Happy Christmas Pictures.......

Here are a few pictures from our family Christmas Eve gathering......We started with a ham dinner. Steve cooked the ham, I did the rest. :-) Please note his red plaid shirt. Next year there will be a red flannel shirt theme to our Christmas. Collette has it all planned. :-)
Prior to the big snowstorm's arrival, we were going to attend the Christmas Eve service at church but the snowstorm changed those plans. I must admit that it was kind of nice to eat a leisurely meal and not hurry to clean up and get out the door and yet I missed not attending the service. I was just glad we were all together and safe, what with all the snow and icy roads. Finally, Jacob asked "when are we going to open gifts?"...........and so we did. He was wearing his Minnesota Vikings Santa hat the whole evening. :-) There were Transformers, cars, books and a couple of electronic games so he was a very lucky boy.
All of us big kids were lucky, too......this is Collette and I getting all excited over Martha Stewart glitter assortments that Devlin gave us. He needed an idea for us and I suggested it. Nice. :-)

I am opening a big gift that Collette wrapped in fabric because she couldn't figure out how to easily wrap a Croquet set. I forgot that I had suggested this way last fall. Nice, again. :-)

We got Collette a new iron because that was what she wanted. Jacob didn't think that was a very good gift as he said "you already have an iron, mom". Yes, she does, but she is happy to have one that will work better. :-)

Our son-in-law Daryl, is a Star Wars fan and he is way happy with his gift of the Star Wars Encyclopedia. He didn't even ask for this because he didn't know it existed. We found it at Barnes and Noble and knew it was "just right". We lucked out for Devlin, too, as he wanted some computer thingy that Steve found and it was just what he needed. Stacia was in Iowa with family so her gifts went home with Devlin.

Here's Jacob still wearing the Santa hat and opening more gifts. :-)

Then there was the gift that Daryl got for Jacob because when Daryl was little he enjoyed playing it .....sorry I can't remember the name of it but Devlin had it, too, and could remember playing it. (Pat came to the rescue.......it's "Rock 'em, Sock 'em, Robots!!") Collette couldn't remember the game at all so Devlin gave her a boxing lesson and showed her what it was like to be a kid again. :-)

The "kid in me" loves to fill the Christmas stockings with lots of good little gifts and some gag gifts, too. Steve is in charge of filling the stockings with candy. Each year, I start right after Christmas collecting the things that will end up in everyone's stockings. Most are just right and even the gag gifts get a good laugh. Here's Devlin with his gag gift.......it's a giant "grow snake".....you know, it's one of those you put in water and wait for a few days to see it "grow". He always said he wanted a snake and I thought "no way". Now he can have his snake and grow it whenever he wants, too. ;-).

We had a very happy and blessed Christmas together. I hope you all did, too. :-)

Sandi