Christmas Day with Grandma and Papa Ayscue

Russ's mom likes Christmas just as much as I do. The first time he took me to meet his mom and dad his mom made sure to leave up the Christmas decorations so that I could see them.

Her house is always full of pretty bows and lots of lights.

We got there in the early afternoon and, even though this picture doesn't show it, William was happy and able to open some of his presents while Grandma and papa watched. He didn't feel the greatest though, and he was tired so we tried to get him to take a nap. He did take a short one.

Another way Russ's mom and I are alike is that we love giving presents. The first year we were married we had everyone over to our house for an early Christmas celebration since we were going to be in St. Louis on Christmas Day. At Thanksgiving we all make a list, and then we choose one thing off the list to give to each person. So I made my list and put a variety of things on it.

Russ was still at work when his mom and dad got there. I had asked his mom to come early to help me with the last minute food prep and cleaning. I'll never forget all the presents they carried in. They made at least 4 trips to and from the car. I couldn't figure out what in the world was going on and I thought maybe they had misunderstood and brought everyone's presents. Nope. They were all for us. I got almost everything on my list. I really could not believe it.

So this is what his parents living room looked like on Christmas Day. Pretty fun don't you think? Just imagine what will happen in a year or two when William is old enough to realize what presents are. Oh, and this is cutting back. His mom told us all that with the sudden addition of three grandchildren she was going to have to cut back this year.

William and his cousin got wagons. His dad stained and polyurethaned the wooden rails. William has already taken one wagon ride with his dad and he absolute loves it.