A Very Merry McCarty Christmas

I grew up in a fairly small to average size family. My mom has 2 siblings who each have only one child & my dad has 3 siblings with 4 children between all of them. We also don't live close to any of my family members...the closest are about 2 hours away. Both sets of my grandparents lived very close to each other, but we were always at least a 4 hour drive away...therefore, we only saw them several times a year and rarely were my cousins and I there at the same time. But when I married into the McCarty family the size of my family grew exponentially! Both sets of Arch's grandparents are from towns just outside of Lexington and both his parent's have large families. His dad's family LOVES a reunion so twice a year we have family reunions that usually have close to 100 people in attendance. This past weekend we had our annual McCarty Christmas with Arch's dad's immediate family (just his brother and sister's families). Arch's Papa Bruce loved to have all his family around him every chance he got. He passed away just before Arch & I were married, so I didn't get to spend very many Christmas's with him before he passed, but I was always made to feel welcome even before I was an official member of the family. The dinner location has changed every year, but where ever we are for dinner they put up Papa Bruce's Christmas tree complete with all the handmade family ornaments...I'm kicking myself for not getting a picture of it! I did however get some pictures of the grandchildren playing together. Ruth Ann is presently the youngest great-grandchild, however, there's another one on the way...not from our side of the family, Arch's cousin Jenna is due in March...and the oldest are in their late teens. Spencer was the oldest there this year and was quite the entertainment for the younger kids...











(This is Jenna, she's due in March with the next McCarty baby)













This is Ruth Ann with her cousin Madison. Madison stays with Arch's parents in the afternoon with Ruth Ann so these two have gotten to be very close. When Ruth Ann sees Madison she almost leaps out of my arms for Madison to hold her. Madison is a very sweet little girl and I'm so thankful that she has good role models like Madison in her life. As you can see by the picture...she loves her cousin!

Then it was time for presents! Only the little kids exchange names for presents...this year we had Kayla & Kale...



This is Kayla opening her gift...there was a lot going on and this is the best I could get of her with her gift.



Kale got a little help from his mom.





We got Kale a toy truck set and I also made a shirt for him. His mom & I are Facebook friends so she has seen Ruth Ann in a lot of the shirts I have made for Ruth Ann. She usually comments on them, so I thought I could make a cute one for her little guy. This little lab applique is precious and has become one of my favorites for little boys! She obviously love it!

Ruth Ann got a Glow Worm from Kale which she also needed a little help opening...luckily she has a lot of people looking out for her...







All this present opening wore this little girl out...she stopped what she was doing and laid down on the floor!





We're still working on Ruth Ann learning to love her baby dolls...Madison is doing her best to get Ruth Ann to expect the newest member of her baby collection.



But even with all her new toy to play with...she still played with this...



Then she spotted one of her cousin's new toy...



Then she took off towards the big girls to see what they got...



In all the present opening festivities Ruth Ann's hair bow fell out or was pulled out...shocking...but Grandaddy was there to fix her hair...it was a good attempt!