Jesus Christ is Born!!!

Merry Christmas!!

We sure enjoyed our Christmas week!

Tuesday, we celebrated our dear daughter's birthday!

She enjoyed her ice-skates cake, and had fun with both sets of Grandparents.

Grandma and Grandpa K

Grandma and Grandpa W

The girls in the family.
We took pictures of all the kids together. We either had too happy, everyone looking everywhere, or blurry from rushing the camera because everyone was looking just right. I decided to post a "looking everywhere" shot. Deer's cake whited out with the flash.

Wednesday, we celebrated Christmas with Grandma and Grandpa W, and Uncle B & Aunt S. We opened presents first, and then ate. We found the younger kids much more relaxed for supper, as there was no hurry to eat quick for opening presents. Then we visited away the evening. The older kids learned magic tricks from Uncle B, the rest played, visited, and ate cookies. We ended with a family photo of all of us!! We thought it turned out pretty good for setting the camera on a bunch of books, and my dh running back to get in the picture.

Christmas morning we enjoyed at home. The kids did their stockings, and then opened gifts from us and each other. Dh read the Christmas story from Luke, and then we had sausage and crepes for breakfast. We played around and relaxed for awhile, then got cleaned up for friends who came over about 3:00pm. The kids went sledding, while the men did a project (we were having trouble with ice on the roof), and the women watched Darling and visited. We ended the evening playing a loud game of Catch Phrase. :-)

Friday we headed over to my folks for Christmas celebrations with my brothers and their families. We had a great time!! My brother brought his snowmobiles, and the kids had a grand day, in the 32+ degree weather, riding and playing outside. It was fun to visit with family. We couldn't believe, with all the cameras there, that we forgot to take a family picture with everyone. The kids were just so happy playing outside, we forgot to herd them in and line them up. Dad got pictures as we were sitting down to eat. The big kids table gave a rounding toast after prayer. The little kids table was so cute!! We had a type of tenderloin steaks, homemade scalloped spuds, and cooked sweetened carrots, etc. Soooo good! My brothers marinated and barbequed the meat. They could start a restaurant for the precision in cooking and the flavor in the results. Dot gave out her poem books she made. They were a hit, with friends and relatives commenting on how well she did, and how professional they look. She did them through Shutterfly online. I hope to share some of the poems every so often.

Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, we have been recouping. I came down with a bad chest cold and voice box cold. I needed ib's until today. I haven't wanted to do a thing, but rest and survive (which means doing some of the laundry and dishes). Several of the kids have had it, but not as bad as Mom. Figures. Darling has a smaller case of it as well. She's been tired. I still have a bad cough, but I'm on the mend. If I head out today, it will be to get kleenex.

We are looking forward to New Year's Eve with friends and then resting up for the start of school. It feels like I rest up to take a big breath, and then try to let it out slowly, so I can make it all the way to the end of school. :-) Actually, the more we take a break of it, the more we are ready to hit it in January.