Christmas #5

So this is it...the end of Christmas for the James family. We were the last of the family to arrive in Spicewood (aka, The Lakehouse)...which was killing Stew. Unlike us, Stew only has one Christmas...and it's usually not until the 27th...and he never lets anyone forget that Christmas is late for him every year...just adds to his charm, I suppose. Anyway, everyone had such a great time, especially given the cousins don't get to spend a whole lot of time together. Speaking of the cousins, here are the 5 of them together (left to right): Mason, Carter, Caleb holding Grant, and Cole.

Also every year, Shanan organizes a 'sibling lunch' where the siblings and their spouses go to lunch together (and get a picture together as well). This year's locale was the local barbecue joint: Opie's.

One of the big treats this year was Uncle Stew buying some fire works for the family. I didn't think Caleb would really take to the fireworks that make really high pitch noises, but he was really into the whole idea...he even figured out how to get the lighter going and was lighting the fireworks himself. Here is a picture of Caleb shooting a small version of a roman candle. Notice how low the lake is!

I also thought Carter would be more into the fireworks...of which I could also not be more wrong. Here is Carter cowering behind a lawn chair.




So now we're done with Christmas and I couldn't be more excited that we're done. Now I get to look forward to hauling all the stuff back up into the attic. Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe New Year's!

Christmas #4

On Christmas Eve day, we drive back home in time for our church's Christmas Eve services. Jim and Darlene have been joining us for the Christmas Eve service as well and then we come back to the house for dinner.

After our christmases in Waco, our own family christmas is usually a low-key affair. Here is a picture of the boys opening a couple of presents. That's me in the back doing an incredibly poor job of staying out of the picture.

Here's Elfy enjoying her Christmas rawhide candy-canes. I still can't believe she's still part of this family.

Our friend Sunni gave the boys some games (Battleship and Yahtzee). Caleb's been asking to play Battleship, so here is him playing against Jenny. Caleb put the hurtin' on his mama...sinking three of her ships before he missed 5 times. I guess he's a natural.

After lunch, Jim and Darlene left for Waco...taking the boys with them. Jenny and I used the child-free time to clean up a little...and do dinner and a movie (Four Christmases...a good movie but, contrary to what some may believe after reading these posts, is not a James family biopic). We'll drive back down to Waco this afternoon and then on to Austin tomorrow morning for Christmas #5. Poor Stew...he has to wait until a couple of days after Christmas before he gets to open even one gift...not that he ever lets anyone forget that. :)

Hope everyone had a good Christmas...now on to the stores for the brave ones.

Christmas #3

Christmas #3 is 'Granny's Christmas' (Jim's side of the family). As i've mentioned before, these events are quite tradition oriented...and Granny's Christmas is every year on the 23rd. Some time ago, Granny got tired trying to coordinate the entire family's schedule and just set her Christmas for the 23rd and whomever can show up can show up...at least they can't say they didn't know when it was.

So the evening always starts with the appetizers while everyone arrives: shrimp cocktail, crackers, and gingerale. We then move on to dinner which consists of some homemade bread, garlic grits, bing cherry salad, mac & cheese, and the 'mystery meat'. Now, the mystery meat isn't something that's been in a foil wrapping in the freezer for the past 8 months. It's called the mystery meat because no one knows what the meat is going to be until that night...the meat has included prime rib, ham, pork loin, etc. The dinner part of the evening is a good time to catch up and socialize. The tables are broken down into Granny and her children, Jenny's cousins' generation, Granny's great grandsons, and Granny's great granddaughters. After I eat, I usually help Darlene by washing dishes...i've been told many times that if my career at Accenture doesn't work out that I have a promising career in the food service industry.

Here is a picture of Jenny and Andy's family (we take a picture like this every year):
After Dinner, we move from Darlene's house across the field to Granny's house for Dessert and gifts. A few years ago, we started having one of the dinner guests dress up as Santa for the younger kids. This year the honoree was Jenny's Uncle Dan. He's bit shorter and thinner than many of the Santas (I even jokingly asked if he's much taller than his elves) we've had, but otherwise did an alright job. Once Santa entered the building, Carter was the first one up to sit in his lap. He said he already got his 'cramra' but still wanted his Batman game for his DS. As a side note, i'm really not sure where he came by those antlers.
Caleb was a little more shy with Santa. When he sat down, Carter stood up and told the room "he wants the same thing as me". Yeah, Carter is definitely more assertive than his older brother.

