Christmas Present

According to plan, we celebrated Christmas with Amy, Darryl, and Amelia the weekend before Christmas.  They came in on Saturday afternoon.  That night we had a non-traditional dinner of Barbecue Ribs, Potato Salad, Peas, Corn, Macaroni and Cheese and Yeast Rolls with Carrot Cake for dessert.

My mother would have been proud that I made the table pretty.

Following dinner, we opened presents.

Much to the dismay of Darryl and Amy, we gave Amelia a PlayDoh cake decorating kit.  She also got party hats, candles, and napkins so that she could have birthday parties for her dolls.

Amelia thought it would be more fun to have a birthday party with Nana and Paw-Paw.

Cookie, the Playful Pup, was intended to be her main present from Nana and Paw-Paw.  This is a "wonderful substitute for a real dog".  It barks, wags its tail, moves its head, and chews a bone.  We thought Amelia would love this because she is so crazy about Archie. She was very excited as she opened Cookie, but when we finally had her out of the box, she just sat there -- no barking, no tail wagging, no head moving, no bone chewing.  We decided that the batteries that came in it were dead so Bubba was going to change them when he discovered that the batteries in it were corroded and leaking battery acid everywhere.  Amelia couldn't even hold Cookie.  It was kind of pitiful.  Cookie just sat in her box on the floor and every now and then Amelia would put a PlayDoh cake in front of her and talk soothingly to the still quiet dog.  The  next day after church,  Bubba and I headed to WalMart to exchange Cookie for one that actually worked.  Amelia seemed pleased with the swap and christened the new dog, "Lilly".

Bubba received the most unusual gift of the holiday season.  My cousin, Vicky, found this squirrel feeder and thought it was the perfect gift for him.

I can't wait to see if a squirrel will actually walk into the gator's mouth to get a bite off the ear of corn that it holds.

Amelia is enjoying "The Polar Express" sitting in her rocking chair with her doll, also named Lilly.  The doll house was Amy's many years ago.  I kept it hoping that someday I would have a little granddaughter who would enjoy playing with it  -- she does.

Anyway, we had a good Christmas with our family even though it was a week early.  We had a good visit and a good time.  We love you all very much!  Merry Christmas!