Christmas 2010: Part 3

Christmas Eve! On Christmas Eve we usually start snacking early evening, have supper, and then continue snacking until we just can't move! Mom only makes sausage balls and pinwheels twice a year, Christmas Eve and New Years Eve so you have to eat a lot to get your fill for the year. I did. On top of that we had queso and southwestern dip and some sweets. Mom made taco soup for supper, tasty tasty stuff!

We, my Mom and I with much resistance from my brother and Dad, managed to get our annual Christmas Eve family picture taken. You should have heard the whining!! I do have to brag that my two men were perfectly flexible to the pictures and promptly did as instructed :) hehe.



I had a special outfit picked out for Mac to wear Christmas Eve... so adorable. Here are some pictures!




Sitting next to his stocking. (The one he came home from the hospital in...)


Cookies for Santa!!
Waiting on Santa...



And then... Finally... After a whole, long year of being extra special good... It happened...

CHRISTMAS MORNING IS HERE!!! AND SANTA CAME!!!!!

It was worth the wait and the effort of being good! This was Mac's haul from Santa...


And if you ever doubted him, you shouldn't because Santa knows what's up. The stocking full of tissue paper was an especially big hit! Tissue paper action shot...


And let the present giving and receiving begin!

Jimmy got his very first pair of cowboy boots from my parents.
Remember the box Mac was sitting on... it was this super cool race track!
Randall with his new wallet.
Mac's gift to his Dad. Rudolph!



Our traditional Christmas morning breakfast is breakfast pizza. It is soooo good, we almost the entire two whole pizzas! We only get breakfast pizza once a year and it's a shame but it makes it even better! I didn't think of taking a picture of it until just now so maybe I will remember to get one next year... ha!

After we opened our gifts and ate our yummy breakfast we went to my Mama's house to exchange gifts with my Dad's side of the family. This year we were having Christmas lunch with them so we went back to the house (just down the old country road) and started cooking. We went back to Mama's for lunch around noon, I say we it was actually just Mom, Dad, Jimmy and Randall as Mac feel asleep. Mac and I went later though and got to visit. After lunch some of the guys went out to play with my cousin TJ's modified potato gun...

This is TJ shooting the tennis ball up into the air...


Randall, Van and Jimmy waiting...

And then running to catch the tennis ball that was shot up in the air: Van's comment "you know it's a redneck Christmas when someone comes in and says 'Ok if anything happens, this is what we were trying to do...'".



Mac met his cousins, Katie and Carly for the first time.


We left there, went by the house and unloaded food, loaded presents for my Mom's side of the family and headed to town to Mamaw's house. We opened presents and chatted for a while.


Despite this look he REALLY likes his new John Deere wheeler.

Mac developed a new gift opening technique...


And the traditional Christmas group pictures:
The McAlister Women

Mom and Aunt Sheryl

Me and Lydia


We made the guys take a group picture... mainly because we knew how much they would hate it! hehehe


Then we ate supper. I was not hungry but you couldn't tell that from my plate because it was loaded with Mamaw's dressing, mashed potatoes with giblet gravy smothering both and green beans and a roll. My Mamaw's dressing is the best. I know you may think your family members dressing is the best, you are wrong. Mamaw wins. Of course I couldn't eat that and then hurt Aunt Sheryl's feelings by not eating some of her Dump Cake and chocolate pie, so I did. I mean it is Christmas and all. :)

After we finished eating and cleaning up the kitchen, loading our new gifts into the car (and talking some more cuz that's what we looooove to do) we headed back out to the house. Jimmy and I loaded up the Expedition, I wish I had taken a picture, until the entire back was full and part of the middle seat. We wanted everything loaded before we went to bed since we were trying to leave early to beat traffic.

And we did. We were on the road by 7am and ran into practically no traffic! It was great! When we got home and had the car unloaded I managed to get everything put into the room it belonged in... I am still working on getting things put away. Mac took a nap and we relaxed but later we watched Rudolph together! A new tradition we will keep as a new family! :)

Christmas was perfect. I hope yours was too!

Christmas 2010: Part 2

Wow this week is getting away from me! It's already Thursday! Back to Christmas vacation week...

After Mac's party we just relaxed the rest of the day, getting ready for last minute gift purchasing on Monday. We left the house Monday around noon, Mac took a long nap and happened to go down for his nap right around the time we were wanting to leave for town. We went to a ton of places, I still needed to get Randall's birthday present and Christmas present and Dad's gift. Mom still had a few things to get and we had to go grocery shopping. I took care of the last of my list AND found a fish cookie cutter and fun birthday candles for Mac's second birthday party (I know I'm sick, you should have seen the crazy look my Mother gave me when I picked them up and told her why I wanted them). We got home late and were seriously exhausted.

The next morning, Tuesday, Jimmy, Mac and I left for Mena, Arkansas to visit his family. His Mom had a great spaghetti dinner waiting on us when we got there and after we ate she gave Mac his Christmas present! It was a really cute truck that carries cars and talks/counts. We have all enjoyed playing with it but Mac loves it!




Then we went to visit Jimmy's Grandpa and Mrs. Ida.



