Christmas Celebrations Part 2

When we have our family Christmas several days before December 25,for us. Christmas is over before it actually arrives. This year, we just kept on celebrating!

After our family gathering on Sunday, Dec. 21, Katy, Kyle, and Nora stayed over with us until Tuesday morning.  We so enjoyed having them for an extended visit, getting to spend time with sweet, charming, smart little Nora, such a joy to be around.

On Christmas eve, we were invited  to my nieces house for a time with part of the extended family. My oldest sisters husband passed away 2 weeks before, after a very long struggle with heart disease. Last Christmas was his last one with us, and we weren't surprised. The Christmas before that was my mother's last one, and the one before that was my Dad's last one. The family is aging, and death is part of life.
When I got up on Christmas eve, I felt that I needed to be with my sisters, and Les agreed, that I need to spend time with them when I can.
We decided to go by Libby's house to deliver Abby's headboard
Abby's headboard looked great.
                                

 After that, we joined the Skaggs at the Christmas Eve service at their church. It was a wonderful, casual, sweet, meaningful time. The church foyer had photo settings and refreshments.

 

We then spent the evening with my three sisters, Barbara, Becky, and Jo Anne; also Becky's husband, Jo Anne's boyfriend, and a few nieces and nephews, very different from the usual 35 or so people. The visit was actually surprisingly fun, light hearted, with some really good conversation.

Christmas morning, we hosted a small brunch for family who did not have other places to be.
Poor Maddie was sick, so Emily's family was not able to come. So, we just had Katy and Kyle, and Kyle's parents.

Nora enjoyed being the only child on the scene.

She was very affectionate.

 

So, another Christmas season is over. Looking ahead to new house projects, new ministry opportunities, a big trip abroad, new adventures.

Christimas Celebrations (part 1)

Christmas. It is a sweet, sometimes sad, somewhat difficult time of year. I enjoy so much of the season, but have mixed feelings about much of it, too. So many movies and songs that really make a mockery of the entire thing. So much hype, so much money spent...   Then, there's the whole Santa Clause issue. We made up a man who gives us things we want to put our hope in. Is that a good idea? In some of the movies, he even can cause miraculous things to happen that go way beyond toy delivery. So, much of the entire season, I am torn. It is a love-hate kind of relationship.

Now that I have that laid out there, I can share the things that I love about the season.

Christmas cards... receiving them, not sending them. (sorry, I do enjoy sending them some years, but I don't feel pressured about them). I especially love getting the picture cards from young families that we don't see often. So sweet to see the kiddos growing up.

Gifts... buying and giving them. It is really fun to find things that we hope our grandchildren will enjoy. Sometimes we do good, sometimes not so much, but it is still fun. Some years I make little gifts for some friends, or, more likely, I come up with an idea and Les does the work! But, that is fun.

Getting together. That's the best part. Our family lives nearby, so we get together often, but I revel in every single time the family has time together. 

If anyone is still reading after all of that, I now will share a recap of family Christmas celebrations.

We had our family celebrations on Sunday, Dec. 21. Since all of our children are married and have a lot of Christmas parties to attend, a few years back, we just claimed the Sunday before Christmas to eliminate conflicts.
We were very happy to host the family gathering again, at our new old home, and the dining room is big enough for everyone to eat together, one adult table, and 2 kids tables. Even Nora sat with the kids, but not long enough to be in the picture!

After dinner, we posed for our annual family picture. OH MY. Is this not the most beautiful family you have ever seen! Loooooove this crazy group of people.

The children are READY to open gifts.

One of our big delights has been Carters growing interest in music. Les ordered a Mandolin for him, which was a huge surprise. He was playing songs by the end of the day!

Kylie asked for skates, so we bought them for the little kids. They were a big hit.

Lexis enjoyed the books we gave her, and Nora did too, for a minute.

Family togetherness!

 

 

Emily and I persuaded Les to put his electric train up. He got this train when he was 6, and it has been in an attic for the past 42 years, rarely taken down. We bugged him enough that he got it down and set it up for the kids. They all liked it, but Hudson  was mesmerized. Trains are his favorite things, have been since he joined the family at almost 3 years old.

 Les made this headboard for Abby. Libby found some headboards on Abby's pinterest boards, took a screen shot of one that we copied.  YAY, what a great idea.

After I saw Abby's, I mentioned that I would like one, so we put that on the list of projects to do after Christmas, but he surprised me by making one for us, too!

My favorite part of the day is the afternoon of casual play... kids skating, girls talking, guys and kids throwing the football around, making up silly games. Love those times so much.

First Christmas celebration complete... more to come.

 

 

Thanksgiving (a bit late)

 It's almost Christmas, and we haven't even put up anything about Thanksgiving. We had a sweet time together. Doug and Emily took their girls to Disney World, Libby had to work that day, but everyone else was here. These pictures show a little about the good times we had.

 

 

 

Katy and Kyle stayed for until Saturday noon, so Les got Kyle to help with a little house project. The front window had a metal awning that covered a beautiful stained glass window pane, which needed to be removed.

 
OH, it looks so much better now, inside and outside.

The side of the house had a strange fake window on a wall. It is a large, blank wall, and I guess that at one time, the owners decided that a fake window would look good, to break up the blank wall. To cover the siding, they put a window shade inside the glass. At some time, the shade deteriorated and tore. It looked pretty bad, so Les and Kyle took that down also.

Nora had a ball running up and down the sidewalk in front of the house, as long as someone would run with her.

Master Bath Progress

Les has been diligently working on the master bath.
We ordered a cabinet from the cabinet maker who built the cabinets in the kitchen. We did not have it stained because we wanted to stain it to match wood medicine cabinets that we bought on clearance at Home Depot some time back.

Les has such great skills for remodeling. He is very detailed, does a great job setting tile.

We chose this subway tile with beveled edges for a little style.

Here is the finished tile. It looks great. He added a line of mosaic from left over tiles from the kitchen.

This is the best commode every. Look at the sleek lines. No curves and pipes sticking out to make it hard to clean. It is the best.