Christmas Eve was special. My mom and I went to a nearby church service, then she and my dad stayed for some of Chris' grilling. Chris' cooking has gotten to be so good, he usually has something to do with our big menus. Here's Pop Pop and Luke marveling at the iPad while waiting for dinner.
Unfortunately, on Christmas Eve, the appetizer he fixed was so filling, we all opted for his grilled Cornish hen to be served the next day for lunch! It was very well marinated!
The next morning Santa arrived as hoped proving both Luke and Mitchell good boys.
We got a big kick out of Luke pausing between gifts to warehouse his loot. Here he is saying, "What? What?" while we giggle over his organization.
With Mommy's help, Mitchell gave Luke a sweatshirt and Luke returned a sweet kiss of thanks.
We spent Christmas night with the Brownings. Luke and I snuggled on the couch for a picture since Mommy is usually behind the camera. Good thing. I found a way to wear this new-ish Loft sweater to just about every holiday party I went to!
Luke loves opening presents. But he was particularly excited to give gifts he picked out to cousins Maria (pictured) and Nohemi. Grandma and Grandpa Browning look on from the chairs.
With Chris' sister Laurie now living in Coshocton, Ohio, I took this opportunity to catch her, her husband Terry and her daughters Sarah and Amy in a shot.
No rest for us, my brother and his family arrived at our house for a couple nights' stay as soon as we were back from Christmas with the Brownings.What's fun about being with them is the joy of being surrounded with 4 kids between ages 2 & 6 (well practically 7 - Riley turned 7 January 2nd). This is such a perfect picture of them all!
Grandma Kay especially loves time with her grandchildren.
After we all opened gifts, cousin Riley orchestrated an order of hugs to give thanks. "Daddy and Mommy, Daddy and Aunt Stacey, Grandma and Chris" and so on. Cousin Gavin is a bundle of energy so I'm quite sure we'll look back on this Christmas and chuckle as we could have figured his hugging Luke would sort of turn into a wrestle.
The week at work went rather quickly. Then on New Year's Eve, Chris worked part of the day and I somehow found the time and energy to paint our master bathroom. It was tan, now blue.
Things don't end yet, Chris and I had dinner out with friends, then went back to one of their homes for our favorite Opera Cream Cake.
We toasted to a terrific year.
We're not exactly night owls so we were home before midnight. We made it home in time to realize there was a "ball drop" of sorts at our own home. Luke had been sick on and off throughout the holiday and he had a bout of diarrhea as he slept...in our bed...sleeping there so he'd know when we got home. You have to laugh!
Last, but not least, the celebrating continued. We had our parents, plus Chris' sister Melanie's family over for dinner on New Year's Day to watch some football and have the turkey my company gives us each year at Thanksgiving. Chris decided to brine and grill it. He's quite adventurous. So moist! It was terrific. Everything was.
I love my family and cherish these memories.
Happy New Year to all!
1 comment:
Love all the pics of your family....looks absolutely wonderful.
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