Ruthie and Allen helped me wrap my gifts. That was a real blessing! And we didn't wait until the last moment!
As usual, we made lots of Christmas gifts. Maggie made this ladybug ornament for her therapist...who loves ladybugs. Lizzie and Maggie made the usual plates of homemade marshmallows dipped in chocolate, seasoned nuts, teacakes, almond crunch, and cookies to give away.
This is Anna on her way to sit in front of a DVD while she sews eyes on her elephants for all her baby relatives/friends. I love these cute elephants!
Here's a finished elephant with his eyes. So adorable.
Gotta have a food picture. Walmart has been selling avocados for 50 cents each for almost the whole month of December. Here we combined two favorites...Shrimp Ceviche and guacamole. Delicious!
Christmas Eve we went to church for a lovely candlelight service. Maggie, Anna and Lizzie sang, "Mary Did You Know" while Meemaw accompanied them on the piano. I wish I'd taped it.
After church, we drove around looking at all the Christmas lights. We usually attend a second service at 11 pm, but since we had church the next morning...and the girls were singing again...we decided it would be better to get a good night's sleep. Wise decision.
Christmas morning was a blur as we got up early to exchange gifts, then headed off to church. In the afternoon, we headed over to my brother's home for the day.
One of the highlights of the day was a goofy game that Natalie and Simba organized. Everyone was given a wrapped gift. (We normally have 26 folks in our family, but Leslie was home with sick boys. Not counting babies, we had 19 people play this game. The more people, the more fun the game.) Simba read a paraphrased version of the Christmas Story...and every time he said right, we had to pass our gift to the person on our right. Every time he said left, we had to pass our gift to the person on the left. It was hysterical. By the end we were laughing so hard we didn't know which way to give our gift!
The above pictures were taken at the beginning of the game...when we were still in the "This is easy!" part of the game. At the end, we all got to open our gifts. What a wonderful game.
I found many different versions of this game online. Simba used the Nativity Story that I found here.
I found many different versions of this game online. Simba used the Nativity Story that I found here.
Brothers Mike and Simba. "I don't know. He said right...but everyone was passing their gifts left."
Simba chose to make Italian dishes for this year's food. It was soo good...and yes, I completely forgot to take any pictures until the end. The italian shrimp was my favorite. We had lasagna ("Remember everybody...the Landmann's lasagna is on the left: Landmann, Lasagna, Left!") The Landmann Lasagna was made with goat cheese. Thanks, Simba. I always look forward to Simba's dairyfree meals.
I had a hard time getting Abigail to stand still for a picture. I have a dozen blurry pictures of her! I want to show you her darling outfit that she wore all day. What a princess!
Maggie kept her distracted so I could get a picture of her high heeled shoes...complete with Minnie socks!
This is my brother's stepson and daughter. The babies have sure grown this past year!
I was pleasantly surprised to see the nativity displayed in town!
We weren't going to have a New Year's party...but at the last minute we invited a family friend and his Mom. Matthew lives in VA and is going through medical school. We had fun asking him lots of questions.
One last picture. I made this kale and bean soup since kale soup recipes were in every magazine this month. It was delicious. I got this recipe from the December issue of Cappers.
This was probably the fastest holiday season I have ever lived through! I have to admit that while I enjoyed shopping in warm weather...it didn't seem like Christmas without being cold!
Hope you enjoyed this season. Many blessings ~ Kathie
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