Christmas wouldn’t be Christmas to a Baptist without a good, old-fashioned church program complete with lots of choir singing, so I took my place in the orchestra and Alec and my parents took their seats in the congregation for Quail Springs Baptist Church’s Christmas program. Alec decided he needed to document the evening with our new camera; so, helpless to defend against the attacks from above, I got my photo taken, as did the choir.
Me in the orchestra pit
One choir choiring
We continued the holiday season by going to his company’s Christmas party at Nonna’s. I got to practice being a good corporate wife and got all gussied up, nodded, smiled, shook hands, didn’t spill any gravy down my cleavage, and managed to not do anything too embarrassing. He ate a delicious, though mostly raw, steak.
Which brings us to the Thompson Family Christmas Eve Party. I missed out on attending this party last year because of Blizzard 2009 (cue terrifying music and cool meteorological news report graphics), so this was my first experience of a full Thompson Christmas Eve. It was fun, funny, entertaining, and slightly exhausting. There is no shortage of love in the room, just as there is no shortage of competition over the perfect Dirty Santa gift. And now that I’ve seen the true strategy that goes into Dirty Santa, I’m really ready for next year. Watch out, this little Baxter has a competitive streak too ;-) It was fun watching the little ones open their presents, mill about the room and talk with my new family, and just feel comfortable. I’m very grateful for that feeling.
The kiddos opening their presents
Many cousins cousining
Bird opening his Dirty Santa gift
Christmas morning arrived too soon, if that’s even possible! Team Bass was TIRED. But, even when you’re tired, Christmas is exciting We woke up, went into our still-needs-to-be-finished-being-organized living room and opened our presents to each other and, let me tell you, I am one spoiled wife. After that we got dressed, divided the presents under the tree between his family and my family, put them in separate baskets (well, a basket and an ice chest—we’re resourceful like that) to take them to their respective destinations, loaded the truck for the trip to the Farm and Broken Arrow, and headed out. First stop: the Farm.
Daphne enjoying her presents from Santa
Our first Christmas tree together, with all of our newlywed ornaments
Christmas morning at the Farm with the Basses involved a delicious and large waffle and lots of gifts. Oh, and dogs. Six of them. Abby and Boozer, Amy’s hound dogs, came out to visit for Christmas. And, as we were taking Daphne with us to Broken Arrow, she hung out in the laundry room with the door closed. She found a lovely hiding place behind the dryer. Like I said parenthetically before, Team Bass is resourceful like that. I was one spoiled daughter/sister-in-law and aunt, and we had lots of fun seeing everyone’s faces as they opened their treasures. Too soon it was time to pack up for the second stop: Broken Arrow.
Buttercup enjoys opening her Christmas present at the Farm
Papaw, Amy, Boozer, and Norquis soak up the Christmas spirit. And, in Boozer's case, hide.
John and Maddie open presents. Maddie's presents consisted of lots and lots of boots.
Grandma got a new camera for Christmas! Careful, she's watchin'!
We arrived for Christmas dinner at 1:30 p.m. at the Baxter house in Broken Arrow. After unloading the truck, releasing the Daphne, and hugging the parents, we finished some last minute things and sat down for dinner. Christmas in Broken Arrow at the Baxter house involves way too much food and lots of gifts. Oh, and games. At least one. This year’s game of choice, Quelf, was brought by the newlyweds. It was a strange version of Cranium in which there were no right or wrong answers except in the trivia section. And it had an element of Three Man in that there was a Rules deck that you drew from when you landed on blue squares. It was odd, but made for a fun hour or so. And this year Mama Baxter and Aunt Marilyn joined in, making it that much more interesting. The toy helicopter made the day more interesting too, but the picture is funnier than anything I would say about it.
Mama Baxter hands out presents. Well, she hands them to me and I deliver. It's a team effort.
Game time! And the boys can stop calling me a cheater, because I didn't win this year! So, does that make Brother a cheater?
One of the Quelf rules was that Joe had to sing "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall." Brother and Will help him with some choreography.
Watch out for those Christmas UFOs! It's Santa Claus vs. the Martians! Or Joe's helicopter, whatever. Maybe it's his new sleigh!
We stayed in Broken Arrow until Monday afternoon and had a lovely visit. We’ve gotten to see my parents quite a bit in the past little bit because of the wedding, which has been very nice. Before we left BA we met with our renters and signed the lease, so my house is now officially rented out starting next year. It was a busy first Christmas as man and wife, but it was full of family and love and laughter, and who could ask for more than that?
Maybe pie…
2 comments:
I'm thinking I need to obtain a copy of this Quelf. Sounds like excellent Christmas fun!
Glad to see the blog is back!! Woot!
Christmas looked perfect. And, I still remember Blizzard 2009 as well. We got stuck in our house playing "Farkel" for two days.
Travis
Post a Comment