~Christmas~

We are truly blessed and we had a wonderful Christmas. The kids counted down and ate their chocolates from their advent calenders and counted down some more. Then, all of a sudden, it was THE DAY. LOL. The pictures will pretty much speak for themselves but a few verbal highlights are: J, after opening his breastplate, helmet and shield, "Oh I really need a sword!! I really need a sword to protect the household. Mom is there a sword so I that I can protect the household." Then after opening his SWORD. " I GOT A SWORD!! NOW ME AND PAPA AND L CAN PROTECT YOU AND E AND BABY R" He was so excited he really did talk in capitals. E got a stick horse that makes sounds from Auntie R and she thought it was a sucker for ages and when we were opening it I'd ask her "what is that?" and she'd come back with "sucker". Then we got it open enough to see what it really was and she her eyes just LIT UP and she says "HORSE!!!" Then later I went to fix his crumpled ear and it has a button in it that makes noises and she LOVED it. It's so heavy for her 21 lbs that she can only play with it in short bursts but she always goes back to it. It was Baby R's 1st Christmas and she enjoyed the fun. She really liked her stocking and the chocolate that went with it. She's a real chocolate hound. L had a great Christmas and seems to really enjoy his new replacement "big Papa dump truck" and his new log truck.

We spent Christmas Eve with my family, those who could make it, at T&D house. They have a great big house which is great because our family is growing every year. There are 12 grand kids and 14 adults so far. The pictures of us in dresses and 'good clothes' as the boys call them, are from Christmas Eve. We all managed to match which was neat and one of these days I want to take a family picture in our "Christmas clothes." When and if I can find someone to take it I'll post it. We had a great time with the family and the kids had a blast playing with the cousins. One of the Cousins said a pile of verses for us all and J chimed right in and said his Christmas verse as well. L said his later when we were all leaving after his 'shy' had worn off. J's was Luke 2:10 and L's was Luke 2:11. E's was Heb 13:1. "Let Brotherly love continue" Which is the 1st verse our kids learn.

Papa and I got a wonderful Christmas present from an unusual source. A real blessing!! A friend of mine knew of our washer problems and also knew of a family who had just gotten a new washer and dryer set because their dryer quit. So she called us and asked us if we wanted it!! We did!! Our washer was 30++ years old and worked but not very well. It leaked oil out the bottom and had started leaking oil into the washer while it washed!! The new washer and dryer were in the 'big city" where our friend lives and her and her husband rented a dolly and loaded them up (turns out the dryer may be a quick fix) and brought them to us!!! He dropped it off yesterday and helped Papa take the old one out and the new one in. Papa crawled up under the addition and fixed my water freezing problem and now I have a "new to us" washer ( we think it's about 5 to 7 years old) with running water.

Christmas morning was spent at home reading the Christmas story from the book of Luke, opening gifts, taking pictures, playing and eating a great breakfast of pancakes, sausage, homemade syrup and eggs, thanks to Auntie R!! In the afternoon we went to the W gathering (my mom's side) and saw a bunch of Aunts and Uncles, my grandparents and my cousins and their kids. One of my cousins brought their 2 day old baby and we got to see him for the 1st time. We all had a great time and stayed late to enjoy part of the evening with them.

All and all we had a great Christmas Holidays. Boxing day was spent at home and Papa took the boys out sledding with their new sleds. It snowed most of the day and we relaxed and played most of the day. I read an entire book (390 pages of a mystery!! :) and Papa read a good chunk of his new beer making book. In the evening we watched "Finding Nemo" one of the kids Christmas movies and had a snack night. After the kids were in bed Papa and I had a 'Movie date" and watched "Junior" with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito. A very funny movie that Papa had never seen before and we both really enjoyed.