Christmas Here and There

I got to spend Christmas day with the Hofackers at Gladys' house. It was great to see everyone and be able to fellowship with them again. Here Keith is actually sneaking one of Grandma's famous dinner rolls as he waits for dinner to start.

Bill brought his black sheep, "Wool Yum" with him. Alyssa is fascinated by it.

All that wonderful food! Just look at the huge plate of desserts.

And what do you do after such an awesome meal---- you take a nap, of course!

The rest of us exercised our brains after dinner with a little "Name that Christmas Carol" challenge. Holly won the challenge.

Daniel was able to join us. Is that a genuine smile I see on his face!!

Sissy has really come out of her shy period. But then everyone loves Holly :).

Christmas at my house. Lots of smiles. They love their Daddy and got to spend lots of time with him over the holiday.

Daniel was so glad to be able to play with Brutus again.

Daddy helps Alyssa blow bubbles and Hailey plays Santa.

Christmas at Dale and Ann's house in Norwalk. Hailey and Blake seem fascinated with the toothpick dispenser. All that money on toys and toothpicks grab their attention. Go figure.

Jeff and Linda joined the festivities. They brought The Bee Movie for the kids to watch. Although nothing held their attention for very long.

The matriarch of the family, Mom, is doing well. At 86 she is still going strong.

The kids table.

I love this picture! I can't remember the last time I had my picture taken with all three of the boys.

The grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Christmas 08

Keith invited me to come over Christmas morning and watch Blake open his gifts. Dan and I got up EARLY and was at Keith's by 6:30 a.m. And we waited, and waited, and waited for Blake to wake up. Some video games helped to pass the time. It really was Christmas morning. I don't know why my camera had 12/24 for the date!

Finally, the young man awakes and hurries down the stairs.

Keith put the coffee on and that helped all of us :). It was a real joy to watch Blake. Brought back many fond memories.

Dog gone tape! Just like his dad. After we put $3,000 in his teeth, he still used them to open things too.

Blake got a night=vision helmet from his dad. Of course he couldn't use it until that night but he was thrilled.

I know I've said the boys drive me up a wall, but here it is for real. Blake got a car that he can drive on the wall. It's pretty cool!

A dart gun? What were you thinking Santa??????

Out of all the things he received, Blake seemed to spend the most time on the Legos he got from his Uncle Daniel. Dan would spend hours building things. He saved them all and gave Blake some of his best pieces. A couple planes, truck and camper. I just hope Blake can figure out how to put them back together!!

December 08 Pre Christmas

Blake did very well in his Christmas program at school this year. He sang VERY loud and knew all the words. He also had a special part at the manger scene.

It is very difficult to take a "family" picture of yourself. Even with the timer, it was hard to get both dogs to cooperate by the time the shutter went off on the camera. This is the best I could do.

I went with a classic look on my outside lights this year.

A little snow would have made it picture perfect. But,alas, it was not to be. No white Christmas, even in Ohio.


One of my favorite Christmas ornaments. Each year I would make one with the boys' picture on it.

My tree was nothing special this year. I put multi-colored lights on it for the first time in AGES! After it was finished I remembered why I hadn't used colored lights. But it was done and with so much work put into it, I wasn't about to take it down.

Not exactly the manger scene I wanted, but it it will do for now. I would like to design and make one of my own some day.

Sorry, Brutus. I found them in the decoration box and I just couldn't resist. He was a pretty good sport but I don't even want to know what Munchkin is thinking here!!

At our December Mary Kay unit meeting, I won $100! I used it to buy a new vacuum for my hard-wood floors and an attachment for my dryer.