This Christmas

Well the celebration is over and its back to work! We're sitting in downtown Chattanooga at ADM waiting our turn to load wheat screenings. Got to say one last goodbye to Dad because Malcolm left his cell phone charger in Dad's vehicle, so Dad drove down here to deliver it.

We had a truly wonderful Christmas. It was so nice to be back in Tennessee, to be surrounded by immediate and extended family, and to just be a part of things again. Every time I read my sister's blog, or get emails from her or Mom about a trip they went on together, or a family event that I missed...yet again...I get a little depressed and sad. So it was fabulous to be there for it all this year!

We arrived on Wednesday evening. Our load of DDG from Indiana wasn't scheduled to deliver till Thursday morning, but we had a Christmas party to go to at 10:30 that morning. The place we were delivering told us if we made it there by 9:00pm on Wednesday they would unload us, and so we flew to Chattanooga and arrived at 5:00pm eastern time. We were so proud! We were going to unload and still have time to make it to my Dad's restaurant for dinner! But the place we were delivering informed us upon our arrival that they were full. There was no more bin space and so we'd have to come back in the morning and maybe they would have room. Maybe? We weren't going to chance missing the family Christmas gathering on a maybe. So we drove on to my Dad's enjoyed dinner, spent four wonderful days with the family, and delivered the junk this morning. And you know what? We were the first truck to empty out, and the truck behind us was out of luck, because as soon as they got the DDG off our truck, their bins were full again. What a deal!

Anyway, three and a half wonderful days with my parents, and then yesterday afternoon we drove the truck to the other side of Chattanooga, back to where we were delivering, which happens to be a couple miles from where Malcolm's aunt and uncle live. So we spent the evening with them and Malcolm's cousin and his wife. It was a really nice visit. We enjoyed it so much. And Sharon, dinner was truly wonderful! I love lasagna and yours was especially yummy!

Ok, that's enough jabbering for now. I'm put up some pictures for you, and then be on my way for the day.

The girls are exhausted. Paris had a good time, but Ella is still afraid of my Mom's Pomeranian, and Carlie Jean just can't take anything out of the ordinary, not to mention so many people. If she had hair...it would be falling out by the fist fulls right now. They were very much ready to go back to work, but I think they were the only ones.

My niece, Bentlee, and Paris bonded. Bentlee said they were best friends. She spent a good portion of the time carrying Paris around. At first, Paris LOVED it, but later, I noticed that she tended to head in the other direction when she saw Bentlee heading her way.
Christmas Eve we had a family Wii time. It was fun, and entertaining to see all these adults getting so worked up over a video game. (notice Bentlee is still lugging Paris around?)
Dad received some new Wii games for Christmas, including Cabelas Big Game Hunter. The guys really got into it.

stalking his prey

That's my sister-in-law, Sarah, on the right. She was fiddling with a toy Bentlee got for Christmas, while the guys were hunting. I think Dad ended up with the better score.

I liked so many of these last shots, I posted more than I ought to have. Bentlee and Mom love to play with their American Girl dolls. Mom started Bentlee's fetish several years ago by giving her a Bitty Baby for Christmas. Now there are lots of "Bitty Babies" and even a "Bitty Baby room." Its gotten so crowded in there that the night before they had finally disassembled the twin size guest bed and moved it out to make more room for Bitty Baby playing.

Bentlee's favorite game, it seems, is playing teacher and when she wasn't teaching all us grown ups something, then she was in the Bitty Baby room playing teacher with all the goodies Mom has supplied her.

The evenings lesson was on currency, appropriate for Christmas Eve, considering we were all broke at this point.
I think Kitty gave a wrong answer.
Trying to remember what's what from her lesson planning.

She is one sharp 5 year old! (almost 6)