Christmas Day 6 - THE DAY IS HERE

Christmas morning, we woke up and exchanged gifts at Rachel's house. She got the Juicer that she had been wanting, so I now have more vitamins in me than a GNC store. I got some really neat I-Pod accessories from her mom and dad and her sister got me another kickin dress shirt for work (her gift last year took me through a successful job interview and some intense customer meetings; it is my "lucky" shirt). Rachel's dad also got us a remote control car starter... ahh the joys of living in the north.
After lunch, we headed to Knoxville for Christmas with my extended family. We arrived at my cousin Reid's (and his wife Renee's) house around 6 PM for dinner. After dinner, we watched Renee's and Reid's kids - Kara and Ryan - open their presents. Kara is 4 1/2 and Ryan is 2, so they are prime for getting hyped for Christmas. He was especially funny, as he is at the age where he babbles on about something all of the time, but you can't quite catch everything he says.

It was also good to see my Uncle Stan, pictured above with Mom, Aunt Lou and Renee's parents, Ronnie and Kaye, and her brother Ronnie. We are one big happy meshed family on Christmas evening each year.

Reflections - The Christmas Spirit
Unlike Rachel, who does not allow me to put up Christmas decorations until the weekend of Thanksgiving and who makes me take them down the weekend between Christmas in New Year, some people really have the Christmas Spirit. Here are some pictures of one that I really get a kick out of. Seaborn and Sandy, who I have never met, live about 5 minutes from mom and dad. They would be a great target for an "Eco-conservative" as Reed referred to himself, as I am pretty sure they are using enough electricity each night to power Las Vegas for an hour. Unfortunately, I had to take 3 pictures because the decorations run all the way up to the road making it impossible for me to fit it in in one single shot.