#1,108 Christmas Day.
We woke up at mama’s and had Annalee’s from-scratch cinnamon rolls for breakfast but we quickly got dressed and out the door. We had to get an early start on our traveling for the day since horrible weather (as in, Jim Cantore is in the next town awaiting the tornadoes) was bearing down from the west. We ran home to get showered and dressed for a day of Napier Christmasing:
We opened our gifts to each other before we left, and Ben found the perfect leg warmer/boot socks for all of my riding boots and wellies. I’ll be wearing these every single day until March, so don’t hate.
And Ben had an Old Try Christmas. We love every single thing they make, and Micah who owns The Old Try graduated from Ole Miss’s art department just a couple years before me. They’re such good people and they make nothing but prints and things that pay tribute to southern culture, so Ben’s crazy about it all.
He got a t-shirt:
Then he gave me several books to add to the collection. For every special occasion he gives me books with handwritten messages inside the cover. My favorites are the first editions that are used and sometimes tattered, though this one was in great shape. It’s called Here is New York by E.B. White, who also wrote Charlotte’s Web. New York is our favorite city, and the message inscribed inside as a gift to the original owner was so bizarre and funny it might be my favorite thing from Ben.
It says, ‘Agatha, The money’s here, hon, here. L, Michael’
Ben’s been wanting a glass bottle opener forever so I found a very old original Coca-Cola one on ebay that we can mount to the cabinets in the kitchen.
And then he got another Old Try shirt, a nod to his high school years in North Carolina and his Duke basketball obsession:
I got a fabulous little pair of soft, delicate all-leather saddle Oxfords!
And one more from The Old Try, a handmade limited edition ticking stripe bow tie. Ben and Trent Mulloy both got one and only 30 of them were made. Which means almost 10% of the existing bow ties live in Laurel, Mississippi. Isn’t that crazy?
“Is it an engagement ring?!”
It’s a necklace!
How cute is this stand mixer with spoons charm?
And for a funny, this hysterical magnet was in my stocking:
Then we hurried over to Ben’s grandparents for Christmas lunch in Collins. With the terrible weather getting closer and closer, we left quickly to try and beat the storm to Newton.
We didn’t beat the storm. In fact, we rode through the worst of it for about 30 miles and I was a nervous wreck. BUT we made it safe and sound and spent about 10 minutes in Ben’s parents’ spotless living room before pandemonium broke out and wrapping paper went flying.
Jesse relaxed in his Christmas sweatshirt.
And here’s what 4 sons, 3 daughters-in-law, 3 grandkids and 2 grandparents can do in 15 minutes. After we cleared out most of the wrappings, there was an intense 2 hour round of Catchphrase. The Rev and I almost came to blows when he wouldn’t take the game from me as the buzzer went off. 5 different times.
Merry Christmas!
