The Gibson Christmas

Okay, here we go finally. And, I know you're probably over Christmas, but this makes me happy, so I'm posting it.


This is our tree. This is the first year we've used an artificial tree. I hated to do it for Bennett's first real Christmas (his first was last year, but he was 8 days old - doesn't count), but with everything that was going on, we just didn't get a real one. It didn't bother me as much as I thought it was going to.

Christmas morning was very low key. It was just me, my hubby and my boy. We didn't even make breakfast, because we knew we were having a big lunch and dinner. Bennett had no idea what was going on, of course. I got him dressed in his little red and green "Santa's Helper" shirt anyway. We didn't really do any gifts for him this year because he had just gotten a bunch of new stuff for his birthday, and, again, he had no clue what was going on. He was thrilled with the ribbons and tiny little pieces of wrapping paper, as you will see. We did get him a rocking horse (thank you, Goodwill and Clorox wipes). Notice the tiny bit of wrapping paper in his right hand.

He liked his horse, but he liked the wrapped gifts with ribbons more.

He helped Mama and Daddy open their gifts. This was the first year in a really long time that Josh and I have given each other gifts. We just kind of stopped doing it. Christmas, birthday, anniversary... no gifts. Dinner. We always go to dinner for any special occasion, and that's it. I don't know how it started this year, but we just got each other stuff. It was a welcome change.

Daddy opened the gift Bennett had been toting around, so he had to settle for another small piece of wrapping paper.

At lunch time, we were off to Grandma and Grandpa's (or Arlou and Dude's if you prefer - my parents, either way). (My) Grandmother and Grandaddy were there; Greg went and picked them up from their house in Alabama. Jeff was in town from Florida, so it was good to see him. The afternoon was fairly low key. We had a great lunch and exchanged our homemade gifts, which is always entertaining. We started a tradition a few years back of drawing names, and you have to make the gift for the person whose name you drew. Not only do you have to make it, but you have to make it out of things that you already have. You cannot spend any money whatsoever. You can use items from your environment, like in your yard, or things that you have lying around your house. It's always quite funny to see what everyone comes up with.

Bennett and Elizabeth entertained themselves by unraveling Grandma's tree and tormenting the cats.

We got back home in time for Bennett to take his afternoon nap and for me to put the Lasagna I had pre-made in the oven. Pop and Gigi (Josh's parents) came for supper. They noticed Bennett playing with this at Nana's when we were in McDonough the week before,

so they got him this for Christmas. How perfect. He loved it.

He enjoyed watching Josh and Steve put it together, but soon went back to his old ways and found the tiniest piece of wrapping paper he could find.

Steve and Lynn actually wound up staying for a while, and it was really nice. The four of us just sat and talked for (literally) hours.

On the 28th, we went to Grandmother and Granddaddy's house in Alabama for Christmas with my dad's side of the family. Bennett admired the tree,

visited with his great grandmother,

and us big kids got to play Dirty Santa. (Pardon Daddy's yawn)

Then, on the 29th we were off to Winston-Salem, North Carolina to visit Josh's dad's side of the family. Bennett got to see his great grandmother, Mema, his great Aunt Linda and great uncle Larry, distant cousins Allison and Caroline, and of course Pop and Gigi, Aunt Lauren, and first cousins Mac and Rachael.

I love this first picture. I was just trying to get all three of them in the shot - I had no idea I'd be lucky enought that they would all look at the camera!

Bennett and Mac playing the piano - wait, no. Mac playing the piano, Bennett playing with a tiny piece of paper.

Bennett and Rachael (chunky monkeys) playing with the talking teapot. Much to Josh's dismay, this was Bennett's favorite thing at Mema's house.

Bennett got stuffed in a giant gift bag. But he's cool. You know why? Yep, he's got some paper. It's all good.

Mema with her grandchildren and great grandchildren. It was hard to get a good picture. The kids were kind of done.

So, there you have it. Lots of great family time and just a really nice Christmas holiday. Thanks for humoring me and letting me enjoy posting this. :)