An early Christmas with Santa - Um, I mean Grandma & Grampy

Chris’s parents made a long-detour from Texas to come to Asheville for a few days on their way up to Northern Wisconsin to celebrate the holidays, spending three straight days spoiling and smooching on their grandchildren. And their visit was a total treat for Chris and I as well, not only to have family in town, but allowing us to take advantage of the free-babysitting that grandparents generally pride themselves on, and giving us the opportunity to finish up our Christmas shopping and partake in such luxurious activities as taking naps and watching football games without having to switch to cartoons during commercial breaks.

And because it is so close to Christmas, and because our tree was about to tip over with all the presents they brought to put underneath it, we let Taylor and Luke open up a few gifts from their Grampy and Grandma, allowing Greg and Sue the pleasure of seeing the kids erupt in pure joy and excitement as they ripped the paper off their new, favorite treasures.

And Chris and I were just expecting Luke to have zero interest in the toys beneath the shiny, crinkly paper that they were wrapped them, as Taylor was so preoccupied with the bows and wrapping at his age. So imagine our surprise when Luke went absolutely bonkers for the first toy he opened. It probably had something to do with it being a huge truck, especially since, up to this point, he had been playing with all of the Princess’s hand-me-down pink, plastic toys.

Y’all, if you could have seen him in action you would have died laughing. He was whooping like a bird and bouncing up and down on the seat of his truck. And when Chris tried picking him up off of it, he screamed and held on so tight he actually lifted the monster-toy off the ground. It was hilarious. He’s very happy about his new macho toy, and I think it’s rubbing off on him.

So while their visit was short, it was packed full of fun. As hard as it is for us to be so far away from our families, especially during the holidays, it is equally as hard for them as well. And I like to remind both my parents and Greg and Sue that now that we are nearly nine years removed from the Midwest, Chris and I, and now Taylor and Luke, have come to savor every second spent with family, and we fully realize that it’s not about the quantity of time we spend together as it is about the quality of the visits. And this was a truly wonderful visit. And it was the perfect preview for the fabulous Christmas weekend ahead of us.