Christmas Parade

We're trying our best to get into the Christmas spirit around here, but we've had a few hurdles since Thanksgiving - like Clemson football losses, colds, fevers, National Board Examinations, and new teeth (more on that later).

In all seriousness, we planned to fully immerse ourselves in all things Christmas this past weekend. Sadly, John's grandfather passed away, and we headed up the road one more time to attend his funeral and visit with family. John's grandfather was not only a veteran, but served in three different wars (World War II, Korean, and Vietnam wars). He was buried with full military rites, which was a very moving site. We are very thankful he got a chance to meet Whit before he passed away, and are also thankful that he did not have to suffer very long. When John & I met seven years ago, we had six living grandparents between the two of us. It has been a rough seven years for grandparents, and we are now down to one. Grandaddy Madden you best not go anywhere any time soon!!

A picture of John, his dad, Whit & his Papa taken Father's Day weekend this past June.

The weekend before last, we did manage to squeeze in a little Christmas fun. We skipped Whit's afternoon nap (as evidenced by the droopy-eyed photos below), and headed downtown for the Charleston Christmas parade. It actually felt like Christmas outside for a change! Whit was quite serious during the parade, and wasn't sure what to think. That is until a very, very loud group of Harley motorcycles in the parade revved their engines in front of us. Then he was quite positive that he did not like them. Overall, it was a success! Next on the list is a Christmas tree & a visit to meet Santa for the first time! Wish us luck!

I mentioned teeth earlier. When I went to pick up Whit at school today, our favorite teacher met me at the door and said, "I don't know what you did with my Whit-Whit over the weekend, but you better bring my Whit-Whit back tomorrow." Apparently he'd been crying all day, which is not at all like him. He also cried most of the way home, and most of the evening. Just when I was starting to worry that he might be getting sick again, I noticed a tiny bit of white poking out of his top gum. So bring on the top teeth! By the way, if John were typing, the previous sentence would have read "I observed number #9 protruding from the maxillary anterior gingiva" - aren't you glad I'm typing?!!.

After the motocycles.

Taking it all in...

We ran into our friends the Abeds while we were there. Their daughter is 2 months younger than Whit & she loved him (or rather the truck on his shirt that she kept trying to get).

Pooped after all the parade excitement.