Christmas 2008

The Vinson family met in Midland at Mamaw''s house to celebrate Christmas since Ken, Steph, and Michael had to work until mid-Christmas Eve. We reserved a party room at the main building at Manor Park which is right across the sidewalk from Mamaw's (Vi's) house, and since the room was connected to a kitchen and was decorated for Christmas, it was ideal. Here are a few pictures of the fun we all had watching Jackson and Emily play.When we first walked into the party room, the kids saw Elmo's Restaurant that "Samma Cause" brought for Emily. They had more fun playing with the cash register, the food, and the ovens! Jackson had fun playin Santa, delivering all the presents to everyone. Then we had to talk both kids into actually opening their presents. After a present or two, Jackson stopped to play and when we asked him if he wanted to open another present, his answer was "No."

Emily got a piano from Nana Jo & Grampa and almost had a meltdown waiting for her daddy to get it out of the package. She and Jackson made some beautiful music and did some funky dances over the next couple of days!Nana Jo & Grampa gave Jackson a weed wacker so he could help his daddy in the yard. Of course, being "Mr. Safety comes first" he had to wear his safety goggles even though they fit better upside down!We gave Baby Grayson (to be born in February) a Funny Foot Dinosaur that fits his nursery decor. Emily thought he was pretty cute and kept trying to ride him.

Here Jackson is getting Nana Jo to squeeze his squishy football to make the gooey stuff poke through the holes. Yuck-O, but he thought it was fun.

We gave Jackson a Mickey's Clubhouse table and chairs, so this Christmas saw the inauguration of the first official "kids' table." The kids sat right down and ate and seemed to enjoy the conversation at their own table. Then it was back to the toys.Back at Mamaw's house it was time to read the new books she gave them. No matter who sits in whichever chair, they enjoy sharing it. I love the look Jackson is giving Mamaw. It's pure love.

We also gave Jackson a set of Mickey Mouse sheets for his "big boy bed" so he played with the pillow. He wanted Emily to play with him, but she had a hard time knowing if they were playing or really going to sleep. She wouldn't stay on it very long just in case!

A Vinson Christmas tradition always includes games in the afternoon while the kiddos (and some of the adults) nap, so this year it was Ken & Steph's new Trivial Pursuit game. We partnered up, but after a loooong game of it, Meaghan and I threw in the towel and declared it a tie between Team Steph/Michael and Ken/Nina. And I thought I had a lot of useless information in MY head! Jackson caught a "bug" and had to head on home a day early, so Emily had to play by herself today (12-27). Then we all headed over to the catfish place to eat before heading home--Emily & Steph to Lubbock (Ken is in California taking his last on-campus class) and Ed, Vi, & Jo to New Mexico. Here Emily is eating her fish and french fries with "dip" (ketchup). As we drove to NM the temperature got lower and lower until it got to about 24 degrees. We had to trek through about 3" of snow on the deck when we got home which made unloading the car a lot of fun. Even with the cold snow outside, we were greeted indoors with our Aerogarden which is growing herbs like crazy. They really grew a lot in the week we were gone.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Church Christmas Fellowship

Jo Beth and I always have so much fun cooking that when we get an excuse to cook a lot it is really a pleasure. We started cooking for the Church Christmas Fellowship days before and having the larger range and ovens have made it really nice. (We even had room to brown some nacho meat for our supper)


Jo loves making cookies and I love eating them! These will be for the grand kids when we see them in Midland on the 24th. If there are any left after grampa samples them for "quality control"

Yummmmm! Cooooookies!!!!

Doesn't look like Nana Jo made enough for all of us!

Linda Greene and Jo Beth did the decorating for the fellowship. Linda asked me if we could have Church in the Nursery this week so they could go ahead and set up for the meal. I told her we would have more folks this week than usual because everyone loves to eat!

After much thought we put the tables along the far West side of the sanctuary and set up the chairs for Church on the East side "much" closer together than normal. It really worked out fine and the tables were ready for us when lunch was served. We got out the tablecloths but stayed with plastic plates and utensils so no one would get stuck washing dishes all afternoon.

Jack and Linda Greene donated several Poinsettias for the season, so Jo Beth and Linda arranged them in the shape of a tree!

The whole place was really pretty and everyone was in the Christmas spirit!

Merry Christmas to Us

As we said earlier we spent the weekend in Albuquerque doing our Christmas shopping. We also bought the present for ourselves, an "Aero Grow" so we can continue to grow herbs inside during the winter months. You all know how much we like to cook and eat, this will provide us with fresh herbs all winter. We'll try this out for all you who would like to know if it really works?

If the Herbs do well they have salad growing packages and even flowers and tomatoes. Look for future postings to see how we progress.

Jo is now wrapping all the presents that we bought. Looks like we'll have to ship some things to Midland as we just got everything in the Saturn to come home and we'll need to take food with us to Midland.

