Our house, ready for my parents with two Christmas trees in the windows. Can you see them both? My parents, Grant, and Oreo (who would escape if they left her home) arrived on Christmas eve a little after 7:00p after driving through rain all day.
Our first order of business was to play Settlers of Catan. Mom and I declared war on the guys (and I said later we shouldn't have told them until the end because they wouldn't trade with us) because I don't have enough game pieces for more than four.
We've gone from borrowing Ryan's school's Wii back to the original, a 1985 NES. Let me just say that the improvements in technology in the last 20+ years have been drastic. Grant demonstrated superior Duck Hunt skills, blasting them out of the sky so the goofy dog could hold up the kill.
Since Grant and I were outnumbered by people wanting to wait until Christmas of all days to open presents, the tree was left laden with packages Wednesday night. I woke up at 5:00a, but didn't think I'd get the warmest of reactions rousing the bunch of night owls to open presents that early. Luckily, Jifer and Trip walked by around 7:45a and set off the Oreo alarm in the garage. We opened presents a little after 8:30a.
Mom & Dad opening their presents . . . Grant got mom a Life is Good shirt. We also gave them a photo book of our wedding and a framed picture of us. Dad got a Lowe's gift card, a golf calendar, personalized stationary, and Smartwool socks.
Grant wanted clothes for Christmas, so that's what he got . . . a dress shirt from Express and a Super Pi (superman-like symbol with who knows how many digits of pi).
I got to hand out presents because I sat closest to the tree. I also got to open some presents myself: a CD, 3 books (Multiple Bles8ings, Zamba, and a book of zoo vet stories), an ornament, a super-cool level (think of the pictures I can hang!), a hydration backpack, personalized stationary, and a DVD. There might be more, but I can't remember right now.
Ryan modeling his presents: a tennis bag and balls from Grant. He also got Back to the Future DVDs, racquetball goggles, a digital picture frame, a sports trivia game, and a CD.
I've had this ornament bookmarked on my web browser for I don't know how many years. Jaclyn had my name out of us girls and she got it for me! See the little bird on his hat? I bet you could find a s'mores ornament that is doing something you like too!
While Ryan watched basketball and Grant played Super Mario World on the computer, I showed my parents pictures from the last few months. Mainly we looked at Junior History Trip pics, all 800!
Our walk around campus uncovered a broken water main next to the Manor spewing city water all over an already-damp campus. I was worried for Jifer's garage behind the girls' dorm. Subsequently, we were without water for about 3 hours while the city worked on repairing the broken pipes.
For our third and final trip to the Opryland Hotel to see Christmas decorations and lights, we went during the day and on a weekday. After fighting terrible traffic twice on Saturday nights, we decided this was the best strategy. Yes, the lights aren't as dramatic, but it's worth the sanity points.
On the escalator in between the Cascades and Garden Conservatory areas. You can see that I get no respect as a photographer from my family . . .
attempting a self-portrait
Mom and I walking on the upper walkway through the Garden Conservatory. Every time we try to walk through the prettier paths below, a wedding or something blocks us and we have to detour.
After being re-routed, we meandered past a small waterfall, some goldfish, and lots more cool plants.
Ooh . . . aah . . . goldfish . . .
Grant's laughing because he was making a stupid face and I wouldn't take the picture until he stopped. What do you do with little brothers?
Ryan and I standing at a popular wedding spot where couples get to experience their indoor/outdoor weddings in the Delta area.
This is what all that walking around can do to you.
Since we seem to rarely take a family picture, here are two to make up for it! (Don't adjust your monitors, ladies and gentlemen. It's Grant that's askew, not your computer.)
On the Delta Walkway, overlooking the water show area
In front of the monstrous Christmas tree
I found this ornament at a shop in the hotel and had to get it, not only because it was on sale the day after Christmas! I love these s'mores ornaments!
Besides the hotel, we also swooped in on some post-holiday deals at Target, Kohl's, Kmart, and Walmart. I felt the need to try on my purchase of colored LED lights that were half-off. I also got Ryan some of his favorite colored "chaser" lights, a snowboarder ornament, wrapping paper, and gift boxes.
I also got to try out our new wedding present from my parents, a cobalt blue Kitchen Aid stand mixer! Mom and I made Russian tea kettles (cakes) for its inaugural run. We're mixin things up at the Heilman house!
Even though this isn't the best picture, it shows the situation best. The 2010 Camaro is stuck behind a jack-knifed semi. The lights to the far right belong to a truck heading to Winston-Salem. We followed that truck for a while, watching it struggle to get enough traction to get up the hills. At one point, the semi just started sliding sideways down a banked curve.
Thanks to the GPS, we were able to see which exits had hotels. After calling, we found out that there weren't any vacancies until exit 63, Airport Parkway, at the Red Carpet Inn. After getting off the exit (and having to help push 3 cars out of the way on the ramp) and seeing a handful of cars ditched at the bottom of a LARGE hill, we realized why they still had rooms. We parked and hiked to the top, happy that we weren't having to sleep in the car.
Ryan helped some others out then got our car out of the place we had left it overnight. We decided to get back on the road before what had melted turned into ice.
At about 2:00p, we pulled into my parents' driveway. They weren't sure we'd even make it that far into their neighborhood with steep hills in either direction from their house. Needless to say, we were glad to be off the road! 