The adults have a gift exchange of gifts that are usually $25 - $30 or so. The gifts can be stolen once per round and they're never 'frozen'. It's quite the animated affair and once it gets started, you can see the various couples scheming what gifts they want to try end up with. If I get an early number in the draw i try to steal a good gift that's already been open (like a gift certificate or one of Jenny's conquests from New York)...that way i can try to stay active and not 'get stuck' with something that later ends up in the small group white elephant exchange (just kidding). This year, one of the hot items was a purse that Jenny got from one of her favorite back rooms in New York. Yes, I stole the purse at least once. I think there are actually pictures out there of me strutting with my European Carryall...hopefully they don't end up on the internet. In the end, Jenny and I ended up with Sonic and Brinkers (Chili's, Mac Grill, etc) gift cards...not too bad.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Cloverland Bowl

Granny's Christmas (the Gorham side of the family) is always on the evening of the 23rd. Before last year, a lot of the family would arrive just before the appetizers and turn around for home after the festivities. Last year, it worked out where just about everyone was going to be in town for most of the 23rd. So two of Jenny's younger cousins (Mark and Garrett) suggested organizing a family flag football game before the evening festivities. It worked out so well that the second annual Cloverland Bowl was played this morning. The gametime weather was wet with temps in the 30s...if the precipitation was frozen, we could have been the Bears and Packers playing at Lambeau.

Mark and Garrett are the captains and put a lot of thought into drafting their teams. Mark's team won last year (I was part of the winning team), so I'm sure Garrett was looking for a little payback this year. Here are all the participants for this year's game. Mark is in front with the towel over his shoulder and Garrett is on the left with his arms crossed. My father in law (the sports guru that he is) is on the far left wearing what everyone thought looked like a Russian Ushanka...we'd tease him with phrases like "going to play football today, eh Comrade?":

Here is a picture of my brother-in-law (Andy) pursuing the ball. Notice the sheer will and determination picture in his face as he zeros in on that 9 year old ball carrier. If he weren't on my team, I'd accuse him of being a little too serious about this game. Since we were on the same team, it was a heckuva play!

Here's me showing off my kickoff skills (we punt on kickoffs). With out this picture, i would never have guessed that i could almost get one knee to my chin with my other foot still on the ground. While I really hope that the pregame stretching was sufficient, something tells me I may be feeling this one in the morning.

I did mention that the Cloverland Bowl is a flag football contest? Well, here is a picture of me displaying my open-field tackling techniques on Jenny's cousin (Capt Joel Gorham, USAF). That's me in the yellow tunic and Joel's feet up in the air.

It was a fun time with the family. In the end, Mark's team (and mine) won for the second time in a row. Thanks to Cousin Kristin for the great action shots.

Christmas #2

So...it seems that Julie was too prophetic in her comments on my last post. Jenny was in fact impressed with the last post, so I have been assigned posting duties for the rest of the Christmases.

Before today's Christmas gathering, Nanny & Papa took the chitlins to Aunt Ruth's "Candy Store". Every Christmastime for the past 30-plus years, Jenny's great Aunt Ruth has hosted a candy store where the kids go and can get a bag of candy. She'll say "pick one at a time", but of course some children (like Carter) will grab handfuls...and then have problems getting their hands out of the jar. It's a great time and the kids come back with all kinds of candy that they can count and organize (my kids don't actually eat candy). This is Aunt Ruth in the picture below...you can also see the jars of candy on the shelves in the background.

Monday evening was the Winkleman (Darlene's side of the family) Christmas. Every year, this Christmas is on the 22nd...dinner served at 5:30. These Christmases in Waco are very tradition oriented. For the Winkleman's it's a mexican casserole, corn, chips & queso, etc. One year before I joined the family, Mamaw tried to spice things up a bit and serve sandwhiches. Needless to say, that didn't go over very well and Mamaw was nearly run out of town by her own family. Luckily, she survived the purge and continues to provide the family with their annual servings of casserole. Below is a picture of 4 generations of the Winkleman clan (sans in-law spouses).

