Christmas Recap

Well I had planned to share a Countdown to Christmas post a few days before Christmas, but obviously that never happened. I was swept up in the busy-ness of preparing for family and once they arrived on the 23rd, I never even opened the laptop. I had a houseful until yesterday when the Arizona contingent headed back home. The Oklahoma contingent left the day before and I soaked up every moment they were here.

We drove in to town on the 24th for Christmas Eve church services. There is a gentleman on the worship team that sings O Holy Night each year and it's a highlight of the season for us. He has such a gifted voice and he brings us to tears every year. Our girl says it's not Christmas until we hear Sean.

Christmas morning dawned bright and early:

It was such a blessing to have E here for her 1st Christmas

We were all captivated by this little biscuit:

So fun to watch her explore and discover

Lots of good memories were made:

As gifts were unwrapped

And stories were shared

And family was treasured

                                             

Our girl posted this:

Boys. 😂

I made our girl a flannel rag quilt that I will post about in a bit:

DH's parents joined us for Christmas dinner and we enjoyed a good visit:

And yes, we ate Christmas dinner on paper plates. With 6 people, for 6 days, I cooked a lot and we washed a lot of dishes. Dear Kenny even washed dishes. Do not judge. LOL. Our girl spoiled us with homemade Eggnog to accompany our traditional Cranberry Sour Cream Pound Cake

                                        

And our annual Christmas puzzle was moved into my little kitchen because the island is taller than the dining room table and it's easier on DH's back, but I laughed at our set-up - notice my sewing light set on the stove:

Cooking was quite the challenge during the two days of puzzle obsession. This is the only time we ever even do a puzzle, but it has become a family tradition. Even the newest member of the family is included:

We played Trivial Pursuit twice and were amazed at how dumb it made us feel - with the exception of Steph - she was a rock star! -but we all learned something new and laughed a lot.

 At one point Kenny trotted over to my new Echo Dot to ask Alexa to confirm an answer. 😂 

We neglected to get a group shot of everyone, but our girl asked Kenny to snap a quick shot of the 2 of us before they headed out:

And I'm so glad she did! 

Then I found this behind my pillow when I crawled into bed that evening:

It made me laugh because I always tuck a little something behind the kids' pillows when they come home for a visit. 

Yesterday I set the house back to order and today I am recuperating. I may need more than 1 day, but  our girl bought me a Robo vac so I'm feeling spoiled. Tomorrow is DH's birthday and then I'll take 2 days to pack Christmas away. Someone is going to ask about the fun apron I'm wearing below. It was a gift from a dear friend - I love it - here's the story

Wishing you all a season of treasured memories as we ring in the New Year from the end of the dirt road: