The Holidays: Christmas

The McGavock Christmas Tree

We arrived in Virgina on 26 Dec. at 6am and, after a brief nap at my sister's, we celebrated Christmas the rest of the day. Though we had agreed on not exchanging gifts of much monetary value, we still found some fun items to bestow upon each other. Prime example, Carolyn and Adam found some 'vintage' glasses: Lando Calrissian from "The Empire Strikes Back" for Matt and Miss Piggy for me. Unfortunately, Matt's glass wasn't robust, and it broke seconds after opening.


Matt sad, Amy happy.

A Split, Croatia football club scarf from my dad was a big hit, as Matt's grandma is Croatian.


Carolyn thought my homemade bird portraits were professional, and she really liked the smell of her new hand lotion.


Mom showing off her new slipper socks, and Adam with the big gift of the night: Wii Fit.

Nintendo's Brain Age captivated my grandmother, and Adam's step-niece liked her penguin stuffed animal. After receiving a stack of books, she made it clear that she would have preferred more toys. However, my mom, Matt and I all took turns reading to Skyler, and we felt better when we caught her reading on her own later in the day.


Carla explains Brain Age to my grandma, and Skyler, less than enthusiastically, opens another book.


Entertaining Skyler: Matt reads "Where the Wild Thing Are" and my mom sings (in a way) Christmas songs.

The rest of the day was filled with food and family time. I think we did a good job of looking like we like each other in the photos--except for one of them.


Carolyn and I are all hugs, until a second after the posed shot. I love my unintentional, please get away from me, look.


Nan, Mom, Carolyn and Matt sit down for dinner, and my dad poses with his girls.


The weary travelers--I changed for bed even before the second round of gift opening.