was his turn to

unwrap a gift. We take turns opening one gift at a time

beginning with the youngest to the oldest...oldest was Kit!

Ah!! That big box was Turner's lawnmower!

It was hard to get a good pic of Addi so that it wasn't blurry!

She's always on the move!

Matt D playing with Addi and Cyrus

Matt B, Kristen and Turner...looking serious! A rare moment

during this family weekend!

Maddox loved putting his ABC Train puzzle together!

We all loved our gifts from one another. Great morning!

Pic from the top floor of our house. Friday evening, we left

snow behind in Greensboro. Only harsh, cold, rainy winds

at the beach. Rain stopped on Saturday morning, but there

were still gray skies most of the day with peaks of the sun.

See how close the water is to the beachfront homes! There

were surfers out there in the water for most of the day.

The dolphins were swimming up close also.

Saturday late afternoon...peak of sunshine on the beach

in the distance. This area down from us still has some beach.

Thank goodness!

Uncle Matt, Aunt Kristen with Turner B, Addi and Maddox

Lunch was delicious with sweet potato casserole, corn casserole

stewed apples and a veggie dip tray that the ladies each

prepared. Then dinner was steak, baked potatoes and salad.

Here is Adam cleaning up after the meal.

Sunday morning was sunshiny and glorious...but still cold!

Addi and Maddox posing in front of the big rocks on the beach.

Beautiful blue everywhere! Watching the waves splash

upon the rocks. This was a little splash. Some were so big

that you had to run back or get really wet!

Big splash was missed by my camera...or by me using the

camera!

Grandad, Gran, Maddox and Addi making memories.

Obviously, with all of these pics, the waves splashing was

interesting to us!

Adam and Melissa - love them!

Stay there Adam. We'll let you know if a big wave is coming

so that you can get away, not get wet!!!!!

We had a great time together as a family. We are so blessed

to have one another, to be together and make lots of great

memories. Thank you kids for a great weekend!

Maddox's Birthday - December 8th, 2009

Jenny, Matt, Addi, Maddox & Cyrus arrived in Greensboro

on the night of December 5th! They are here for 6 months

and living in Mom's house in Trinity. The house is now

quite different with 3 little youngins running around!! I

can see Mom and Dad smiling about that!

We celebrated Maddox's birthday several times! His

birthday is Dec. 8th, so Kit and I had dinner with The Depps

and opened presents. Then we celebrated again on the

following Saturday as The SC Depps arrived in Trinity to

visit. Maddox loved the Thomas Train set that they gave

him.

He loved the chocolate cake that Jenny made him too!

Cyrus is such a good baby! Easy-going and happy most

of the time. Here, he enjoyed Aunt Elisabeth holding him.