The First Noel: Christmas Afternoon

Onto Mamaw Meador's for dinner. This year's Christmas celebration at Mamaw's was bittersweet because it would be the last one. She recently purchased a house closer to Vicki and Bill's (and Mamaw Evans' and Leah's) and this was the last time we would be having Christmas at 518 S. Parkway. She and Papaw had been living in that house for forty years, it was where Vicki and her siblings grew up, and it was where Timothy had celebrated Christmas almost every year since he was born. We were grateful that Alex had come along just in the nick of time and was able to experience at least one Christmas in a house filled with such loving memories.

We ate (a lot) and A got passed around like - you guessed it! - a Christmas ham. He's so easygoing, he didn't mind a bit. He took care to bond with all of his Greats and a handful of cousins.

He had a lot of fun sitting in this girly little rocking chair that Mamaw had, and he grabbed for Macey's baby doll right away when she showed it to him, which made his daddy cringe a little. Come on, daddy, there's nothing wrong with a boy being in touch with his feminine side. You can't pass up a pink dress shirt and you watch What Not to Wear. Gee, I wonder where he gets it...

We opened presents then played some games. Guesstures is a family fave, especially when it's Uncle Freddie's turn...

We also played Mad Gab, the point of which is to make everyone playing sound like a bunch of morons. What's more fun than that? I'll answer that question. Nothing.

It was a great last hurrah at Mamaw's. We were sad to go but excited to know we'd be starting a new tradition at the new house. We transferred A from his pack 'n' play to the car, which was his first mid-sleep transfer other than naps. I was hoping he'd stay asleep but he was wide-eyed in the car, and I wondered what would happen when I put him back down at the house. He was completely silent and stoic for the ride home, and when I laid him in the pack 'n' play, he went right back to sleep. What a sweet, good boy.

Merry belated Christmas to all.