Black Mountain/Knoxville Festivities

As usual, it was a fabulous whirlwind trip to the Western North Carolina mountains for our traditional family Christmas. This year, we also made a one-day drive into Tennessee to see Les, Donna and Chris at Tim and Lisa's new house. (Love the new house, guys! And thanks for hosting us!) I didn't take as many pictures as usual, but here are a few highlights from our trip.


















Grandma Donna gets a load of Ollie. He loved taking tour after tour of the house with her!
















Merrit and Cousin Kylee had Nerf Gun wars. Very intense.














"Bond. James Bond."


















After a delicious meal, we opened gifts.


















Merrit gives Aunt Rita a "thank you" hug.


















"Daddy, not so high!"


















Tim and Lisa have a beautiful Christmas tree.

















Granddaddy Haynes and Rocky exchanging gifts.


















A pretty competitive game of basketball helped us burn off the ham, mashed potatoes, corn pudding, and ALL THOSE DESSERTS!


















Merrit got in on the b-ball action, too!


















Ollie just watched.













Back at Nanny's, it was time for opening presents together as a family.


















Newlyweds Page and Andrew snuggled in Papa Clyde's chair.













Great stories are told and great memories are made around the dinner table.

















Uncle Gilbert puts finishing touches on his talent show performance. I didn't take any pictures of the talent show, but it is ALL ON VIDEO TAPE. Can you say, "Blackmail," anyone?


















Santa's busiest elf kicks back for some well-deserved rest.


















We all piled onto the front steps for a family portrait. No, we don't normally look like this...this was the "goofy" shot. :-)

As I write this, we are now in Charlotte at the home of Tom, Durenda and Paul. I'm signing off now; we're getting ready to ring in the New Year. Happy 2009, everyone!

Christmas Day with the Langness Family

Guitar Hero. Light Sabers. Nerf Guns. Shrimp Cocktail. Fudge. Yep, it must be an evening spent with Josh, Brandie, Melanie, Zach, and Sammy Langness.

We had, as always, a great time! Thanks for all your hospitality and great food!

Christmas Morning

Merry Christmas everyone!


















I think this year's Christmas tree might just be the prettiest one yet. We bought it at the Farmer's Market, fresh from Allegheny County. It is gorgeous...and smells wonderful.













Santa was good to our stockings this year! (No aerosol spray cans of silly string IN the stockings...over the hot fire...THIS YEAR.)













Ollie got this cute cat-stacker wooden toy.


















Mike, as always, donned his "Flake" T-shirt and his Santa hat.


















A fabric book for Ollie.


















This is the fleece blanket that my friend, Brandy, and I made for Ollie. Merrit, who picked out the fabric for the blanket, gave this gift to Ollie.













Santa brought Ollie a ball-and-hammer game. It was a big hit with both boys!


















Ollie loved playing with the plastic balls. They were just the right size to fit in his hands.













Daddy looks on while the boys have fun with their toys.













Tempra paint. For both boys to do arts and crafts.













Great gifts were had by all. Tonight, we're going over to the Langness household to have dinner and dessert.

And tomorrow, it'll be time to pack up and get ready to go "over the river and through the woods" to Nanny's house. See you in Black Mountain, everyone!

Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve here at the Haynes house and that means we sit down to celebrate each other and the season with a delicious meal, time together, Christmas Eve pajamas, cookies for Santa, and our well-seasoned 15-year-old catnip ornaments for the kitties...drives 'em craaazy.













For dinner, we had ham, asparagus, mashed potatoes, baked apples, and carrot cake for dessert. I'm not sure who's the bigger ham: The spiral ham on the table or Merrit.


















Okay, hands down, Merrit wins the "ham" contest.


















Grizzly bear PJs for the Merrit man.













Skippy, in a catnip coma, allows the littlest Haynes to get close enough to pet her. This MAY be a first. And, yes, she probably needed to be drugged to let it happen!













Mike picked out some tunes on the guitar while we put out cookies and milk for Santa.


















The kids are in their PJs and now it's time to say, "Merry Christmas to all...and to all a good night."

Great-Aunt Karen in Town

Ollie's Great-Aunt Karen and Cousin Carlos passed through town yesterday on their way home from a warm, sunny vacation. They stopped in, we had dinner together and then opened presents. The next morning, we took them to the train station to put them on the Amtrak train back to NYC. It was a short visit, but a fun one!

Gingerbread Houses with the Hutchins Girls

Our friends the Hutchinses invited us over to make gingerbread houses yesterday. And then today, Merrit and I put the house together and decorated it while Ollie napped.


















Merrit and Breanna cutting out gingerbread men.


















Ollie and Bethany get in on the fun.













Ready for the oven...


















Back at our house, we're ready to assemble and decorate the gingerbread house.


















Built. Ready to decorate.













Delicious!













"Taaa Daaa!"