Christmas Afternoon in Stamford

After a very nice morning, we headed over to Mom and Dad's for our Christmas dinner and get together with family. Thankful for dry roads as some areas north of us had suffered a significant ice storm.

My three brothers and their families were there. There is always so much yummy food and this year we all made some type of dessert...so many goodies.

Glenn, Walt and Dan enjoy the food table.

Some of the lovely ladies snaking. All these girls are growing up and becoming such wonderful young women. Love them all.

We were able to Skype with Sally and Tom. We passed the iPad around and everyone gave their Christmas greetings.

We gathered in the living room to open presents. It was very full this year. So much living happens in this room and has for many, many years.

Hannah sat on Papa's lap and I told her she had to smile for a picture. She did a great job.

Dave and Zeb watching the activity and waiting their turn to open their gifts.

It was a wonderful day. New beginnings as Bess celebrated her first Christmas in Denmark and we without her here in the USA. Nothing stays the same and we talked about how the family is shifting again as the next generation grows up, marries and starts families of their own. It is all a bit bittersweet, but as it should be. We adjust, get used to a new way and enjoy the moments we have. New memories to store away. Life is good.

Christmas Eve and Morning

We had a very nice Christmas Eve service. I only took a few pictures and am always reluctant to post pictures of other folks without their permission, so you will have imagine low light, beautiful music and God's word. The Christmas story is told clearly through scripture and song. It is always such a beautiful service.

I had already started on the wrapping (that hasn't happened in many years), so Brian and I were done and relaxing pretty early for us. We drank hot tea, enjoyed cuddles on the couch and the glow of the Christmas Tree and candles. The children were all in bed, but the other three were still chatting and laughing upstairs. It makes me smile to hear them.

Presents wrapped and stockings stuffed. Ready for the morning.

No pre-dawn hour get up anymore as our kids are older now. We all leisurely made way downstairs. Gabe is not an early riser, but he did his best and didn't complain at being woken up.

The other guys are earlier risers and they were all bright eyed and ready to go.

Punchie was helping Brian pass out the gifts. The cat was actually pretty funny as our tree has been up for almost two weeks and he hasn't bothered it once...until Christmas morning. He started batting at the ornaments and chewing on the branches. Maybe he was as excited as we were.

Max is always very helpful with holding down any blankets that happen to be on the floor...whether they are being occupied or not. Both the dogs love Gabe and took turns snuggling with him on the floor.

Dan got down to business quickly with his action figures and Legos. He is very serious about these things.

Rachel was totally surprised by her Kindle. We were able to get a very good deal on Black Friday.

We did not have a white Christmas this year as the wonderful snow we had last week melted very quickly with our very warm weekend. There are still patches about, but not enough to count.

The day was very relaxed and enjoyable. We had waffles and sausage for breakfast. We had time to enjoy our gifts and lounge about. I had time to finish my baking. We Skyped with Bess and Daniel. We miss them. We are glad for technology and the ability to spend some time with them via the Internet. All was very good.

Decorating the Tree

Coordinating everyone's schedules is proving to be quite the challenge these days. So planning any family activity requires everything to line up just right. So, picking out a Christmas tree is no longer a day long event to the tree farm, with plenty of time to search for just the right tree, cutting it ourselves, snowball fights and wrestling in the snow. This year we stopped on our way through at our local Agway store, walked around for a few minutes and settled on a nice tree. The ambiance isn't quite the same, but it gets the job done.

Things weren't quite the same this year without Bess. We put a few of her ornaments on and had her in our hearts as we decorated.

Tree all set up and ready to go.

Brian and I set up the lights.

Nice job, Brian.

I didn't get any shots of the us decorating, but Rachel put on the star.

And here it is all decorated. Our tree is so different each year...some short and fat, some taller and skinny, but I love everyone. The tree holds so many memories within the ornaments that hang there. Through in all the fresh fallen snow and it is a picture perfect tree.

Me and my love in front of our tree.

Christmas Tree Hunting in the Rain

Today was the first day we had free for picking out our Christmas tree. It was raining...hard. We went anyway. Thankfully it was not terribly cold.

We took a cart to keep the tree off the ground. The boys thought this was great fun.

