Christmas with Poppa and Nana Bama

Chocolate Gravy!!!! Only grandmothers start your day with chocolate!

Poppa and Squirrel

Poppa and Nana with 5 of the 8 grandkids.

Squirrel helping Avery open his presents.

The family tree.

Avery getting his money stocking off the tree. It's funny how early they learn what money is!

Christmas at Papa and Mama Brasseal's House

Squirrel on her pig stool from Papa and Mama Brasseal and her new baby doll from Aunt Becky.

This picture of Papa Ron may get me cut from the inheritance!

Franks Cousins

Papa Ron, Nana, Possum, Squirrel, Joshua, and Caleb

Squirrel and Uncle Tommy

Uncle Tommy has worked and worked to make friends with Squirrel. He finally scored the victory during Christmas! Now she and and Uncle Tommy are big friends.

Christmas Morning-The "Big" Surprise

The only thing that Possum asked for this Christmas was a gun cabinet. I don't know if you have ever searched for a real child-sized gun cabinet before, but you can't find one. Joel decided that he would build him one. After this decision was made we then decided that if he was building something for Possum he would have to build something for Squirrel, thus the vanity table.

The kids have known that Daddy was making them something for Christmas, but they had no clue what it was. Every time Possum would ask for the gun cabinet I would tell him that I couldn't find one in the store or on the computer anywhere to buy. On Christmas morning both kids opened up their new guns. Joel was kinda poking at him and said "It sure would be nice if you had a gun cabinet to put that in." Possum replied "It's okay Daddy. I'll just put it with my other guns in my pretend cabinet." When he opened the cabinet next he was so excited. Squirrel was equally happy with her vanity table and they were both very thankful to their Daddy for making them these nice presents.

I was very impressed with Joel's work. He worked long and hard on these gifts making sure every little detail was perfect. I'm sure these will be pieces that the kids will treasure for years to come. When we got back home last night these were the first two things they wanted unloaded and in their rooms. Possum would tell me to stop what I was doing and come get him settled in. He had all of his guns and "ammo" neatly put away in his cabinet within five minutes of being home. Squirrel has never been prissier. She has put so much "make-up" on since we got home and just looks at herself in the mirror.

Christmas Morning

There had been great anticipation over these "big" presents that Daddy had been mysteriously working on for weeks. Possum and Squirrel couldn't wait for Christmas morning so they could finally see what Daddy had made!

Christmas with Nai Nai

Do you think Squirrel could have been any more excited? Wonder who she takes that after?

Christmas Puppies

Waiting for the big surprise!

A sick Squirrel

We started our Christmas vacation on Tuesday, December 23. Our day started early as Daddy pulled us out of bed to head to Alabama. Squirrel wasn't feeling very good that morning and quickly went back to sleep on the couch as we packed the vehicle.

After a quick stop to pick up a Christmas surprise, we were on our way. When we arrived in Alabama the surprise could not be hidden any longer. Possum and Squirrel can both count and they were counting more than one dog nose sticking out of the box. We had brought our beagle Brownie with us and had stopped to pick up two more beagle pups as Christmas surprises. The kids were very surprised! They named them Copper and Chief (from "The Fox and the Hound").