The days that follow Christmas always feel a bit flat, but we were not going to let that happen this time. We planned some fun activities with the family, ate some good food, strolled and explored the beautiful landscape, fed the pigs, learn some new skills, and sang and dance our hearts out.
Before Jeremy and Kaile left for Florida, we decided to throw him an early birthday party. Jeremy took the party idea a step further and decided to make us some out-of-this-world grilled fajitas with plenty of fresh side dishes to go with them. Needless to say we ate as if we hadn't eaten in ages, and were so stuffed that we couldn't eat his cake!!! But we made sure we sang to him :)
The kids loved going outside for hours at a time. They ran, explored, jumped on the trampoline, played with the dogs, fed the pigs (mainly Gillian), and just talked and walked. I wasn't able to capture with my lenses all their fun because I was inside snugged as a bug reading, napping, or talking. However, here are some moments during which I happen to be outside:
Grandma had sewn a few napkins for me with some fabric she had left over from another project, and had bought some fabric markers for the kids to draw and personalize them to their own liking. The kids were so taken by this idea that they drew and painted on them for each of the family members. They were all so creative and thoughtful that I wish I had taken pictures of all of them. But the kids gave them away faster than I could record. I was very happy with their creativity but even more so with their desire to please others. Here are a couple of their artistic displays:
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| Grandpa fishing by Jefferson |
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| Rebekah and I by James |
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| Abel, my rock star uncle by Jefferson |
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| My uncle Abe by James |
Another project that Grandma had planned for the kids was making little elves to decorate our Christmas tree and to give to others as gifts. The kids had a wonderful time making them and spending time with Grandma. Jefferson, who is the best drawing artist of all of us, came up with a few interesting faces for our elves. Our favorite, however, became the mustachio man in honor of uncle Jeremy. Grandma put one of those immediately on her tree.
A really fun activity for my kids while in Georgia was learning how to weave. One of Elijah's aunt, aunt Rita, who is one of those very amazing women who constantly finds ways to grow and develop way more talents than anyone has time for, brought this hand made Swedish loom that was given to papa some time ago and which she had figured out how to make it work. She taught all of my kids how to weave, and then told them they could come up with their own patterns and work on it that afternoon. The boys really wanted to try their hand at this fun activity, but Gillian totally took possession of it. She was able to make her own place mat!!! I can't wait till aunt Rita sends those to us so I can show a picture of my girl's own weaving product. She definitely gets that creative gene from the Garmon side.
I had been wanting to cook something special for Elijah's family while there, but for various reasons we just couldn't find the time. So instead we took the whole family out to eat at a Hawaiian restaurant with tasty fish dishes. My kids have always been good in restaurants but at this age they are not only behaving well but are learning to enjoy some ethnic foods as well. At this point my kids were feeling a bit sad since our days in Georgia were coming to a close. They were clinging to their aunt and uncle as if they could stop time from moving.
I know this post has gone way too long, but I couldn't close it without a signature picture of mama and Charlton. Charlton loves memory games and he is very good at those; mama has a lot of patience and she can't say no. So wherever one turned, one was bound to see Mama Lu and Charlton playing memory game together. Knowing how well Charlton remembers things, I'm sure this memory will be in his mind and heart forever.
On our last night, the kids kept inventing things to prolong their goodnight routine. When we got to our song of the night, they chose the song "I'm so glad when daddy comes home" repeating it for each of us (Elijah, myself, papa, mama, Abel, Rebekah.) It was funny, but I could tell they really didn't want to leave.
The next morning, we tucked our memories within our hearts, wiped our tears with our sleeves, said goodbye to our family, and boarded a plane for California. Christmas 2012 had been a wonderful time for all of us.
