Merry Christmas! (Part 2)

We decided to leave Carlsbad just a little earlier than we originally had planned. I decided maybe we shouldn't be on the desolate highway between Carlsbad and Pecos too late in the evening. I figured we could make it to Myrt Myrt's house as everyone was finishing up opening presents. We weren't planning to see everyone until the next morning, so I thought we'd surprise them and show up early.

Well, I forgot that it was Wednesday night, so everyone went to church and they had waited until after church to do all the festivities! So we got there a little after 8:00, just in time to choose a hat from the box of dorky Christmas hats that Myrt Myrt has amassed over the years. If memory serves, this is the first year that mandatory participation has been required.

The men look thrilled, don't they? They really were good sports. They just had to look tough for the pictures. We headed out back for the pinata and Santa showed up just as the kids were collecting all of their candy. In this picture, Daddy was directing Clara to look at the fence where Old Saint Nick was peeking over.


I snagged your picture, Pam. Hope you don't mind :) Daddy was sporting the festive Christmas pimp look. He must've been scraping the bottom of the barrel to get that hat.

Santa is good. He really does know everything. He had gifts for Clara even though he couldn't have possibly known we would be there.

Brody got to meet Santa for the first time and he was really impressed.

Speaking of Brody, we got to meet him for the first time, too. He is just as sweet and content as can be. He never cried once the two days we were there. Linsey said he never cries. He just sits and looks around wherever you happen to stick him.

We stayed in a hotel while in Pecos. Thirteen people (including two 3 month olds) and four dogs makes for a very full house. It was nice to be able to have a retreat at night. Clara even got a nap both days at the hotel. We got up bright and early Christmas morning and headed over to Bia and Pawpaw's house.

Look what Santa brought Clara. A doll with a hat! Just what she asked him for!

She also got a guitar just like Daddy's so she can play Rock Band, too. In fact, all three of the big kids got guitars. Daddy pulled it out of the box for her and I looked over and saw her strumming it, head back, dancing around, just like on the video game.

Grayson felt left out, so Pawpaw found one just her size for her to play with.

Here I am sporting the newest neice and nephew.

And here's the first picture of Bia and Pawpaw with all five of their grandkids.

Tanya and the kids left the day after Christmas to go visit her family. Clara had lots of fun taking care of Brody. She talked to him, held his hand and gave him lots of kisses. She even got to help give him his bottle.
We spent several hours each day over at Myrt's house eating, visiting and passing around babies while the kids played in the backyard. I forgot to mention, Clara got a camera for Christmas also. As of yesterday, she has taken around 450 pictures. I would guess that five or so of them are salvageable. There are lots of pictures of the back of the driver's seat in the car and her feet while sitting in her carseat. She got lots of good pictures of people's necks, too. Their heads, not so much. She is thoroughly enjoying her camera.

We had originally planned to come back today, but decided that a day of rest before Chris goes back to work would be nice, so we got back yesterday evening. Clara just finished her first day of holiday detox. Hopefully she'll be fully functional in a day or two.