My parents holding their gifts from us

 Nan holding up her gift

 Nathan opening up a few of his gifts from my parents

A Tommy Hilfiger sweater I helped my mom pick out for Nathan

CHRISTMAS WITH MY PARENTS

We have been spending Thanksgiving with my parents since last year and will probably do it again next year because we spend Christmas with Nathan's family.   Ever since my grandmother Mema passed away, my parents said they would rather hold off spending Christmas with us until we have kids....we always had Christmas at Mema's house so it just doesn't feel the same without her.    Thanksgiving is always with my aunt, uncle, and cousins so we have fun....and therefore, Nathan and I haven't had an issue with this arrangement.   We are lucky to be able to have Nathan's parents come here for a week from South Carolina at Christmas and really love being able to see them longer than just a weekend--which is probably what Thanksgiving would be like.    

We had Christmas with my parents, my grandmother Nan and my sister at our house last night.   Nathan is playing at a church program on Sunday morning so we couldn't drive to MP to do Christmas and I asked my parents to make the drive here.   It was a really nice evening and I enjoyed just hanging out at our house.   Nathan went to our butcher to get some great steaks and I went to the store to get baked potatoes, baked beans, asparagus, rolls and salad.   With my IBS, I can't have a lot of red meat so I only ate a few bites of a filet but the steak was soooo good.   Nathan did a great job on the seasoning and grilling....even my Dad loved them and he is very picky.   Anyway, we all ate way too much and loved every minute.   After dinner, we drove around and looked at Christmas lights in our neighborhood--there are some houses that have done an awesome job on their lights!   We came home and opened presents.   I pretty much knew what I was getting since I specifically asked for the things I wanted.   I got a new lamp for our living room and my mom did a great job picking it out--it is big but I love it!   My parents had also bought us a rug for our entry way about a month ago and Nan bought one of my extra dining room chairs so that was part of our Christmas too.   I got some new house shoes, a few pull-overs, and my standard gifts of new pajamas, candy, and fuzzy socks.   ;)   Nathan got a couple of nice sweaters and shirts along with a North Face pull-over.   I was pretty proud of myself for the gifts I picked out for my parents.   They are always in their outdoor kitchen, even in the winter, and I bought a large metal container to put wine and beer in with ice along with a blanket that matches their decor.   In the container, I put some Dill Pickle Popcorn from a place here that my mom loves, a TCU glass, a hat for my dad, some house shoes for my dad, a wine stopper for my mom and some fuzzy socks.    All things that I know they will use and that they like.   For Nan, I got her a Bath and Body Works gift set because you can never have enough of that stuff.   We got Megan an American Express gift card.    All in all, it was a great "Christmas" with the Johnson clan!