Annual Pre-Christmas Trip to Albuquerque

Since Ed has a State School Board meeting in Albuquerque every year in December, it is a good time for us to do a "Christmas Shopping Marathon." After we finished most of it this weekend, we stopped by ABQ Uptown for a little R&R and enjoyed the mild weather with just a little nip to the air, the decorations, and the Christmas music. Here are a few pictures to get you all in the Christmas mood:

The ABQ Uptown Christmas Tree

And here we are!

This is actually a Christmas ornament tree in the window display of Anthropologie that we thought was so unusual and creative.

Then when we went inside we were amazed by this pine cone melange (how's that for a good French word since this is a French-named store?) hanging from the ceiling. Each pine cone is hanging from an individual string from the ceiling so that any slight breeze in the store causes the pine cones to move.

But...the most creative use of ordinary "stuff" was this light bulb "chandelier" hanging over a bed display of linens. It had every kind of light bulb imaginable, again all tied by individual strings that were tied together and hanging from the ceiling. This store definitely has a creative team of decorators.

Fun with Jackson

We have had fun playing with Jackson this week. I worked on Monday and will work on Wednesday but have a substitute teacher for Tuesday and Thursday so we could spend some time together. Jackson is one active, fun little boy as you can tell by these pictures.

Jackson brought his DVD player so he could watch Veggie Tales after his nap each day.

Playing Disney Bingo with Mommy.

Playing "dynamos" with Mommy and Daddy. He lets them set the dominos up, and he knocks them over.

Jackson loved to be outside, especially since the weather was so nice. Here he is walking down the hill to find his ball that he kept throwing over the rail of the deck.

Unfortunately, he fell down and got stickers in his hands. After a little work with the tweezers, some soapy water, and some hand lotion, he was as good as new and back outside.

Jackson liked to stand on "his ladder" and help Nana Jo cook.

Everyone knows that the best part of cooking is licking the beater.

After dinner Jackson told me to sit on the floor so we could play together. He decided he would be a bird and fly to me. The next picture actually captures him in flight. We were both pooped after lots of leaps through the air and being caught by Nana Jo.

The expression on his little face as he raised his arms and flew to me was hilarious!

Jackson Walked Through Bethlehem

Michael, Meaghan, and Jackson came to see us this past Sunday and went through Walk Through Bethlehem with me (Grampa was working as a guide). He really enjoyed all the animals as well as all the stories told by the costumed players. Every time one of the people asked a rhetorical question as part of their speech, Jackson would answer, so he was the hit of our group (the Tribe of Judah). We all chuckled when the Tax Collector at the gates of Bethlehem asked everyone if they brought their shekels to pay their taxes to Augustus Caesar, and Jackson asked him, "Is this going to take a long time?" Here are a few pictures:

Watching Grampa put on his Bethlehem costume

Listening to Grampa tell everyone about going to Bethlehem to pay their taxes

Following Grampa to the gates of Bethlehem

Jackson was fascinated with the real Baby Jesus in the stable of Bethlehem. An up close look at the alpacas

The Stockings Were Hung...

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care

In hopes that our cute grandson Jackson soon would be there...

and he will be--on Sunday night.

We got the Christmas tree decorated today and even have a few presents wrapped...1 for Emily, 1 for Baby Grayson, and 2 for Jackson so far. We will do most of our shopping in Albuquerque when we are there next weekend for the State School Board Meeting (Grampa gets to go to meetings and Nana Jo gets to shop!) Here's how everything is looking. Can you see our beautiful red pear tree outside the window?

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner!

We had a peaceful Thanksgiving today--just the two of us being thankful for our family, our home, and our lives in general. Rather than fix the traditional dinner, we had our homemade lobster bisque for lunch in front of the fireplace after Ed returned from delivering Thanksgiving meals to some folks who could not get out and have very little. Then we put a big fat roasting hen on the rotisserie on the deck and let 'er spin

for the afternoon, basting her with a pomegranate reduction I made. We also created a new Creme Brulee--Pumpkin & eggnog with Amaretto. The chicken was fantastic, so can't wait to try out the dessert later tonight!!!While the bird was roasting, we unloaded our Christmas decorations

so we can decorate tomorrow afternoon and be ready

for Jackson when he gets here on Sunday evening. All in all, it's been a good day.

Bambi v. Big Red

We've been here in the mountains of NM almost 20 years now, so it had to happen. Last night coming home from Ruidoso, Big Red (Ed's Rendezvous) was hit (literally) by Bambi's brother! Fortunately, Big Red only lost a headlight and suffered some dents and scratches--far better than Bambi's brother who went to meet his maker. Here are the sad pictures. We didn't get one of the deer (which is just as well), but if you look really closely at the 2nd picture, you will notice a clump of deer hair :(