Christmas

We were blessed this Christmas season to have all of our siblings home for Christmas. That meant lots of time with grandmas, grandpas, uncles and the girls' cousin. For the entire week before Christmas we were running from here to there seeing friends and family. The girls wore their new sparkly Christmas shoes to more gatherings and events that I can count. It seems like we were always leaving the house with a plate of food or a stack of presents in hand. I always got the girls out of the house, even occasionally with their hair done, but what seemed to get left behind was the camera. So, these pictures are about all I have to show for a week of activity.

Once the wrapping paper was done flying for the day we headed outside. Papa Lee brought down a fancy kite to fly for the girls. It was a two person project but we were able to get it off the ground.

There wasn't really enough wind for this big kite, which if you know the area should be shocking. We have had an unseasonably nice stretch of weather with almost no wind. I'm hoping as I write this a snow storm is brewing somewhere near. We really need the moisture so we will have water to irrigate with next year. But to make the best of the situation we decided it was a perfect day to shoot clay pigeons. I would love to make this an annual tradition but I'd rather the weather wasn't nice enough to get it done.

Ben waits...

Mike (my brother) shoots a pistol while Dad provides backup with a shot gun.


Ben took his turn with the pistol. Note the Hello Kitty Bandaid. There was no injury here just a very special Daddy humoring his youngest daughter who just happens to love pink. You gotta love a guy who doesn't mind wearing little girl's bandaids or stickers on his shirt to his board meetings.

Photo by Lynn Tanner

I waited to shoot...

Photo by Lynn Tanner

My Mom even got into the spirit of the moment, in her church clothes no less, and tried her hand at shooting. I played backup but the clay pigeon didn't have to worry. We lobbed four shells it's way and never hit a thing. I've decided I need more practice and better form.


Meanwhile back in the pickup Hannah and Helena have been taking note of how many clay pigeons are hit and who's been hitting them. Mom and I got back into the pickup and Hannah announced that she needed to hand out ribbons for this event. I finished up the chores for the day and Memaw Mary supervised the ribbon construction. When the guys got back to the house we commenced with the ribbon ceremony. You will notice that I'm not in any of the pictures of the ribbon ceremony. Hannah made it very clear that I was not getting a ribbon because I didn't shoot as well as the others. I couldn't argue with her there.

First place went to Uncle Mike!

Second place went to Daddy! Look he's just happy to get a ribbon.

Third place went to Papa Lee!Here's the winners and their judge. We asked her to give her reason for their placings but she just said that Uncle Mike did the best, Daddy did second, and Papa Lee did third. I may see a livestock judge in the making if we can just work on the reasons a little bit.

We finished up the night with hamburgers off the BBQ and oven fries. A good time was had by all.

On a side note, the most entertaining gift giving moment for the day was when Hannah handed me a gift she had wrapped. In the days before Christmas the girls found things around the house and wrapped them up. Hannah insisted that I did not watch her wrap this particular gift. I obliged. Christmas morning I opened up my own copy of Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. She assured me I'm not getting enough exercise and now I've got to convince her that being a mommy and farmer's wife is helping me burn a good deal of calories. Ah, never a dull moment!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!