Scenes from Christmas week
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| Looking like Christmas at home! |
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| The Advent messages were so meaningful. |
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| Always fun with the girls in the kitchen!
Every year, my mom's side of the family gathers at either Thanksgiving or Christmas. For the last few years, a cousin and his wife have opened their pizza shop for all of us on the holiday, and then we have spent the rest of the time squeezed into my grandmother's house. Circumstances have changed a bit this year, with my cousin relocating out of the Cincinnati area and leasing out his shop. So, for the first time in forever, the family gathering moved to a new location. They all came to us! Our school facility was quite adequate for us, and the church board consented to allow us to use it for a few days. My mom rented 3 sectional sofas, and it became quite the cozy little hangout! There were close to 50 of us. We sure missed those who couldn't come this year, but maybe they'll be able to come next year.
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| At one point I walked over to check on the littles, and found my daughter airborne. ;-) |
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| So much food! |
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| Sawyer doing what some others only wished we could do. :-) |
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| Love my cousins. |
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| Happy Kait |
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| We were so happy to have my cousin, Janan (left), from Germany. Her husband received clearance for their family to come back to the States just a few weeks before Christmas, and it was a nice surprise! |
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| I think this is 1/3 of the great-grandchildren |
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| Almost 1/2 of the grandchildren. I'm amazed that this picture turned out, given the foolishness taking place on the back row...lol... |
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| 5/6 of the children were able to make it this year. My grandmother was tired and had been experiencing some physical issues, but she thoroughly enjoyed the family time. She also enjoyed being able to tuck away in the apartment at mom's every night. :-) |
And because we were actually at home on Christmas morning, that's when we opened our gifts as a family! I didn't take many pictures because I wanted to video the kids. Here are a few...
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| A new outfit for Kit |
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| A new red-haired doll for our red-haired doll :-) |
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| A few weeks ago, I told Greg that it is hard to find dark choc Reese's cups. In typical Greg fashion, he ordered me a case off of Amazon. What a sweetie. :-) |
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| And because we do not have wifi at the house, we waited till the guests left and we landed at McD's so that everyone could enjoy their new Christmas gifts (or play basketball). |
