Memaw's 90th Birthday Party and Christmas in Mathis

On December 22nd my wonderful grandmother, Shirley Mae (Weaver) Bryan turned 90 years old. I can only dare to dream of making it to 90 years. Her beloved husband, my Papa (Tomas Scott Bryan), passed away at 90 years old in early 2011 (before his 91st birthday), so at least I have the genetic foundation of longevity on that side of the family. Most of my life I called my grandmother 'Memaw,' but more recently she goes by 'Gigi' (for great-grandmother). She is part of the greatest generation and is truly an amazing woman. I have treasured memories of spending a week at a time with her and Papa in the summer. She is a talented artist and seamstress. She made wedding dresses for my cousin and big sister as well as countless dresses for the porcelain dolls she made and showed competitively. She frequently brought home the blue ribbon because of the detail she was able to put into their costumes and wigs which, by the way, she also sometimes made herself from angora goat hair. She also made us all quilts and crochet blankets. Up until recently she, and a few of her friends who have passed on, owned a ceramic shop where other ladies would come for painting lessons. My grandma could pour, fire and paint beautiful ceramic and porcelain figures and helped us learn to do the same. I even painted a porcelain doll (with a lot of her help). She can also paint on canvas and plates, but the dolls are what I associate most with her. More importantly, my grandmother taught us all lessons about loving unconditionally, serving others, how to act like a lady, how to set a dinner table, helping to prepare and serve dinner and countless others that I can't put words to. We love her in a million different ways and are so blessed to still have her with us. 

On December 20th (Saturday) we went down to South Texas for her birthday party. The whole family gathered at Smolick's in Mathis for BBQ. We made it to the restaurant in time (minor miracle) but I was stressed and grumpy for the majority of the time there. After lunch we went back to Grandma's house and spent time together as one big family. The kids opened Christmas presents (so many presents!) after Grandma opened her birthday presents. I didn't take a ton of pictures but instead enjoyed the time with family that we don't see nearly enough. It's a good thing I soaked up all that good-feeling togetherness because that night Olivia woke up at 10:30 pm and we didn't get her back to sleep until 3:30 am (mommy and daddy 4:00 am) screaming the whole time and keeping the whole house up, except the kids. That includes Nathan who was in the same room with us and maybe budged once the whole time. She woke up sometime around 6:30 am happy as a clam. Mommy, not so much. We got up and let daddy sleep in for a while (at least as much as you can sleep with 4 kids in the house). It was not pleasant.

Later that morning we went to church with mom and then intended to go home. I originally wanted to stay only one night because of the disruption in the kids' sleep pattern (validated) but Jimmy had convinced me on Saturday to stay until Monday. Then we didn't sleep. So, I said we were going home on Sunday after church. No way was I doing that again!

Then we went to church and as we were leaving I introduced myself to one of the members and they said, "Oh, she's been talking about this for weeks" (all her babies coming to Mathis). Rats. Eldest daughter guilt kicked in (coupled with the fact that I really did want to spend some "just us" time with mom without the whole rest of the family). So we stayed Sunday night too and Olivia didn't make a peep the entire night. Rotten pole cat.

Stay tuned for Christmas installment #2. Here are some of the pictures I did manage to take of our visit to Mathis. 

My beautiful little sister and my littlest angel.

Evidently, this bear looked like he needed a kiss. 

Mommies and munchkins making gingerbread houses

The doctor kit that Chance received from us was a hit among the kids. The spent the rest of the day checking everyone out.

Uncle Jimmy picked out a circuit building kit for Allen. All of the other kids are too young for Jimmy's sciency present ideas, so Allen bears the brunt. Sorry, buddy.

Playing with the kids' presents is a time honored tradition.

Finished circuit! 

Making sure Uncle Jimmy's ears look good.

Our sweet little boys at the end of the day. A great time was had by all.... 

...and then this happened. This picture was taken at around 3:00 am during one of the final attempts to get her to stay asleep. 

The only three in the house un-phased by the trauma of the night before.

"But look how cute I am, Mommy!"