Christmas Eve at the Joneses

Today, we celebrated Christmas with Saunders's family. We had a fun time hanging out, eating, and exchanging gifts. Carlton and Trisha flew in this morning, so it was great to see them! Katie Anne was very excited and had fun playing with them, especially playing ball with Uncle Carlton. Here's a Smilebox slideshow of some of my favorite pictures of today. (I took 199!)

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We had a delicious lunch of turkey, ham, dressing, creamed corn, squash casserole, sweet potatoes, macaroni & cheese, and of course our Agan's rolls! Then, everyone piled into the newly renovated sun porch to open presents. We gave Doc a baseball book and a shirt; VJ a handmade bird feeder and family photo book; Grandmama a Southern Living Christmas book and KA pictures; Carlton a video game; and Trisha crafting books and supplies. We got fun gifts- among other things, Saunders loved the gun he got, and I got some desperately needed pots and pans as well as a pretty sweater. Vicki also made me a beautiful terrarium in a giant glass pear... I just hope I can keep it alive! Katie Anne got a little purse from Trisha's sister, a cute outfit from Grandmama, and signed-by-the-author books, sports balls, and galoshes from Doc & VJ. Carlton and Trisha gave her a pink piggy bank that Trisha made herself!

Afterwards, we started a new tradition- making cookies for Santa at Doc and VJ's. Katie Anne absolutely loved it. She could hardly wait for the cookies to bake. She helped put the cookie dough on the pan, mix the colored icing, and of course- decorate the cookies! She did a great job, and the cookies are actually really tasty. Everyone enjoyed the decorating project, and we all agreed we'd make it a part of our waiting-for-Santa routine!

We ended the night by watching The Muppets' Christmas Carol, which is one of the Joneses' (and especially Saunders's) holiday movies. Katie Anne got a little crazy, so we took her home and gave her a quick bath before bed. She set out her cookies and milk for Santa just before bedtime. She had a hard time not eating them herself, but she kept saying, "These Santas! These hers!" Pronouns are a work in progress... Now, she's sleeping with sweet dreams of sugar plums dancing in her head.