Andy did arrive late this evening...so we're whole as a family again!

Every year, either Jenny or her cousin Kristy hand out the gifts. Here is Jenny the elf.

Here is a picture of the boys opening their gifts. Every time Jenny would go back to the tree to get another gift, Carter would ask "another present for me?" I tell ya', patience is not one of our little Tart's virtues.
Here's a little aside from this trip: we've discovered that i have a hidden talent in the Wii Music handbell game. Jenny has played the handbells and actually took a handbell class at Baylor (I'm waiting for Jason Webb to tell me he took a handbell class at Texas). Anyway, I regularly beat her in this Wii game and it frustrates her to no end. I've offered to play against her and intentionally lose...but she has yet to take me up on the offer.

More to come tomorrow or Wednesday...

Christmas #1

While Jenny is out pampering herself and gallavanting with friends, she has delegated the creation of the post for our first (of five) christmas to me. The last time I posted something, I was trying to give the dog away (yes, she's still available should someone want her). Hopefully, I do well enough with this today where Jenny won't change the password on me.

So we arrived in Waco on Saturday morning (12/20) and Jenny and I went to the Baylor men's basketball game that night after Emily and the girls arrived (Andy stayed behind in Tulsa to finish up on some work before Christmas...Andy - we miss you!). The Bears beat UT-Arlington...but really were outplayed for most of the game. Oh well, a win is a win.
Sunday morning we had our Gorham family Christmas. As children, we all remember the cousin pictures...and unfortunately for the children, times have not changed. Here is a picture of all the cousins (in age order: Kayla, Caleb, Carter, & Caroline...yes, we like the hard 'K' sounding names).
Both of the boys have been into Star Wars recently (next to a star ball player, is a child's fascination with Star Wars a father's dream or what?!). Here is Caleb with one of his favorite gifts: a new lightsaber. Thanks Aunt Emily! Not pictured is Carter and his lightsaber. We're looking forward to all kinds of new bruises from them whacking each other with their new toys.

Even though Elfy's stay in Oklahoma didn't work out (no one knew poor Emily was allergic to dogs), little Caroline really took to her. On Saturday morning, she said "I want to go to Nanny & Papa's to see Elfy. Caleb and Carter are my friends." Here at the farm, she always wants to know where Elfy is and makes many trips over to the utility room (where we keep Elfy when too many people are over) to check on her. So because Caroline really likes Elfy, Jenny and I got her a black stuffed puppy for Christmas. The first thing she did after opening the present was to run over to Elfy and say "look Elfy, it's you!"

Finally, the big gift for all the Children. Caleb is getting a little tired of playing with the toy Incredibles camera where you take a picture and it rotates with different stills from the movie. So he asked for a new 'cramra'...not to be outdone, Carter asked for one also. So the last gift all the children opened was a new digital camera (where working on the pronunciation with them).

These new cameras is about the only thing the boys (and Kayla) have had in their hands since they opened the boxes. The kids are like Japanese tourists...they're taking pictures of everything and everyone including my favorite: taking pictures of each other taking pictures.

So one down...4 to go (1 tonight, 1 tomorrow). More to come...

Piano Recital

Friday, the 12th, I hosted a piano recital for my studio and my friend, Elizabeth. I have 13 students, including Caleb. Elizabeth had 5 of her 6 students at the recital. All of the children came dressed so festive. We had food and drinks, then played Piano Bingo. After that we had the recital. Each student prepared one Christmas song. Then with our extra time we let all the students play another song.

Caleb was a bit underdressed for the recital, but that's because he showed up for the last 30 minutes. He had his first basketball practice that night and we didn't want him to miss that. All of my students were so excited to see Caleb up there playing on the Steinway. He did a great job. I'm so proud of him!

Carter- the Wise Man

Yesterday was Carter's Christmas program. All the 2s, 3s, and 4s sing songs and then the 4s present the Christmas story. Carter is the middle boy trying to smile at my camera.

Now you can see all the other children. There were so many parents, grandparents, cameras, and camcorders... typical children's program!

