Notes from the Letter N: Christmas in Tennessee

Monday, December 30, 2013

Christmas in Tennessee

On December 28th, we got to have our Ryals-Ryan-Massey Christmas all together. We decided to order Chinese food (that's our Christmas Eve tradition on years when we're together for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day) and then had some yummy Christmas cookies and opened gifts.

Jewelry became a running theme (for the females anyway):

I gave Mom and Jeanette stamped necklaces with the kids' names on them
The Massey family gave me an amethyst pendant that the girls had chosen for me at a shopping night at Erica's school
The Masseys also gave me a red bead necklace from a 147 Million Orphans fundraiser
I gave the girls birthstone rings that I bought in Mt. Dora, FL
Mom gave me some pretty silver/red stone earrings I had admired in the shop in Mt. Dora

The guys were content with gift cards, food (Daniel got snacks to take back to college) and shirts. They also had a college bowl game on mute, so that made them happy (especially Daniel since U of L was playing).

The girls got Flashlight Pets from Grandma and wanted to have them in working order (with batteries) right away. GM had given them batteries, but accidentally put the wrong size, and then Russell only had enough of the AAA batteries for one pet and Mary Lane's happened to get set up first. After she got it working, Mary Lane kept wanting us to come into the guest bathroom and turn off the light to see her Flashlight Pet all aglow. She also wanted the overhead lights in the living room off, but we nixed that idea. Of course, Erica wanted hers to light up, so I promised to go home and get some more batteries as soon as we finished opening gifts (I had also forgotten to bring some gifts). After I got back with the batteries, all seven of us crammed into the bathroom to see the light show! Fun times were had by all!