This was most definitely, the best Christmas gift we could ever receive!
A precious little (but bigger than average) 9lbs 3 oz baby boy!
He arrived just days before Christmas!
This is the first time we have had a grandchildren
born near us and we are loving it!
Meanwhile,
back at the ranch!
We made Christmas eve dinner
and finished all of our last minute preparations!
Mary has been with us for 2.5 years (at Christmas time).
She has grown over 12 inches since she arrived!
She loves to cook and help in the kitchen!
She is delightful!
What a blessing she is to our family!
We all went to church and celebrated the birth of our Lord and Savor!
I LOVE church on Christmas Eve!
Actually I love going to church every week!
Then back home for some holiday photos!
And Hubby and I even had a photo taken of us!
Okay we took a lot of them at different angles
and this one was the winner!
Plus, I am wearing the same thing that I wore last year...
Of course the kids had to tell me that...
Well FYI, I'm probably going to wear it again next year!
(so there you have it!)
It was such a joyous evening!
The Burgess family came on Christmas Eve
and the others came on Christmas Day!
It was so wonderful enjoying them while they were here.
This was our first Christmas celebrating
the these beautiful grandchildren!
Our hearts were so full!
They opened their gifts and played with them!
Honestly, we were probably more excited than they were!
(We did forget to take a Burgess Family Christmas pic... Oh well, next year!)
Here is our 2021 Christmas Card!
This is a photo from Mark and Kari's wedding!
(We are missing Matt, Caitlin and their two girls.)
Here is the back of the card with highlights from 2021!
Christmas morning was simple, joyous and relaxed!
It was just those that live at home opening gifts!
Everyone gets 2 gifts and we take turns opening!
Dad draws the name out of a Santa hat
and then that person gets to open his or her first gift!
The kids LOVE opening gifts
and they had such a happy spirit!
Melissa got a letter jacket!
She was thrilled!
I had to keep this pick in the post bc look at the other girls faces!
They are truly happy for their sister and
proud of her for lettering in Cross Country!
Congrats Melissa!
Our kids were so kind and generous with gifts to us!
We got gift certificates for lunches out, dinner dates and coffee cards!
We are abundantly blessed everyday with these amazing children,
I mean teens and young adults!
We have super nice neighbors!
They gave the kids gourmet popcorn
kettle corn, white cheddar cheese and caramel corn!
And YES, I did sneak a little bit of it and it was delicious!
The big kids started to come at 1:00!
Kari and Mark!
Then Abby and Johnny!
We had family chess and cribbage tournaments!
They both would like to win!
Abby I vs Madeline!
Thank you girls, for the smiles!
Sorry to ruin your focus!
With the passing of time, I can't remember who won
but these two both wanted to win
and they are good at cribbage!
Emma and I played WAR...
I wanted to win BUT Emma won!
It was such a FUN, relaxing afternoon!
Of course football was on the TV!
We had appetizer, beverages and Christmas treats!
And yes, then I started wondering where the other kids were?
I found 9 in a bedroom, playing games, chatting and listening to music!
(That would be Ava's unmade bed and that's Melissa's perfectly made bed!
They adore each other and yet they are so different...)
The three younger boys were downstairs building their new model cars!
The six adults did a wine tasting contest!
It was really fun but quite hard!
There may have been some shared answers and roaming eyes!
Dinner was wonderful, celebratory and a very social event!
No matter what table you are originally at,
everyone comes to the big table to chat!
I LOVE that!
My seat is gone the moment I stand up!
Our Christmas Day crew!
Who's Birthday is it?
Yep, Jesus's!
We were able to chat with our adult kids and grands in Seattle!
Aren't they adorable!
But, insider info says
they are often like this!
An excited blur!
Merry Christmas!
Thank you God, for the blessings of your son, our Savior Jesus Christ!
This holiday was exceptional!
We had fun, we celebrated, we worshipped, we ate well and we relaxed!
