Christmas at Home – Part II

Christmas Day came and went…and still we had a terrific Christmas family gathering to look forward to at our home here in East Tennessee!

Winters here in this part of the world are pretty mild when we look back on our many cold and snowy years in St. Louis Missouri, Attleboro Massachusetts, and of course, Chicago!  When our next guests arrived on December 28th, it was in the mid-60’s at our house…

Our first sighting of our visitors was when they pulled into our driveway.  We weren’t surprised to see our family from Omaha but we were stunned to see who was driving!  Our 16 year old grandson and my namesake, David III, was behind the wheel… Time flies faster each year!

It’s a one and a half day journey from Omaha to the Knoxville area and the family was tired!  It didn’t take much time for David III, Emmett Lee and their mom, Amy, to settle in and chill out… Welcome to paradise east!

Here’s Daddy…aka David II!  The family’s post-Christmas schedule included dental work for both boys, one on the 26^th and the other on the 27^th.  They then drove to Clarksville Tennessee to spend the night before the final leg to our house.  

This isn’t the greatest photo but the family, especially Emmett and David III, (shown here), had a fun and surreal time with the Samsung Virtual Reality Oculus that came with the new phone Laurie got for Christmas!  The boys were panicked at times as they rode a roller coaster, fought of scary creatures, etc.  They waved their arms around and both of them almost fell over using this new piece of technology.

Here is Emmett Lee (13) playing a video game while enjoying a bowl of ice cream.  The good news is that he isn’t always in the electronic world.  He loves track, basketball and football.  He has a great arm and he catches equally well.  Even more important, he’s a great student!

While Emmett Lee was doing his thing, David III (16) was following suite with his ice cream and a video game.  David III loves snowboarding and soccer plus he’s an exemplary student!

David II and Amy were very happy to receive another one of my mother’s abstract paintings to add to their growing collection!  We’ve been parceling them out to David II and his family for the last several years. 

I took this photo of David and Amy when we went out to eat at Chili’s.  They have been married over 19 years.  They met at a party in Chicago and the rest as the saying goes “is history”.  As you can see, they still like each other!

Of course, Laurie (Nana) and I (Papa) still like each other too, although there are times that I do push the limits of her patience!  In April, we will have been married for 38 years…

In this photo David III is paying the penalty for looking at his phone instead of focusing on the family gathering.  You can imagine that no 16 year old boy wants any public displays of affection from grandparents in a public place.  He only had to be ‘punished’ once!

What a laid back group!  Amy, David III, Emmett Lee and Nana (aka Laurie) all cozied up on the couch.  David II and I had a football game on that no one else was watching…

On the morning of their departure the males in the pride posed together.  It’s obvious that by this time next year, I’ll be on the left as the shortest and David II will switch places with David III!  At least this old lion can partially blame my height on shrinkage due to aging… As per the doctors, Emmett Lee will probably top out at 6’3”…a little shorter than his dad…and David III is projected to reach 6’7”.

The final photo from the visit had to be one of our loving Omaha clan.  (David III, Amy, Emmett Lee and David II) From our house, they were off to Indianapolis to visit Amy’s family for a couple of days before dashing back to Omaha.

But there is one more Holiday related family photo to share... Every year Amy comes up with a theme and everyone gets into appropriate costume for the family Christmas Card.  In the past they’ve been super heroes or wizardly characters.  This year Amy outdid herself!

How about these elves on the shelf!  What imagination… Amy’s 3 ‘boys’ must really love her just to put these elf costumes on!  I’m not sure which of the 4 poses is my favorite but I do like David II’s soulful look.  Great job family!

We hope that everyone had a terrific Christmas and that all of you will have a Happy and Healthy New Year!

That’s all for now… Just click on any of the photos to enlarge them.

Thanks for stopping by for a visit!

Take Care, Big Daddy Dave and Laurie