Thursday, December 23, 2010

Christmas with Sam and Day 1 in Maryland

WHEW....the Hustle and Bustle of the season is being felt in the Atwood home. We just returned from a wonderful trip to Maryland, where we saw all of Brian's family. The night before we left for Maryland, Sam and T. Robert came over to have their Christmas with us. Lilly, of course loved every minute of it. There is the little "cheeser" with Sam. As you can see in the background our O'Reilly Factor is going strong....I swear, Brian Atwood will not turn that man off for anything!
T. Robert, Sam and Lilly
So, we arrived in Maryland late Saturday night and the next day, Brian's sister, Jamie, had everyone over to visiti with us all. I did manage to get a few pictures throughout the day of Lilly and some various family members. Of course, here she is ALL HUGGED up on Garrett and Broc and Aunt Betty. They entered the room and she was "smitten". She could not keep her hands off of them. Broc and Garrett are the twin boys of a close family friend of Brian and his family. He talks about Paula like she is his sister, so it is always so wonderful to see her and her sweet family. Poor Aunt Betty is being attacked by the babies. She is such a great sport! We love you Aunt Betty!

Lilly has always loved her Uncle Buck. This is her third time to see him and her affection just keeps growing. This time it didn't hurt at all that he had a nice big piece of chocolate cake in front of him that he shared with her.
I must say that I do think that she had the most fun with her cousin Kyle on this particular day. He will be 3 in June, so they were able to somewhat communicate with each other and have all the fun that they could handle in an afternoon. They ran from one side of the room to the other 9 million times and had the best time together. Lilly does not have cousins on my side of the family yet, and it warms my heart to see her playing with little ones her age that are related to her. It has been really neat to see that interaction between her two cousins in Maryland.
I think this was probable one of the very first presents that Lilly opened this Christmas season. It is not taking her long to figure it all out. Aunt kk, Brian's middle sister, let her open one early.
Uncle John is by far one of the hightlights of all my trips to Maryland. He loves life and it shows wherever he is. He has such a wonderful way of making you feel important and loved. I knew that Lilly would be so taken with him, and I was right. Uncle John is a riot and is just that Uncle that every family has, a fun lovin, joke tellin, full of life Uncle. She took up with him that day too, and loved him the rest of the weekend. It is always good to see Uncle John, Aunt Sharon and thier daughters, Nicki and Amy.
And the MAIN REASON that we went to Maryland in the first place is for this sweet, precious soul, GRANDMA McDANIEL. Grandma is 90, can you believe that this vibrant, vivacious, and beautiful lady is 90? I know, I didn't believe it either. But, the truth is, she is and Grandma seems to think that her time clock is getting shorter. We tell her that is nonsense, but at the same time respect the fact that she is 90 years old and listen when she tells you to do something. Grandma seemed to be feeling great that day, and I have a feeling that having most of her grandchildren and her 3 great grandchildren in one place helped tremendously. Lilly did her part to warm grandma's heart. In between running laps with Kyle, she would take a breather on Grandma's lap and she took a book over and asked Grandma to read it to her. PRICELESS, I tell you, just priceless.
What I would give for my Grandmama to be able to hold my Lilly today. You never stop missing them when they are gone. Grandmama was 89 when she went to be with Jesus. She lived a long and happy life and was ready to go home. I could have kept her around a few more years, and seeing Grandma McDaniel holding Lilly made me miss her so much more. God is good, though, because Lilly and Grandma have these memories together, and for that I am truly thankful and know that they are too.

The rest of the week was full of Christmas cheer as well, so stay tuned for more of our Maryland Christmas!
Love,
the Atwoods








1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I sure had my hands full and was wondering how I was going to get up off the floor since I'm not 21 anymore, LOL! Lilly was so precious with the little ones ... she kept stroking their faces and hair. She is just a doll. We love your visits and wish they were more often! Love you all, Aunt Betty