Christmas with the Reeves

My family came over tonight to celebrate Christmas, and we had a wonderful time!  Michael cooked a delicious meal for us to enjoy.  We had Paula Deen's herbed stuffed chicken breasts, white beans, mixed veggies with rice, rolls, and a spinach salad.  It was all delicious!  However, in my opinion, the best part of the meal was definitely the chicken!

After dinner, we exchanged gifts.  We opted to draw names this year, and then we each bought stocking stuffers for everyone.  Somehow, it seemed like we had just as many gifts to open as we do every year!

Aaron let Michael and Dad choose between two bags.  Which one to pick...such a big decision!

Everyone is excited to find out what they got!

Love the Michael Jordan bag...timeless!  :o)

Dad has gotten chocolate covered cherries every year for Christmas for as long as I can remember.  He still loves them every time!

Michael opens his stocking stuffer from Aaron - a gift certificate for a 20-minute chair massage.

Aaron "actually kind of liked" his new book from Michael.

After Aaron made Michael and Dad choose which gift they each got from him, they were the same thing.

Dad always appreciates Bass Pro gift cards...good thing because he got several of them!

Mom got a new scarf from Michael...very pretty!

Aaron watches and Mom and Dad look to see if they won on their lottery scratch off tickets.

As Mom, Dad, and Aaron finish scratching their lottery tickets, Michael patiently waits to finish opening gifts.

He was trying to be patient, but he did sneak a peek.

 

 My favorite gift was one that wasn't even on my list.  I've been wanting a nativity scene and even looked last year after Christmas.  Mom and Dad got me this great nativity set.  Each figurine has a relative scripture carved into it.  I love it!

After exchanging gifts, we got to visit for a little while over milk and cookies before calling it an evening.  I'm so glad that we got to see Aaron while he was in town and get together for Christmas, even if it was just for a few hours.  We're already looking forward to next year!

Christmas Town, USA

Tonight before diving into the yummy leftovers, Mike and Paula took us to McAdenville to look at Christmas lights.  McAdenville is an old, textile town.  Driving through to look at the Christmas lights was like stepping back into the 1950's.  It was very neat!  The town has been decorating for Christmas every year since 1956.  It was such a quaint town, and the snow really added to the nostalgia that it had.

They had all the trees in town decorated with green, red, and white lights.  They were gorgeous!  At one point, there is a pond with trees all around the perimeter.  It was so pretty!  Even the fountain lights changed from white to red to green.

The "downtown" portion was neat.  Looking down the street with the store fronts felt very nostalgic.

It was also fun to see how people decorated their houses.  Most of them were very similar but still had their own individuality.  Here are a few of our favorites that we were able to capture.

To add to the ambiance, the church bells were tolling Christmas carol tunes.  Very neat!  It would be awesome to walk through if it wasn't so cold.  This time, we enjoyed all the views from the warmth of the car.  :o)

It's Snowing!!!

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!

Merry Christmas!

We have had a wonderful Christmas in SC with Michael's parents!  It was strange to not be home with my family for Christmas, but I'm so thankful that we were able to spend Christmas with Michael's parents and enjoy celebrating with them.  It has been a very nice day!

This morning, Michael had a lot of fun playing Santa and passing out everyone's gifts.

For a "lean Christmas" everyone seemed to do pretty well!  Boomer even had a stocking.

We had a laid back Christmas and enjoyed a wonderful meal.  Paula cooked a ham, dressing, green beans, mashed potatoes, broccoli cheese & rice casserole, and rolls.  I even enjoyed a specially requested cherry pie for dessert.  (Paula, thank you for cooking not only today, but all weekend!  Everything has been wonderful.)  She also had the table decorated very pretty for a nice dinner.

Since we've been here, we have had fun playing Rook (which is a lot like 42, but played with cards) with Mike and Paula.  This is the first game that I have ever played with them, and we really enjoyed it!  Mike and Paula grew up playing Rook, and they were very competitive.  I didn't get a picture of us playing Rook, but Paula snapped one of Michael and I playing Boggle tonight.

Starting last week, Michael was checking the weather forecast, and we were hoping for a white Christmas.  That forecast changed to rain and then recently back to snow.  However, they keep pushing back the time.  We were hoping to wake up and have it snow all day for a white Christmas, but it hasn't started yet.  We're still holding out hope that it will start before the end of Christmas day!