After all the children sang together, the 4 year olds left to change into their costumes. Do you see the cute purple & gold wise man? When he walked up to the Mary and Joseph he forgot to put down his gift for baby Jesus. Mary quickly got his attention and told him to put the gift right in front of the manger. It was so funny.

Here he is singing one of their songs. He is one of the few that really gets into the songs and movements...... very different from his older brother.

Then right at the end of their "play" he realized he was on a step lower than Mary and did not like that too much. So, for the rest of the time he decided he needed to be on top like her. The other wise men (far left) stayed on their lower step and in their right place. I think a star is born, huh? He's quite the stage hog.

Such a handsome wise man!

And then Santa showed up. Carter was all too eager to jump on his lap and pose for photos.

The Hunt part 2

Please scroll down to read the first post about my birthday scavenger hunt. This is just the continuation...

TASK: Find a house that has red and green Christmas lights as Christmas decor on their house. Get a picture proof of the lights on the house with one member pretending to be a reindeer. Be creative and use trick photography as you need to stay on the sidewalk!

OK, we cheated a bit on this one... mainly b/c we were running out of time and hungry!

TASK: Find a large Turkey and have someone kissing the turkey. Remember germs can be gross so be careful with this picture proof.

Better than kissing a pig, right?

TASK: Find a Salvation Army Ringer- donate money. Picture proof will be a team member actually giving to the “cause”.

Seriously, we could NOT find a ringer any where! I think the fact it was a Sunday evening and the mall was closing was part of it!

TASK: Locate a Christmas tree and decorate it with ornaments. Of course you may need to return items where you found them. Picture proof will be team members putting ornaments on the tree.

So we found this tree in a strip mall parking lot. Looks a lot like a Christmas tree. Randi bought us some ornaments at the Dollar Tree and we all had fun spreading the Christmas cheer. Apparently by the next day, all the ornaments were gone. Bummer!

TASK: Sing Jenny’s favorite Christmas carol at someone’s house you know. Picture proof will include the home owner or address of the home.

Here we are singing to the Linebarger kids- at least the older ones. I think they really enjoyed it!

TASK: Fill a cart with traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Picture proof will be the basket and three team members filling it. Be courteous and return items.

Yes, we did return the items.

TASK: Surround a team member’s face with poinsettias.

Vicki nearly knocked the Dillard Christmas tree over getting this photo!

TASK: Buy a birthday balloon and have Jenny wear it the remainder of the game.

Yes, I had a balloon hooked to my hiney throughout WalMart.... so fun!

TASK: Get a mint from a restaurant- picture proof will be the store name, mint on tongue.

OK, I don't remember this one. I'm thinking it fell out of the envelope! Oops!

TASK: Find a bakery with Thanksgiving cupcakes on clearance.

This was Nov. 30th and they still weren't on sale! Crazy!

TASK: Find someone (not on your team) to sing O Christmas Tree to your team. Picture proof is them singing and your team members in the picture.

Would you believe we ran into our pastor's wife and their daughter. They have lovely voices! I just love Rebekah's t-shirt!

TASK: Find a Christmas DVD and mimic the cover.

Don't I make a good Grinch?

TASK: Find the numbers 12, 2, and 1,9,7,5- picture proof will be team member’s picture next to numbers who share that same number in their birthday. Example- Amy is 12 because her birthday is in December too.

I think we got all the numbers!

TASK: Since Jenny is 33 find 33 of something. Picture proof will be Jenny with the 33 items.

Yes, it took 7 people to hold enough coke bottles for my age!

TASK: It’s no secret Jenny loves Baylor and UT. Christmas and Thanksgiving are full of football. Find football paraphernalia from either team. Picture proof will be 4 team members around stuff. Be creative.

Now, I would have loved to find a Baylor anything. But, you can't find Baylor stuff outside of Waco. A sad reality! Oh well.... Hook 'Em!

TASK: Your final 8 tasks are to find a cool place to take each team member’s picture with the birthday guest of honor.

Amy

Randi

Erin

Kim

Vicki

Michelle

Cute cake, girls!

They were sweet to put on 3 and then 3 more candles to make it 33!

Thanks, girls, for making my 33rd extra fun! This has been such a challenging year for me! Some of you knew I needed an extra fun birthday! I love all of you!