Kawells in AL: Merry Christmas!!

Um, not quite. But I (Abby) have been hoarding this blog for far too long, and I realized that nobody (ahem!) UPDATED THE BLOG WHILE I WAS AWAY! Consequently, there are no Christmas or New Years posts. So, having gone through the pictures and determined that several are too good to waste, I’ve decided to go back in time and update. A very late update. Anyway… Fire up the time machine and let’s go back…

To Christmas Eve! Yes, not even Christmas Eve is too sacred for cards!

Our dear friends, the Daileys came over for a delicious feast of-

With-

…for dessert, and lots and lots of-

Let’s see, that’s sweet tea in the background, apple cider in the middle, three cartons of eggnog, and chocolate milk in front.

But Santa has always preferred regular milk.

Mama and Mrs. Dailey visit in the kitchen. The evening finished with the final chapter of The Christmas Carol and many more carols sung around the tree. It was a wonderful evening! Now let’s move ahead a few more hours…

Christmas morning!

Nothing’s cuter than a nine-year-old on Christmas morning!

A Matt Forte jersey!

And yes, that’s a poker set.

Complete with a card shuffler.

But hey! He also got three worship songbooks for piano!

And Nathan got a Bible!

Nothing says Christmas morning like a blown-glass pickle! Here is the explanation, stolen from last year’s post.

According to family tradition, every Christmas morning 'Santa' hides 'the pickle' (a pickle-shaped, blown-glass ornament) somewhere in the tree. The first child to find it is the first to open his gifts. Then that child hides it again after he is done opening his gifts and the second child to find it is the second one to open. It's a pretty wild scramble!