Christmas.

Yaoxing in his new hat. 

Dad and his Turkey. 

 Here we go. Christmas in full detail. The best day i've had in a long time. It was...simply wonderful.  We started the day at 8:15, an improvement from our usual 7:30 (teenager probs). This year we got quite the loot from Santa. Hair bands, Fuzzy Socks, Mary Kay products (Shout out to my favorite Mary Kay Director/Cousin/Extraordinaire in Kelly!) and, of course, lots of candy filled our stockings. Autry's asian friend/newest addition to the Graham clan, Yaoxing Li, joined us this year. His stocking consisted of a plastic bag, but Hey! he was pretty happy with those Reese Cups! As we nibbled on our candy, okay I did more than nibble, Mom peaked through her stocking. In it she found an assortment of her favorites- Chocolate Covered Raisins (Affectionately called "Bugs" by the Fam), antiquey purple earrings (Her favorite color!), and, of course, a new watch. (Christmas isn't Christmas without a watch in Mom's stocking!). After the stocking excitement wore off we headed to the Christmas Tree. Yaoxing started us off this year. He really likes presents. :) His first gift was an Under Armour beanie hat. I don't think he quite realizes how cold it gets here in America. He will find out pretty soon! I unwrapped second, then Autry, Momma, and Dad. So many gifts! Too many to list. But i'll start with our favorites! Autry- A complete tie between her FOSSIL WATCH! Woot. And edgy military Aldo Boots. She is in 7th Heaven.  Momma- Her burnt orange Lands End pea coat was definitely a hit. A 50% catch on Christmas Eve to boot. Wassup. Dad- Golf tees. Of all things to say, how lame. Oh wait, they are "Long tees, 3 1/2 inches. Hard to find." Men and golf. For me- Hands down my Turquoise Blue Cuinistart Ice Cream Freezer. AH. I am sooo in love. If Kroger wasn't closed on Christmas you better believe I woulda been right there in the dairy section buying some extra fatty heavy cream for my freezer! Oh there are so many more gifts to list because I am so truly blessed. I have an incredibly generous, kind-hearted family that I am forever thankful for. They are what truly made Christmas so simply wonderful this year. Not just the 27 of them that piled into our home, but also those in spirit in Oklahoma, Kentucky, and even Germany! I love you all! :)...After we skinned the Christmas tree to the bone (thats not actually a metaphor but I like it) we continued our Christmas traditions with the annual waffle, bacon, and fruit salad breakfast at my Aunt and Uncle's house. Leaving with a few more gifts (Charly-I love my teddy bear sweatshirt!), and a few more pounds, we headed back to our house to finish up the final cleaning (yay) for our party at 5! I skipped out on the cleaning and escaped to my neighbors home to search for their cat, Tibby. She was gone for 4 days on my watch. Thats enough to make a cat-sitter a little nervous. But she finally came back. Shew. At About 4ish Mom summoned me home to join the pre-party make up party! Kelly (the Mary Kay Extraordinaire) helped me out with my makeup while Autry did her curls with her new HerStyler Wand (truly a magical wand). We all looked beauutiifull for our partayyy. The rest of the fam, and a few extras, including two opera singing men and Momma's longtime friend Mrs. Patricia, arrived about 5 ish. At 5:30 Gramps blessed the food and the mad dash began. I was about 5th in line. Yes. Our Christmas dinner potluck was a success. Baked carrots, broccoli casserole, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, roasted turkey and the like. It was heaven. To say I ate a lot would be a ridiculous understatement. The crazy game of 5.00 gifts in which I came away with "Cooking for Your Cat" (featured in my earlier post), a few more hours of cousin bonding and, finally, hesitant, but content, goodbyes ended the truly wonderful Christmas day. Oh! And I can't end this post with out a shout out to Jesus- "The Reason for the Season!" Annoyingly cheesy but so right. Thank you Jesus. For your incredible grace and truth that made this such a wonderful day. We are so honored to celebrate your birthday! I apologize for the length of this post, but there is just so much wonderfulness to say about Christmas and I know I left out so much!  I really hope that everyone had a wonderful day as well. God Bless.