Steve and his brothers, Picture taken by Steve's mom
Steve's mom dropped him off at our house about noon on Christmas day. He was smiling and happy. He had already had a good Christmas. His mom carried a huge heavy Christmas bag of presents from her and Santa and his brothers. She said the bag was heavy because his big gift from her was a coffee maker. He was wearing his new shoes from brother, Ted.
In the bedroom, he changed into the sweatshirt and CSX cap from MeeMaw. That was his outfit for the rest of Christmas day and the next day, too. You can see a bit of his railroad theme socks. He wore them two days, too.
Shortly after he arrived Sonja, Samantha, and Reagan arrived. Tom and I were scurrying around in the kitchen and dining room, putting Christmas dinner on the table. Neither of us thought about taking photos. We had Cadbury milk chocolates and shortbread assortment from Ray and Gretchen for our dessert (and the cherry pie that Tom had requested) Reagan, unknown to us, took a few photos and posted them on Facebook. Thank you, Reagan.
After dinner, we moved to the living room. That's where we were when Ray called from London, UK to tell all of us hello (especially Steve) and asked how he liked his Christmas gifts. He still hadn't opened the gifts from his dad and Gretchen.
But,after the call, he opened their Christmas gifts. These photos are especially for them.
He opened the two DVDs...Norfolk Southern's 30th Anniversary Heritage Locomotives and
Modern Marvels, The London Underground. (After he finished unwrapping the other gifts, he immediately disappeared down the basement to watch both DVDs). Nothing is better than trains.)
The box with the Modern Marvels, The London Underground, included a note from Santa Claus. Steve read it to us..."DO NOT OPEN UNTIL CHRISTMAS, Love, Santa".
I poured the candy from Convent Gardens Candy Store into a bowl so we could all get a good look at it. Reagan looked up the candy store on her cell phone so Steve could see the store it might have come from. Reagan said there are a lot of the stores throughout the area.
He liked the model of the doubledecker bus.
The tote bag from the London Transport Museum was the perfect size to hold all his gifts.
On Wednesday, Steve and I went to Menards to do a little shopping. He spent most of the rest of the day in the basement listening to his new DVDs. He also opened the box he received from Santa at his mom's. Guess what! It was a miniature train.
On Thursday, Steve and I drove to the post office so he could mail his box of gifts to his dad and Gretchen. When we came back to the house, he brought the bus, still in its box to me. He asked me if I had a little screwdriver. Once the box was open, he sat on the couch for a long time just looking at the bus, reading the printing on it. He said, "I'd like to ride in one of these someday."
It was on Thursday , too, that he took the shirt from the London Transport Museum out of its box and brought me his yellow-covered book, Winnie the Pooh. I showed him the book that I read to his dad when his dad was little. Then we sat close together on the couch and I read him the first chapter, the story of how Winnie the Pooh had tried to get honey from a bee hive by floating up to it using a balloon.
That reminded him of a Christmas gift in the big Christmas bag his mom carried in for him when he arrived on Christmas day...bee magnets from his brother, John.
