There was a steady rain in Atlanta, GA this Christmas morning. Normally this wouldn't be the ideal weather, but with the ongoing drought here, it was quite welcome. Everything started out beautifully. We opened presents..
Eli's expression as Sidney shows him her "grow a new brother." It's a little guy that grows in water.
Santa HID his gifts and the stockings. At first it looked as if he had not come at all! But soon a card was discovered that told Sid to follow the string to big fun!
the string went this way and that and eventually led to the back porch where there was a new bike for her. Luckily it and the stocking were in a plastic bike bag, what with the rain and all. This is her expression upon finding this new treasure.
After that, Eli knew that his Santa stuff was somewhere in the house, so he went searching..
And he found a new computer!
Then it was time to go to Mom and Dad's for a Christmas feast! We all got in the car, loaded up mom and dad's gifts, and off we went. We stopped at a gas station and then continued on. We heard a police car siren behind us. We figured he needed to get past, and pulled over to the right. But no, he followed! Confused, we waited. He had pulled us over to ask us to turn our lights on.He checked Jimmy's license, came back to the car, and asked Jimmy to step out! Eli and Sid were freaking out, Sid was crying, as the policeman HANDCUFFED Jimmy! (no pics.) He says Jimmy has an outstanding traffic ticket and a resulting suspended license. (We had no clue.) I ask if we can just let ME drive and put him in the passenger seat and go on to our Christmas dinner. No. He was going to jail. I could bail him out in about an hour and a half.
So we went on to mom's without Jimmy. Christmas dinner was still quite yummy but I was a bit stressed. I had $9 and bail was $941. Mom scooping ice cream for the kiddos. [img width=400 height=600]http://i7.tinypic.com/715i83o.jpg[/img] Windy wants dinner too!
My wonderful Daddy came to the rescue and we went to the jail to post bail. Yep, on Christmas.
Free Jimmy! He's behind a big plexi glass window in the first one, hence the glare.)
Then it was back to mom's to try and enjoy the rest of our christmas day as if nothing had happened!
Sid and her horse, Lilly. [img width=400 height=600]http://i8.tinypic.com/6jzp2jq.jpg[/img] E and Dad play poker. Jimmy (still smiling) setting up the wireless router that we got for Mom. [img width=400 height=600]http://i11.tinypic.com/879zw60.jpg[/img] Dad and Windy in their usual position. In all the dad pictures, he is saying, "quit taking pictures of me!"
So despite a real setback, it was a wonderful Christmas after all. But I had had enough! When we got home around 10:00, I hit the bed immediately and slept like a rock. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD NIGHT!!!
Nope. I wish I did. The camera was right beside me in the car too. I would love to have taken pics of the officer and the handcuffing and the kids crying in the backseat with the gifts and Jimmy in the back of the police car and send those pictures to the officer with a big "Thank you for ruining our family's Christmas dinner" card. (Does Hallmark make those?)
The ticket had been a $25 ticket for no new sticker on the tag of his dad's car, but the sticker had been purchased and just wasn't on there yet, so he had called the DMV and they told him to fax them a copy of the sticker. He did and thought that it was done with. Apparently it wasn't! And he got no notification of the suspension of his license either!
WOW! What a Christmas. I can't say that mine was that exciting, or not, depending on how you look at it. We just had a nice relaxing Christmas at home, just us and all of the babies.
Great pictures and story!
-- Edited by ZoeandTucker at 09:57, 2008-01-02
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Saving just one dog won't save the world, but it surely will change the world for that one dog. -Richard C. Call
