December 1
When Ella stops by to visit, she always asks for cream—
the kind you shake up and squirt from a can. You know, the good stuff.
Knox celebrated the BIG ONE-O with pizza ...
… and a big fat chocolate chip cookie cake.
He’s not used to blowing out all those candles yet.
December 3
Ella likes to help Grandpa feed the birds
Heavenly sunlight in a bright blue late Autumn sky
December 4
Neil and I took Knox and Ella to the depot museum open house
where Santa was receiving requests for Christmas presents.
This is as close as she’d get to the right jolly old elf.
December 11
Ella enjoyed making Christmas cookies with her Aunt Holly
More fun than pint-sized humans should be allowed to have.
Holly said she had to put Ella in the tub after this. No doubt.
December 12
Holly’s birthday wasn’t for another four days, so she never saw it coming ….
She’s shooting that look directly at me even though I had nothing to do with this.
Sorry, Holly, blame it on your dad.
December 14
This is the place for Christmas cookies. And also doughnuts.
December 16
That face you make when you open a Christmas present from your party at school.
December 16
Holly celebrated her 43rd birthday, happily, without the sombrero.
December 18
Saturday brunch with peeps and Anna and Elsa at Grandma’s Pancake House
Elsa’s got her eye on my coffee. She’s probably frozen ….
Do you see it, too?
December 20
Neil and I and a whole bunch of other folks came to pack 1500 food boxes
at Churches of Christ Disaster Relief in Nashville.
December 22
Knox and Ella found our weird version of ‘elf on the shelf’ hiding under the Christmas tree.
Knox doesn’t believe anymore, and Ella doesn’t know enough about it to care.
The ‘elf’ doesn’t perform any tricks, but we move him around the house anyway.
We enjoy a spaghetti dinner topped with my dad’s spaghetti sauce recipe
Ella and Uncle Jerry sharing a moment
December 24
An awesome fiery Christmas Eve sunset that a snapshot can’t do justice
Christmas Eve is our family get-together at our house
She carried that present around after dinner, knowing it was hers
probably because it was wrapped in Mickey Mouse paper.
Christmas peeps Elijah, Shelby, Holly, and Knox
That face you make when you can’t open your presents until
after all the picture-taking is done. And that lasts forever.
Kelly (her mom) took this one and most of the ‘portrait’ shots (thanks for sharing, Kelly!)
Christmas grands Shelby, Elijah, Knox, and Ella
Our two eldest grands Shelby and Elijah
without the usual poke or pinch. Miracles do happen.
Reindeer games
Neil and me with our grand girls 
Ready for the unwrapping
Calm before the storm
The Myers Family
Shelby, Elijah, Jerry, and Holly
Our two youngest grands Knox and Ella
The Kimbrough Family
Kerry, Ella, Knox, and Kelly
Ella found a different gift to hang on to, probably knowing it’s for her
because it’s suspiciously shaped like a Barbie doll box.
Beautiful Shelby
This just might become a tradition
the film before the camera. Oops!
Was Elijah happy about the Mickey Mouse jammy pants?
Kelly will be making lots of coffee
Jingle bells, shot gun shells
Last year on Christmas Day there was a quarter inch of snow on the ground.
Happy Happy Joy Joy
December 29
December 30
Pigged out at Panda Garden, then watched The Matrix. They had never seen it.
December 31
Not sure what Knox unwrapped but pretty sure he liked it.
Jerry can repurpose those shells now
Life Is Good for Kerry who is Yeti to party
I never get tired of that look
Her Barbies got a set of wheels
Holly’s giving praise hands for whatever she found in that box
It is essential to have essential oils for your diffuser.
Shelby’s top two are orange and peppermint.
Knox is big time into the anime character Naruto
(hope I got that right)
Ella’s looking for something with her name on it. Or wrapped in Mickey Mouse paper.
That face you make when you’ve unwrapped the same gift your sister unwrapped earlier
Elijah loves the vintage Nike styles.
Anyone remember this one from ’77?
and you snapped a picture of because you’d like to have one, too.
Jerry will use this bird bag to carry quail when he’s in the field training his
German Shorthaired Pointer, Cooper.
Time to admire his new watch band for his Apple watch
Ella was excited to find a box of Skittles in her stocking.
It’s the little things.
"For Christmas is tradition time—
Traditions that recall
The precious memories down the years,
We had a Merry Christmas!
Traditions that recall
The precious memories down the years,
The sameness of them all.”
~Helen Lowrie Marshall
Hope you did, too!
Oh, snap! You should see some of the photos she’s taken.
December 25
Blueberry waffles, crispy bacon, scrambled eggs, OJ
A Christmas morning tradition that began when Kelly moved away
and came home to stay over the Christmas holiday
Santa brought Ella a kick scooter which she took to immediately.
She tried to race with Knox on his go-kart and got mad at him
when she couldn’t keep up.
Today we got 64 and soggy. I’d rather have the snow.
Christmas Day get-together with some of the Mabry clan at Holly’s house
We enjoyed soups, veggies, and all sorts of yummy goodies
We had fun playing Dirty Santa with a mug exchange
So many pretty packages to choose from
So many mugs to steal
Ooo Ahhh
I don’t think Kelly wanted this one
Knox played along, too. The mug he chose got stolen once or twice but he ended up with it in the end.
These three couldn’t hold onto their mugs for very long.
I know one true thing about this family:
We’re a bunch of ruthless thieves.
We had a great time together, and thanks to the Myers family for hosting once again!
Sweet cousins who have fun being together and keep this traditional group shot going through the years
Merry Christmas from (some of) the Mabry Clan!
December 26
Playing with the Barbie doll house Santa brought you is way more fun
when you’re wearing a tutu and a crash helmet.
(thanks for sharing, Kelly!)
December 27
Knox expressed interest in hiking, so we gave him some hiking gear for Christmas.
He and Neil enjoyed hiking around the woods in the Ensor Park area close to home.
They found this shallow cave and overhang and also an enormous sink hole.
Meanwhile, Ella spent time coloring the Disney coloring pages we gave her for Christmas.
She’s killing two birds with one stone here:
Practicing her coloring in the lines skills and planking, apparently.
We finished off our last two Ralph’s Donut Shop Christmas cookies. Until next year.
Maybe they’ll make some for Valentine’s Day.
Dinner and a movie night with grands Shelby and Elijah.
Red pill or blue pill? Hard to believe that movie is 22 years old.
We always enjoy hanging out with these two.
Thankful they’re still willing to hang out with us old geezers.
We enjoyed a yummy New Year’s Eve dinner at Outback
(thank you Jane and Don for the generous gift card!)
And that’s a wrap for 2021. Can’t say I’m unhappy it’s in the rearview mirror.
Always high hopes for the year to come.
Happy New Year!
“How did it get so late so soon?”
―
―
Year's end is neither an end nor a beginning but a going on, with all the wisdom that experience can instill in us.
- Hal Borland
- Hal Borland
“December, being the last month of the year, cannot help but make us think of what is to come.”
― A Meaningful Life - Fennel's Journal - No. 1
― A Meaningful Life - Fennel's Journal - No. 1
