I’m a little late in getting Christmas pictures downloaded, but what a fun day we had.  We have our Christmas all together on another day – this year it was the Saturday after Christmas – so on the Big Day Jeff & I travel around & visit the various grand ones, seeing what Santa left for them.  It’s always so much fun sharing their excitement.  One fun thing about this year was that the cousins got several of the same things, but without any planning for that ahead of time by their parents.  Adam and Mason both got big Hot Wheels tracks and cars; June and Clara both got American Girl dolls.  And FINALLY Charlie and Adam – and Clara! – got tablets.  Char & Adam had been distressed for a while that they were the only cousins who didn’t have “devices,” so they were glad to be joining the modern era in the family this Christmas :-).  Here is Charlie showing his off.

And here is Mallory, in her new Christmas pj’s, showing off her stuffed Olaf – Charlie & Adam got those, too :-).  What a fun, fun day it was.

We had a great Christmas Eve today.  Mallory & Clara spent the night last night, so we wouldn’t have to take them home and then go all the way back out there to pick them up this morning.  We stayed up late watching Christmas movies, and then got some cooking done – including backing pecan pies to take to Momma’s at lunch time.  Here is Mallory arranging the pecans in the bottom of her crust.  They did a great job!

We had a great, quick visit with Andy, Amy, & Liz, as they stopped by Gran’s house on their way home to Murfreesboro from their trip to visit Nathan, Diane, Mia, and Daniel in Cary. Here is Gran with the grands & great grands that were there:  Clara, Liz, Lesley, Hope Riordan, Elise, Andrew, Lindee, and in front, Charlie, Adam, and Mallory.  Such a fun afternoon.

Yesterday morning I went out & picked Mallory & Clara up to come spend the day while they were out of school, and their mom and dad were working.  Almost as soon as we walked in the door when we got back here to the house, Andrew called & said Jenny was sick, so the three of us jumped back in the car and headed to Rock Hill to pick up Charlie & Adam.  They don’t get just a ton of playing together time any more, especially during the school year, so the cousins were excited to be able to hang out together.  They helped me make fudge for a get together I was going to that night, which is always fun – and yummy.

We also worked on a craft project – Christmas trees out of magazines.  I had no idea how these would go over, or if the kids would even be able to make them, but they did an amazingly good job, I thought, & really seemed to enjoy making them.  It was a good day.

What a special day Sunday was.  We started off that morning celebrating our Savior’s birth at Woodland United Methodist Church, where Charlie & Adam were in their children ‘s Christmas pageant, which they perform during the Sunday morning worship service.  It was great.  Here is our narrator waiting for the program to begin.

We all went out for some Sonny’s Real Pit BBQ – Andrew, Jenny, Charlie, Adam, Sherri, who was in town for overnight, Boo, Jeff, and me – and then it was almost time for us to head for Johnson Auditorium on the Winthrop campus for the performance of The Nutcracker.  This was Mallory’s first year to be involved in that – she was an angel.  No pictures during the actual ballet, needless to say, but here she is afterwards.  She did a fantastic job, and was so excited when we were talking to her because she was heading over to the cast party afterwards – also a first for her!  Just a special, special day.

This past Thursday night Meg & I finally got to the Billy Graham Library, & it was possibly even MORE than I thought it would be.  I’d heard it was just such a neat place, & I’d heard right.  The Christmas decorations & caroling & carriage rides just added to the experience, of course – unfortunately my camera batteries died before I got back outside & got any pictures after the lights were on.  This is from the tree inside the lobby of the library – it was absolutely gorgeous.  It was, of course, pretty much two stories tall, and the decorations were huge – there were lanterns all over it that must’ve been two feet tall, and these beautiful crosses, made out of branches lashed together, were probably fifteen inches.  Absolutely beautiful.

Of course, like a presidential library, what this really was was a museum.  It was really interesting to see where he’d started, and just be reminded of how much good he brought to the world.  There were quotes from Billy, and about him, all over the place.  One drawback was that you couldn’t use flash photography inside the museum itself, so a lot of my pictures didn’t turn out just crystal clear.  Here is just one of many, many quotes up on the walls.  Morrow was his mother.