It seemed odd not to be trudging through the snow, tossing snow at each and enjoying the crispness of the December air, but the rain didn't really seem to dampen any one's spirits and we enjoyed our outing. The kids ran all over the tree farm, chasing each other and hiding behind trees. There were only a few other folks there, so we didn't feel bad about all the noise we were making.

We looked at this one and that one. Bess and Brian spotted this one and it was voted a keeper.

Brian had to lay on the damp muddy ground to cut down the tree. He is always a good sport about these things, but I think he would have much preferred snow.

By the time we were putting the tree on the van, it was really pouring. We got home soaked, but happy with our tree. We all changed and had hot cocoa and cookies.

The tree is set up and drying in our family room. We might get to the decorating tonight, but more than likely we will let it settle and finish drying overnight and get to the decorating tomorrow.

I am finally feeling like the Christmas season has begun.

Homeschool Group Christmas Party

Our homeschool group is not having a weekly co-op this year, but we have been getting together for Mom's Meetings, Field Trips and special events.

We had a great time today at the Christmas Party. Rachel, Hannah and Dan only had a half day of school today, so I decided to let them stay home and come to the party with us. They miss their homeschool friends very much and it was so fun for them to reconnect.

We spend the first part of the morning enjoying the wonderful fellowship. The kids played, chatted and ran around. We moms did a lot of talking. What a terrific group of women. I am somewhat relieved to not have our weekly co-op, but I do miss meeting with these ladies each week.


Stacy, our wonderful party/field trip planner had some very fun games organized. This relay race involved moving a balloon down the room and back to the start with a small snow shovel. It is a lot harder than it looks and the children used many different techniques from trying to carry it on the shovel to scooting it along the floor.

This relay race was totally hysterical. Bib snowpants, jacket, hat, mittens, scarf and boots were provided for each team. They had to put on all the clothes, race down to the end of the room and back; the problem being that all the clothes were men sized. The children participating were aged 3-12 and it was so funny watching the little ones trying to run/walk across the room.

Before lunch, we had a marshmallow eating contest and a Hersey's Kiss eating contest. The Kisses had to be unwrapped and eaten, but they had to do it all with mittens on. Some of the kids had big ski mittens, which made it very hard to unwrap the Kisses.

We ordered out for pizza from a local place that gives us a very good price. One of the moms made a fun punch.

Each mom brought something for dessert. We had cookies, cupcakes, apple pie, a caramel chocolate trifle...yummy!

Bess joined us for lunch after her morning class.

I so very much enjoy this group of ladies and their children. Thanks, Stacy for organizing and thank you, ladies for being the wonderful women you are.

Christmas Afternoon

We headed over to Mom and Dad's in the afternoon. Glenn, Theresa, Julia, Mariah, Abbie, Zeb, Dave, Sandi, Emily, Amber and Walt also joined in the Christmas celebration.

We had a buffet style meal of turkey, ham, scalloped potatoes, broccoli casserole, stuffing, squash, sweet potato, a veggie platter, deviled eggs, a pickle tray, cranberry sauce, gravy, rolls and pies and cookies for dessert. Oh, my, I'm stuffed all over again.

After dinner we opened presents. Each of the grandchildren draws the name of one of the other grandchildren, so the children get a gift, plus Noona and Papa give them gifts.

The younger guys went outside for a while. There was plenty of snow to play in.

It was a very nice day. I love our family and the closeness we have. Everyone enjoys each other's company and there are always plenty of laughs.

Christmas Morning

Christmas morning...how magical and exciting it always is. It took forever for some of the children to go to bed the night before, so we had a nice leisurely get up time.

Here is the scene before everyone came in.

Everyone opened their stockings and we had breakfast.

Our opening can take a while as we do one person and one gift at a time. It is nice to be able to savor each gift and enjoy it with the giver and the receiver. Here are a few shots of the happy faces of Christmas morning.

Christmas Eve

Brian had the day before Christmas off as did the children. It was a nice day. We did last minute errands, baking and wrapping. We played and enjoyed the day.

Lasagna, garlic toast and salad was the dinner choice. Everyone decided this was a very good menu to have next Christmas Eve.

We set a nice table and enjoyed a wonderful meal.

We really need a bigger table.


We went to the Christmas Eve candlelight service at church. I love being with our church family and the service is so beautiful. (I borrowed this from our church site. Not sure who took it.)


Brian and I finished up the wrapping after the children were in bed.