Me & You, Just Us Two…Christmas 2011

Kody and I celebrated our little Christmas on the 26th since we both had the day off. I slept in and he got up and made a huge breakfast that was so good I have been eating the leftovers all week. He’s such a good cook! After we ate we opened the little gifts we had for each other. We didn’t feel the need to buy much since we get so much from our families and we both are wanting a lens and gun, respectively. We’ll just buy both of those things after Christmas! I didn’t think I would have anything to open, other than the candy I had already bought and put in my own stocking, but I was surprised!

Kody got me 2 new praise CDs, the soundtrack to Courageous and then the David Crowder Band. I love them! He also got me all kinds of fancy candy, including different flavors of truffles from Grapevine! He does that every year and picks out the flavors I will like and they wrap them in the prettiest package. He was also thinking and got me some new gloves that will work with my phone! :)

I actually got him 2 things….a balance bracelet he’d mentioned he’d like to try and an old city parking meter. That one sounds weird, but we’ll get a stand for it and put it in our basement. I think it’s really neat, plus it’s a piece of West Plains history. He loved it! Excuse the pictures, we look rough…traveling got the best of us! Santa Paws even visited the boys.  They both got new bones and a toy for outside. They were so tired from their stay in Jackson they literally laid around all day with their bones.

 

We got a lot done on Monday. After we finished with gifts, we started in on laundry and putting stuff away. Kody cleaned out drawers to make room for his new clothes and we tried everything on. We washed our new sheets, flipped the mattress, and put on our new memory foam topper—which we LOVE. Kody set up the new tv so we would be ready come bedtime. We worked hard all day. I’m going to deep clean the house this weekend and maybe next Monday on our day off we can be lazy! ;)

We both talked on Monday how this could possibly be our last Christmas with just the two of us and no mention of a baby. We’re very hopeful by next Christmas we either have one HERE with us or on the way. Keep us in your prayers! :) We had a great Christmas and little break. It is nice just being the two of us because we call the shots and do whatever we want. And we know that will change someday so we’re enjoying it while we can! HA!

Christmas at Mom & Dad’s

Are y’all tired of seeing my never-ending Christmas posts? Well, we’re almost done!

After my Aunt Judy’s house we went over to Mom and Dad’s and opened gifts there. We got some awesome things! I love my Mint Floor Cleaner (like the Roomba, but for hardwood) and amongst several other things the camera straps my brother got me and the set of CDs and book from Jackie Kennedy. I love listening to her raspy, proper voice!

A few of Kody’s items were money for his gun, clothes, and a neat ash box for our wood furnace. I always enjoy our stockings at Mom and Dad’s, she goes all out and this year was no exception! I am still laughing at the witty poem my mom wrote that was attached to Kody’s money. :)

        

Time for a little photo session!

We hung out for awhile and then I could barely keep my eyes open! Such a wonderful Christmas, so blessed to have spent it with all of our family!

I’ll Be Home for Christmas

The holidays were hectic, but it’s always so good to be with our family over the course of the crazy few days. We packed up and headed back to West Plains on Christmas day. Luckily I got in a little nap on the way home so I was ready to go for our next to Christmas celebrations!

Our car was so packed that you couldn’t even see the dogs!! They were so tired from playing outside most of the time they laid down in the very back and never made a peep. It wouldn’t have mattered because we really couldn’t see them!

We unloaded when we got home and then quickly got ready for Christmas with the Prewetts at my Aunt Judy’s. Normally my family gets together on Christmas day at lunch, but this year they waited on us. My whole family on my dad’s side was there, but we’re pretty small compared to the Thompsons. There’s only 14 of us total! I have 4 cousins and then my brother, and I’m the oldest on both sides of the family. We had a nice big traditional Christmas meal with ham and turkey. Everyone brought stuff so it’s always really good. After dinner we opened gifts. We all draw names and we had my MaMa and Aunt Janet. I got some Bath & Body works stuff, I’ll be set for awhile too! Kody got a Hibbett’s gift card. We had a great time!

Thompson Family Christmas Eve

I figured this needed a post in itself! I purposely slept late on Christmas Eve knowing that it would be a late night and it was, but it was a lot of fun!

We really had nothing going on during the day. Kaci, Teresa, and I just kind of lazed around the house most of the day. The guys went to shoot guns! I got ready and met them at Stooges around 4. The Thompsons are a large family. My father-in-law, John has 4 siblings who are all always in Jackson for Christmas. Between him and the 4 siblings (1 sister is deceased) there are 13 grandchildren, 9 people married in, 3 great-grandchildren, and a partridge and a pear tree. Just kidding. There were 29 of us there I believe on Christmas Eve. There were some family members unable to make it.

Kody’s grandparents are no longer living on his dad’s side, but his Aunt Robin and Uncle Joe moved into their home to take care of them at the end of their life. They now live in the house and so they’ve brought their own things in, but it still looks like it did when his grandparents left (dining room, living room, upstairs, etc.) They have made some upgrades though! So it’s neat that they have Christmas Eve in the house they grew up in. In the picture where John is holding Drew and everyone else has their hands up was during the prayer. Open Shut, Give a little clap, Open Shut, fold them in your lap, God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our food. Amen. That’s the Thompson prayer and the youngest one always leads.

We played games, ate a big prime rib dinner, and then opened gifts. Thankfully we don’t have to buy for all 293472938 of them. Instead, everyone gets money and the girls get a piece of jewelry. We played some hilarious games afterwards. They included blowing up little balloons and sticking them in panty hose and the first one to get 10 balloons in the stockings and walk through the living room singing jingle bells with the stocking on your head like a reindeer won. Hilarious. We won and Grandma was our reindeer. Also, we wrapped people in paper for the best outfit. Again, hilarious and my husband’s picture is not on here because it was not pretty! HA! Kody’s Aunt Trudy looked beautiful in her blue ensemble.

Riley, Trudy, Grandma, and Uncle Jim (all with the exception of Grandma are Texas Thompsons)

Erica loved these light fingers…she really liked them…

Susan graciously took over the games from us this year and I know the family is appreciative, they would have been bored with the game I came up with!

As you can see we had a great time. In all of my years with Kody (9), this was my first experience at Thompson Christmas Eve. I was thrilled to see family we don’t see often (Texas Thompsons) but we talked on the way home we wished everyone could also get together one weekend in the summer where it was just a big reunion, same time every year. I know 2 of his cousins weren’t able to make it and once we have kids we probably won’t travel on Christmas Eve so it’s just hard when you want to see everyone. We only saw them that day though! :( Hopefully we’re able to make it again soon, we’ll for sure see them at cousin BJ’s wedding in October! That’s one good thing about a big family, lots of fun weddings!

And just for fun, looks at these pictures of the Thompsons through the years…that still hang on the pink, wallpapered walls….Can you tell who is who? Seriously, these crack me up!!!