Christmas Post I

Christmas with Damon's side of the family was at his Mom's house this year. We did our annual White Elephant Gift Exchange, which is always fun. This year was no exception!

What WAS different about this day: Damon's nephew, Josh, and his bride-to-be asked Eliette to be their Flower Girl in their upcoming wedding. Yay! How exciting!!!!!

(She's clapping in the above pic. Sweet girl!)

Gage gave paintings to his two aunts and grandparents....

If I had been any kind of great mom, I would have taken pictures of each of the paintings. Ugh. I've failed miserably....
Aunt Ramona got a painting of a lovely, bright flower.
Aunt Kimberly got a painting of a horse. She's a horse lover and has horses.
Memaw & Poppa Joe got a painting of a beautiful Christmas tree.
GrandDaddy Longhorn got a painting of: a longhorn. (big shocker! hahaha!)

They were each VERY lovely and thoughtful gifts.

....moving on to the big gift exchange.... Oh, we really DO have so much fun at these things. What did I walk away with? A pillow that I REALLY wanted (thanks to my dtr! Story to follow) and the DUD. Every year we have the same dud: a cracked Halloween candy bowl. This year? I got it. When you get it---it's game over for you. Nobody's stealing it. Nobody wants it. You're done.

Until----your husband steals a pillow and something else on your behalf. I LOVED the pillow. I've already forgotten what the other half of the gift was...

And then----Aunt 'Mona tried to take the gift away from me. But no----Eliette wasn't having it. She rested her sweet little head on that pillow and refused to let Aunt 'Mona steal from her mama. (love this girl!)

She would pull Aunt 'Mona in for snuggles and cuddles---but she did not want to get up to give up that pillow.... Eventually Aunt 'Mona snaked her and switched the pillow---but then we chastised her for being sneakier than a baby.... Ultimately, Aunt Kim had the pillow gift combo and let me (and Eliette) keep the pillow while she took the other part of the gift....

The DUD? Oh, it'll be resurfacing next year. Someone ELSE will be saddled with that crap-tastic doo-hickey, and it won't be me!

Other pics from the day:

It was a great day with a lot of laughs! So fun.
:)