A Very Gibson Christmas

Christmas, Christmas, Christmas. Oh, how I looked forward to it this year.

It was all about the kids this year. I guess it has been for a couple of years now, but there was just something about it this year that I truly enjoyed. It was probably because Bennett really understood what was going on this year. We talked about Baby Jesus and the reason for the season (and this will be brought up again in a little bit). He knew that Santa Claus was coming to see him, he enjoyed singing all the Christmas songs, he helped me make goodies for our neighbors and cookies for Santa. It was just very Merry.

Christmas Eve, we went to Mama and Daddy's house and celebrated with them and Jeff and Greg. Of course we had a great meal, and then we gathered around the Christmas tree.

Cannon assumed his usual position:

And Bennett assumed his - helping unwrap every gift in sight, whether it was his or not.

As you may remember from years past, my immediate family has this little Christmas tradition of drawing names and then making your person's gift. You have to make it from things you already own or can find lying around your house or yard - no money is to be spent on your item.

This is the first year Josh has gotten my name, and I have to say he did a great job! I have been wanting an apron for a while now, and I really thought I was going to have to wait until a year that Mama happened to draw my name. Well, think again! Check out this really bad picture of me awesome apron Josh made for me!

He asked me what kind of fabric we had lying around, so I got out all the scraps and pieces I had so he could choose what he wanted. It's really funny, because I just happened to also be using the same fabric that he chose.

I drew Mama's name. I wanted to draw her name, because I already knew that I wanted to make her something. She is always dropping food on her shirt. ALWAYS. Seriously, almost every single time we eat together, especially if it's out somewhere, she'll drop food right on her shirt, in the middle of her chest. She has said before that she might as well just take her first bite and put it on her shirt, just to get it over with, because it's gonna happen.

Well I decided to make her a fancy little bib. You can't tell from the picture, but it has a really nice searsucker fabric on the opposite side. It was going to be reversible until I decided to really glam it up with the flower.

What I don't get is why I haven't seen her wear it anywhere yet. It's very pretty, I don't know what the problem is.

Mama drew Jeff's name. I included this first picture of him unwrapping it because that first gift is homemade dog food for his dog, Edgar. And I think Edgar must have known it.

She made Jeff a luxury desk set complete with picture holder, stationery (roll of calculator tape), tape dispenser, desk lamp (tea light and matches), magnifying glass (the lens out of an old pair of glasses), and much, much more.

Jeff drew Daddy's name. Bennett helped Poppa open his, of course. It was so big, he probably did need an extra hand with it.

After that first large box came a smaller box with a smaller box in it, with a smaller box in it, and so on and so on until Daddy unwrapped this handmade crossword puzzle. Full of physics and mathematical questions, of course.

Daddy got Greg's name. Greg got a brand new dog-repelling stick for walking his routes at work. His initials were engraved into the wood, along with custom designs and such.

Greg got Josh's name. I don't have a picture of it, but he got a CD of a DJ set that Greg made for him.

Jeff, Greg and I gave Mama and Daddy this picture frame full of our favorite family photos (all taken by Greg - well, all but one, since we had to have one of Greg in there).

Bennett was one lucky little boy this year. Grandmama and Poppa decided he needed a motorized vehicle (we agreed), so here he is unwrapping his very own Arctic Cat.

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Daddy took Bennett outside to ride around in circles for a while before we headed home. We've still got some learning to do on the steering.

We came home and got in bed so that Santa Claus could come visit our house. Santa Claus started working on this train table at 10:30pm and didn't get finished until 1:45am. Mrs. Claus fell asleep on the couch and woke up several times to Santa Claus cursing the thing because some parts were rather difficult to assemble. Thank goodness Bennett left him some cookies and milk, otherwise he might have left our house in a bad mood.

