Christmas

We were so excited when our family that spent 24 hours at the O'Hare Airport arrived safely Christmas eve. Unfortunately, their luggage wasn't quite so lucky and spent extended hours at the O'Hare Airport arriving at our home on Christmas day. Natalie and Adam, Shannon, Andy, and Madeline, and Ryan and Lisa and the children all arrived Christmas day after spending time on the ski slopes in Pennsylvania together. Bob and I were disappointed that we weren't able to go skiing too.

The house was all ready for the family to arrive and I had planned menus and prepared as much of the food ahead of time as possible. I made lots of cookies and Bob made pies.

Bob did such a good job of selecting a tree and decorating it. It looked beautiful and I can't take any credit for it.

With so many visiting, the many packages under the tree made for wide-eyed little children when they saw it for the first time.

Hannah received an American Girl doll for her birthday and was so excited when she opened a box that had a new outfit for her doll.

Of course, I insisted that each gift be opened one at a time which took forever. Reminding them that when they get to be the grandmother then they can make the rules. The papers, ribbons, boxes, and gifts were everywhere. It was wonderful!

The excitement in the children's eyes when they opened their gifts was worth every cent that was spent. A joy and privilege to have children and grandchildren home for Christmas.

Baby G was loved by everyone. He was being loved all day long. He didn't even need his crib.

Grandpa even found time to set and hold baby G. Baby G and grandpa even took naps together in the rocking chair.

Gracie learned how to make people laugh. Silly girl!

We had 19 for Christmas dinner. I couldn't have had a better Christmas present unless all the children and grandchildren could have come. We had cottage cheese loaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans, corn, wild rice salad, potato buns, sweet potatoes with maple syrup and cranberries, and I made pickled beets and forgot to put them out. In fact, they are still in the refrigerator.

Much fun was had with the children playing games together along with the adults. Our grandchildren are sure smart. The gang played an American History trivia game and the grandchildren were as smart or smarter than the adults! I didn't play that game. I enjoyed holding baby G.

After that game, I got out the Banana-Grams. I love that game. The kids enjoyed playing and M won the first game. At least he thought he had won. But, Natalie and I told him that pied wasn't a word so we kept playing. Guess what? The next day, M brought down the dictionary and showed us that pied is a word. M is so smart. I didn't question his words in future games of Banana-Grams.

Madeline got a new violin for Christmas and brought it over to show everyone. M showed her a little bit about how to hold and play it. She's so excited about starting lessons.

We spent some time working on a Christmas program for the church service on Sabbath. We went to two churches Sabbath. Lisa's parents and two little brothers joined us for the program. Michael and I played a piano duet, "O, Little Town of Bethlehem".

Adam and Ryan did some of the reading. They are both natural up-front people. I wanted Natalie to read a part, but she refused and there was nothing that would make her do it not even her mother's pleading and begging.

Lisa and her mother sang "O, Holy Night".

The children sang "Silent Night, Holy Night". Lisa's little brothers fit right in with the rest of the grandchildren.

Saturday night I made homemade cinnamon rolls and I did something really stupid. I forgot to put yeast in them. A... was watching the cinnamon rolls, and they never got any bigger. After an hour, I realized what had happened and started over. We went ahead and baked the "unleavened" cinnamon rolls and Bob insisted that they tasted as good as Walmart cinnamon rolls. The second batch was perfect! And, they were enjoyed by all. The next day, I put the unleavened cinnamon rolls in the compost bucket, and later that day, I found them in a plastic bag. Bob had taken them out. He said they were good and he was going to eat them. I wouldn't want to waste the calories on them, but he said he wasn't worried about calories. Wouldn't that be nice?

Sunday morning the guys were ready to head out to the back "59" and try out the guns. They had a great time together. It was raining a little and the snow was melting, but that didn't bring them back to the house anytime too soon.




While the guys were outside, I made play-dough for the girls to play with. That afternoon, we all went over to Lisa's parents dairy farm to ride four-wheelers. It continued to rain most of the day and most of the snow had melted, so it was a muddy mess when they went riding. I was sure glad it wasn't at my house. When they finished they were covered with mud.



Our children and grandchildren made Christmas extra special for us. It was wonderful to receive telephone calls from all the children that couldn't come for Christmas this year too wishing us a "Merry Christmas".