Best....Christmas.....Present.....EVER!

Happy belated Thanksgiving to everyone! Jarom and Lix took Jenna on a long car ride to Delaware where they found a house full of 35 people for a few days. It was a great time. But before they left on vacation they took advantage of their friends’ kindness and sent Jenna off to be babysat while they went to the last home football game of UT’s season. Once again, Jarom was able to get some tickets from his football players on the 50-yard line, and once again the Vols delivered a good win. They stayed through a little of the fourth quarter, and at that point decided that 4 hours was probably enough of an imposition on their free babysitting service. But Jenna behaved herself, which is always nice news to get.

Also prior to leaving, Jarom gave Alixa her Christmas present, because he is really bad at reading calendars and because Lix loves getting things. I must offer a disclaimer stating that Jarom is not particularly proud of the present that he purchased, but it was the thing that Lix wanted more than anything else in the world, so he got it for her. One day after picking her up from work, he asked her to go grab him something from the living room, where the gift was sitting on a chair. It took her a few seconds to notice it, after which she reacted much like the kid in this video-



The gift in question is a leopard print snuggie, and Alixa has worn it every single day since she opened it up. She even has several design improvements, including pockets for hands, pockets for feet, and a tie so that you can walk around in it without getting a “butt-draft.” Maybe Jarom can turn those ideas into a job, since he is struggling to find anything else.

Jenna is still trying to grow into it

On Monday afternoon Lix and Jenna went with Jarom to studyhall where they met some of the football players and dropped of some cookies, and then the crew left Knoxville and drove 10 hours up to Delaware. All of Jarom’s siblings had come home, and there were also 5 cousins, some with families. So the house was crowded and full of babies. Sleeping in was pretty much impossible, as was going to bed early. Basketball and football were played, and three TVs were equipped with Xboxes for large-scale Halo games that went on until the wee hours of the morning. Huge quantities of food were consumed, especially on Thanksgiving, when about 7 more people joined us. Lix got to go see The Blind Side, her favorite story in the world, and loved it. She also got a haircut from Kristi and is quite pleased with the results. On Black Friday she got up to feed Jenna at 4:30 and then went to Walmart to get a Tomtom GPS for $60. It got some use on the way home and she loves it. Lix is very excited about not getting lost all the time when Jarom gets a job and they have to move to a new city. There was also a sale at Carters, where Alixa got about $9,000 worth of merchandise for about $50 (dollar amounts are approximations.) But mostly they enjoyed the company of so many funny family members.

Just a couple of cute pictures of the Winn ladies

Jenna spent the better part of her vacation in Grandma’s jump-jump, which is a little bit springier than her own. Every morning Jarom would take her downstairs and put her in it while he ate breakfast, and she would jump happily for an hour or more. Which brings me to Jenna’s latest animal impression, the springbok, a type of African gazelle. Enjoy the two videos that follow, and see if you can tell which one is Jenna (it works best if you watch them simultaneously)-





Alas, as all vacations do, this one ended. So on Saturday Jarom and Alixa left Delaware. Only this time they didn’t pack Jenna. She gets to stay with Grandma for 10 long days, while Lix works a few final shifts at the Olive Garden and Jarom finishes up all of his schoolwork so that he can get his final degree. They are both very sad to have left her, but confident that she will have a wonderful time and be very spoiled by Nancy. It will be nothing but warm bottles and licking sugary things and shopping trips for cute new baby clothes I am sure. Word on the street is that she doesn’t even miss her parents yet and has been very pleasant. We shall see how long that lasts.

Today was the Winn’s last Sunday in their new ward, the one that they were sent to a few months ago. After sacrament meeting one of the counselors came up and asked if he could speak with them for just a moment. They looked at each other and smiled because they knew what was coming. The three of them sit down in the room and after some brief chit chat the counselor asks them how long they are going to be in the ward. They informed him that they will no longer be there, and they apologized for not being able to take the callings. They are looking forward to being done with this phase of life, where they are constantly moving from apartment to apartment, never staying anywhere for more than a year or two. There are some job possibilities on the horizon, so we will see what happens. I will be sure to let you all know as soon as I do.

During and after pics of the trim