Anyway, I got up the next morning to nurse Cannon and enjoyed being downstairs by myself for a little while before the madness ensued. I started some coffee, turned on the Christmas music and waited. A little while later Josh texted me with "He's headed your way! I can't stop him!" Thankfully, I already had the video camera ready and was calmly waiting for him to come down.

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Helping Daddy open his gifts:

Cannon loved the bows and paper.

I had THE BEST TIME buying things for Bennett's stocking. I could have filled up five of 'em. But I kept it to one, and then I did one for Josh.

It was hard to keep him interested in opening presents, 'cause all he wanted to do was this:


Here he is, showing you the rather large hole in his sock.

Later that morning, Mama, Daddy and Jeff came over and ate breakfast with us.

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Even though you can't see it in the video, it was just beginning to snow. It got bigger and heavier as the day went on. It was so wonderful. Can you believe it actually snowed on Christmas Day?!? I wish I had more pictures of it, but I don't. But it was so nice just to be sitting in our living room spending time with family and seeing it snow and snow and snow outside. Apparently this was the first time it had snowed in Atlanta on Christmas Day in over 100 years. Wow.

That evening, Steve and Lynn came to have dinner with us.

Unfortunately, this is what Cannon looked like as soon as they walked in the door. Up for a nap he went, and he didn't come back down until they were walking out the door. :(

Bennett got some new tools that he immediately had to try out on his work bench.


And of course Stewie was enjoying the festivities from his spot on the couch.


Bennett was still pretty glued to his train table. He did take a break to eat some of his Daddy's homemade pizza, but the trains didn't leave his side.


It was also that night that Jeff got to meet his daughter, Maria, for the first time (long story). Anyway, she's 5 months old, and he had her next door at Greg's house. I kept checking in on them throughout the evening, because Jeff was about as unfamiliar as you can be with new babies.

I asked him if I could take her back over to my house so Josh and his parents could see her, and he said yes. So here is Bennett meeting his cousin Maria for the first time.

The next day, Jeff brought her over to our house again. Jeff brought her in in her car seat and set it on the table. Bennett walked over to it and said, "Hi Baby Jesus!"

Oh. My. Gosh. Jeff and I were rolling in the floor. That was about the funniest thing I have ever heard!

Let me just tell you that, embarrassingly, we have not yet started attending church regularly. We want to, but it just hasn't happened yet. But we do have some books at home that we have been reading, and I did take some time to explain to Bennett that the real reason for Christmas is the birth of Jesus Christ. So he is fairly newly familiar with baby Jesus.

So with all the talk about baby Jesus, he was quite excited to find Him on our coffee table. (I hope this isn't offensive to any of you...)

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That night, Josh and I made a very last minute decision that I would go with his parents and sister to North Carolina to visit his grandmother and family there. I quickly gathered up our things and headed to Snellville so I could leave with them the next morning. Josh couldn't go because of work, but there was nothing stopping me and the boys, so off we went.

Mema was thrilled to see all of the young ones. She thought it was just going to be Steve and Lynn, but me and Lauren came with our five (total) children. She had never met Everett (Lauren's youngest, that was born 5 days before Cannon) or Cannon.


Bennett loved this gingerbread house they had in the lobby of her complex.

We had lunch there with her one day, and the big kids enjoyed touring the place and taking turns riding on Mema's walker. She was so willing to push them around; I think they all enjoyed it equally.


Bennett and Rachael are so cute together. They've always really enjoyed seeing each other and playing with each other, but I've never seen Bennett quite as sweet as he was this trip:



So cute!

We had a really good time. It was a lot of fun to spend that time with Josh's family, and I kind of enjoyed being away with just my boys (my little boys). I was glad we made that last minute decision.

So that was our Christmas. Can't wait to do it all again next year. :)

Bennett Turns Three!

Okay, finally. Now that it's been almost exactly a month, here are some pictures from Bennett's third birthday party:

Of course you all know by now that it was a Curious George style shindig.