We had dinner with his sister and her family later that evening (I didn't have my camera) and had a really nice visit with them. Wednesday we ate breakfast with his mother and made another visit over at his Grandpa's house and then headed back to MtP.

After we got back to to my parents house we just sat around for the rest of the day. We did go outside for a little bit with Mac all bundled up so he could take a ride in his wagon that he got for his birthday from Nana and Pops. During the wagon ride we stopped in the front yard to help Pops hunt the gopher gang that is tearing up our whole yard! We were unsuccessful. (and of course I never ran in to get my camera but Mac was hilarious hunting gophers!) That night after supper we played the game "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader". We had a lot of fun, I will not tell you the outcome other than there were some winners and there were some losers. HAHA

Thursday I left Mac with Mom and Jimmy and I ran to town on a last minute errand for Santa, he runs out of time just like the rest of us, but we were happy to oblige. But before we could take care of Santa's list we met my Dad at Hamilton's, the jewelry store in MtP, to help him shop for Mom!! She got diamond earrings this year!! Jimmy and I finished up our to do list and were hungry, Jimmy said "Where is somewhere that you never..." I cut him off with "RANDY'S BURGERS!!!!". So we were off to have the greatest burgers on earth, this was Jimmy's first Randy's experience and he is now a major fan!

Later that evening, after my brother got off work and we had finished eating supper we headed over to Mt. Vernon, about 25 minutes from MtP, to check out the North Pole of Texas. This guy and his family have been turning their home into the North Pole and inviting visitors for the past 3 years. It was a two hour wait to ride the train for about 15 minutes, it was cold too, but awesome! and sooo worth the wait. (if you ask my brother he will say differently, however, 4.5 of us enjoyed it).





My Dad L.O.V.E.S to take picutes! He is always saying "Wait!, Get the camera!" (read:sarcasim)





It was fun trying to get our, um, petite family in this train car! HA!

But at the end of the ride we got to see SANTAAAAAAAA!!!!


We had sooooo much fun doing this together, oh next year? Um once is probably enough but we can just look at the pictures and remember! hehehe

I will wrap up Christmas 2010 in Part 3 soon (yes he is napping right now)... hopefully tonight. There are some super cute pictures of Mac that you have to see!!!

Christmas 2010: Part 1

We are finally back in Austin and with a day and a half of just sitting around, slowly getting things put back where they belong, I feel like I can sit for a moment and share a little about our Christmas holiday... plus Mac just went down for a nap!

We left for my parents house Saturday, December 18th kicking off our 9 day Christmas Vacation! The trip to Mt. Pleasant from our house in Austin is about 5 hours. We left at 7am, made one stop in Rockwall and arrived at my parents house around noon on Saturday. The drive up there was fine, Mac does so well considering the time he has to spend in the car. He got grouchy around Greenville, which is about 50 minutes from MtP... not bad for a one year old.

Once we got to the house I had to start making a few sweets and icing some cupcakes for Mac's First Birthday Party the next day. I also packed a few of the decorations that were used at his party here in Austin just to give a little Winter ONEderland feel to the house. :) Next year, one party here in Austin. Final answer.

Sunday, party day, I had a couple more decorations to hang but everything came together and turned out great! We had a lot of family there and it was so much fun visiting and letting them play with Mac!






He opened a ton of presents, with help. The attention span is just not there yet!




Then it was smash cake time! This was his second smash cake so he was a pro, he jumped right in!! Icing was everywhere and there was a very needed wardrobe change afterwards!





After cake and presents everyone just sat around, nibbled on sweets and visited. It was awesome. Then of course we had to take a billion group pictures!! All the Great Grandparents, all the Grandparents, all the cousins, Me and Randall with Pearl, Mac with JC, the Preddy Family... you get the picture... haha. So much fun, maybe I will have two parties next year??
Mac's Great Grandmothers. In order Mamaw and then Mama



The Grandparents. Jimmy's mom, Grandma Judy (she made the trip from Mena, Arkansas for Mac's birthday party),Mac, Nana and Pops.


The Cousins.


Me, Pearl and Randall. Pearl used to babysit Randall and me. When I was little I would tell my mom, when I wasn't getting what I wanted, that I was just going to go live with Pearl! (Still use that sometimes too.) Ha!


JC, Mac and Me. JC is Pearl's husband, he threatened to spank Randall with a flip flop once when Randall wasn't doing as instructed!!


The Preddy Family. From Left to Right: Christopher, Lydia, Aunt Sheryl, Neeley, Lauren (Chantz's girlfriend), Chantz.


And I could not let this birthday celebration go without getting a picture of the birthday boy (Dec 17th) with the two people who's birthday preceed his: Me (Dec 15th) and Uncle Randall (Dec 16th).




Neeley wanted in on the action too... who could blame her! We were having so much fun!!



Thanks to Michelle for my package of awesome star birthday sunglasses! They made great props and logged several minutes of hilarious birthday fun for us and those laughing at, er, with us!!!

Christmas 2010: Part 2 coming soon! (Mac is still asleep but I am not going to push my luck in thinking I can complete part 2 with pictures before he gets up from his nap!!) ;)