Merry Christmas!

It hasn't really felt much like Christmas around here this year, with all of the moving in and out of hotels and now the house. But Monday that changed.  We loaded up and drove to Lexington to hang out with the Fraylicks on Christmas Eve.

Kate and Mason really cleaned up at Nan and Pop's. Seriously, we could have just stopped there.

This was our first year without Gramma, and consequently, not packed into a small house/apartment. Gramma really loved the holidays, especially Christmas. And we were always together on Christmas eve. Differences aside, she knew that the holiday was all about family, and she loved us all so dearly.  This year we celebrated at Cheryl and Kerry's. Most of us were able to make it.  We're still a pretty cool crowd.  The cousins are all grown up:

But there are a few new faces ready to bring some excitement to our gathering:

I think they enjoyed themselves.

Then we drove back to Greenville for the night, where Don created some wonderful memories of assembling an art desk at midnight. Here we are - all done and ready to head off to bed. 
 

 Kate was a little slow to wake up the next morning.

But was creating art masterpieces in no time.

The new art desk gives her plenty of space to make a mess work.

Mason? He just wanted to play with Kate's art supplies (markers). So the tables were turned. Last year she wanted all of his toys. This year he wanted all of hers. He had colored his hands orange and blue and added a beauty mark to the side of his face before we left for Hartsville.

Finally at the (other) Meredith's. Or would that be at the original Meredith's? He found a toy to love. It made truck noises and had a tool box. That's really hard to beat.

Unless, of course, there are markers.

It had been too long since we'd seen Don's parents, so it was nice to catch up.

I even got a halfway decent picture of the kids together.

 I hope all of you had a very Merry Christmas and were able to spend it with the people you love, and love you, the most.