Retirement???

No, I did not retire!  Please don't listen to Tony (or Andy) . You KNOW what trouble makers they can be when they put their minds to it!

Lots of things going on here, some good, some crappy, some just ho-hum, but since it's right after Christmas, everything is either ho-hummy or blah...

Christmas?  I was dreading it, but we made it! Yes, we missed Mark, horribly.  Lots of happy memories shared, tons of giggles, and yes, a bunch of tears but we made it!  We had fun, we laughed, we hugged, we ate and we opened presents!  Oh my the presents!

You remember that Christmas eve at my mother's house is a time for fun, don't you?  Our stockings are filled with all kinds of stuff.  This year there was so much stuff we switched from stockings to bags!

First we gathered in the living room and waited for everyone to finish eating and get settled.  It was fun just visiting...

 

Then it was time for our Santa to pass out presents!

 You never saw a blonde Santa before?

The rule was that you had to put on whatever was in your 'stocking'  so everyone could see.  Dan  and Leslie seem confused?

Seems Les got the hang of it long before Dan did!

Did I mention that this year everyone got blinking Rudolph noses?  Michael figured that one out quickly!

Vicky was busy finding a creative way to wear her feather boa, Catherine decided she'd rather be a blinking pirate than a reindeer!

We had a real treat this year, my niece, Jessica, was able to spend Christmas eve with us!  It's been several years since she has done that.  Her mom, Leslie, and her sister, Katlyn, were happy to have her there too!

Santa is so practical!  The guys got hair...and most of them needed it!

And antlers!  What would hairy men be without antlers?

Oh...and of course, inflatables!

Vicky got footie pajamas...

And mom did her impression of....???

And can you guess what those darn kids did next?? 

 Ping pong, of course!

We had a good time, it was wonderful to spend time together as  a family, but just like most good things in life, it was over way too quickly.  I barely had time to run out the door so I could make the 11PM church service in our church and then it was time to go home, get into bed and go to sleep...because we just knew Santa would visit...

And he did, but that's another story for another day.

Aren't you glad that we're all back together again!

I missed you, I really did!  Now I'm going to go downstairs and bother the kids...they need me!

Love,

Jan