He LOVES to sing the Happy Birthday song. We sing it at home, often. To me, to Daddy, to Gigi and Pop, to Grandmama and Poppa, to his toys, to Thomas, to whomever. I actually saw him singing along with his own birthday song and then catching himself, realizing this was for him. :)

Elizabeth opted for a cupcake,

while Bennett went for a slice of his "birt-day date."


What gift could be more perfect than a collection of Curious George stories? Aunt Lauren and her family gave him that and a handmade crayon roll-up (that was also monkey themed). Very cute.

He definitely had gift unwrapping help, should he need it.


And toy tester-out-ers, standing by.


And I love this one. Impatiently riding the wheel-less motorcycle as Daddy tries to figure out how to put it together.

And of course Cannon was there.... kind of. :)

Best Wedding Favor Ever

Josh and I went to our friend, Brad's wedding in Athens last month and had more fun than we've had in a really long time. Brad is a friend of mine from high school, and I got to see some of my good high school friends that I haven't seen in a while. Not only that, but great college friends that we don't get to see that often, too. It really was just so. much. fun.

At the reception, Brad and Kay had a photo booth set up in a separate room for the guests' entertainment. And boy, was it ever entertaining! Of course, it got more and more entertaining as the evening went on... as you can imagine.

I laugh out loud every single time I look back at these. We actually have copies of each individual photo that I could post and they would be a little larger, but I'm not sure you really need to see my gnarly faces that close.

Snowed In and Can't Get to the Store?

Make your own pasta!

(or get you a husband that can.)

Snow Day

So they had been predicting this crazy winter storm that was coming our way on Sunday, and all day we waited for it. We waited, we waited, and we waited some more. Nothing was happening. I went outside to get something from the basement Sunday evening, and it was as calm and quiet as could be. About 5 minutes later, Josh opened the back door and it was suddenly pouring. But it was pouring ice. Really strange, the difference in that sound verses pouring rain.

Within an hour there were 3 inches of snow on the ground. I mean, that stuff stuck. Fast. It was like someone just took a blanket and threw it over everything.

So of course we got out in it on Monday. Bennett and I bundled up and went out there after a late breakfast. It was strange snow, though. It was 3 to 4 inches of snow covered in a sheet of ice. So when you walked on it, it cracked and then you sunk in. Greg set his coffee cup in it and expected to have to nestle it in there, but it just sat right on top of the snow, like Bennett's bucket in the picture below.

I couldn't even stick the tape measure down into it; it was too hard. We had to crack it with our knuckles and scoop it away to get the tape measure down in there. (This is on the back of Josh's car. It looks like I'm measuring it at the bottom of a hill, but it's just the back windsheild of his car going up.)


Bennett enjoyed cleaning off the "booshes" with his shovel.


Okay, we're officially poor. Josh doesn't have any shoes that are appropriate for snow, so this is what he does to keep his feet dry. Thankfully he tucked the plastic bags up under his jeans by the time our neighbors came out.

He disappeared for a little while, and then we realized that he had gone looking for something:



We decided to take it out on the street for a better incline.

Not the most exciting sledding ever, but Bennett loved it. :)



Cannon woke up from his nap and got to come out in the snow for just a little bit. He's got a major fashion crisis going on, but I'm pretty sure he doesn't care.

Hope you all were warm, cozy and safe where you were!

Bennett's Curious George Cake

So after much debate, we finally decided on Curious George for Bennett's birthday cake this year. He's at an age that interests come and go very quickly, though, so I was a little nervous that he might be over Curious George by the time his birthday came around. Nope. Still holding strong, that ol' monkey.

Anyway, here's the final product:


I decided to do a smaller cake with cupcakes to go with it.


I wasn't crazy about the cupcakes, but was very pleased with the way George turned out. Bennett was pretty pleased, too, which is what it's all about. :)

The Aftermath

We rode through downtown Douglasville today on our way home. Here's the mess that remains from Tuesday's train wreck:

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