Of course Billy Graham is loved the world over, so there were a good many international exhibits, which were very interesting.  I’m not sure I realized what an integral part he played in the tearing down of the Berlin Wall.  He is just someone that everyone really trusts, I think.  I have seen many pieces of the concrete out of the Berlin Wall – I even have a piece – but I don’t think I’d ever seen a piece of the barbed wire.  That really got to me.  It was a great place to visit.  I’m already looking forward to going back.

Yesterday evening was Story Time with Santa at the library here in town, & the kids all wore their pajamas to attend.  Actually the children’s librarian, Ms. Rachel, read them the Christmas stories, and they sang some songs, and watched a movie.  There were doughnuts and milk for snack, and coloring pages to keep them occupied while they waited their turn to see the Big Guy.  Coloring is always a hit with our crew. Then a group photo with Santa Claus.  All of the kids there were so excited when he walked in the room.  Fun evening…

What a fun time Saturday night turned out to be.  My friend Meg & her daughter Hope were taking me out for supper & to the Billy Graham Library’s Christmas celebration as a late birthday present.  We had a delicious supper at Jim & Nick’s, & then headed to Charlotte.  However, after spending about an hour sitting in various car lines, and being shuttled back & for between parking lots, we found out that, in fact, all of the lots were full and closed.  So we made up a plan B – we headed to Rock Hill, to look at their beautiful lights downtown again – Meg & I had seen them the night before when we drove through there going to Elise’s concert.  They were beautiful, & it was such a nice night we got out & walked around the new park they’ve built there, which includes the tallest fountain in the state of South Carolina.  It was pretty impressive.

We remembered after we got downtown – and after we saw the Roman Centurions riding on their horses down the street – that one of the big churches was having their Living Nativity Scene that night, so we walked over to that.  It was just so meaningful, as they always are.  This was the last scene, of course, of the actual manger, with the angel announcing Jesus’s birth.  The poor baby was sleepy and crying, just like I’m sure Jesus was that first Christmas night.  It was a wonderful addition to my holiday celebration.

Friday Mason came to spend the day, as usual.  And when Jeff got home from work we ate lunch real quick, and then headed out to Penland Christmas Tree Farm to get out tree.  Mason had been earlier with his family, so he was able to give us the grand tour.  The good news was that because we went in the middle of the day during the week, it wasn’t crowded at all.  That had NOT been the case when he’d been there before.  Here he is posing at one of several picture sites they have set up

June came over after school, and since they were planning on coming early the next morning to visit while their mom & dad went & finished up their Christmas shopping, we just decided they would spend the night.  That meant they got to go with Meg & me that evening to Rock Hill to Elise’s Christmas concert.  That worked out well, because Boo & Shea weren’t able to be there that night, having Christmas parties to attend.  It scared us a little bit when the concert opened, because Elise wasn’t on stage with the rest of the choir, but she came out in the second half.  I couldn’t get a good picture of her on stage, and certainly not one that wasn’t blurry, since I wasn’t using a flash, but she’s in the blue shirt, on the end of the back row.  They did a great, great job.  Very festive!

I originally didn’t think I was going to be in town Friday for June & Mason to come over, so they came Tuesday afternoon for a visit while Mallory & Clara were here – for the second week in a row.  We had a good afternoon.  My sister Sherri had made a coconut cake for our family Christmas, & Momma took home the leftovers.  She still had enough left when I was there earlier that day for me to bring some home to share with Jeff and the kids.  That was A-OK with Mason – and all the others, too.  We usually have pretty healthy snacks here, so it was a huge treat.

Mal & Clara hadn’t done any cooking in a while, so we decided to make a giant broccoli casserole, so everyone could have some to take some home for supper.  Here is Mallory stirring up the sauce, while June is waiting her turn.  It was pretty tasty.  I love that Mal is wearing her new Nutcracker shirt, too – this will be her first year in that performance!