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Last year was the Christmas that wasn't... The day before we were supposed to go to my brother-in-law's house, I got so sick. Not wanting to spoil the holiday for anybody else, I told my hubby to take the kids and go with his parents. I would rest better alone and didn't want to get anybody down there sick. It was a cold, lonely Christmas with an empty house. No visitors because I was sick. And no energy to do anything more than lay around watching movies.
This year was so much better! Other than a minor case of the sniffles, we were healthy enough to go to my parents to celebrate with them and my sister's family. We got there Thursday night and the kids ran off with their cousins to plan a Christmas Program. They only had about 3 hours (minus supper) to practice. We had a Hess family traditional supper of soup (Corn Chowder this year) and appetizers (pigs in a blanket some with cream cheese and jalepenoes). And then it was time for the program. All 4 of my sisters kids (youngest to oldest) each played a Christmas song on the piano. Then, in full costumes, Her oldest was the narrator, her youngest two played Joseph and Mary, Her middle one and JR were shepherds, and my girly was an angel. After their reading of the Christmas story from Luke 2, they sang 2 Carols each with a solo.
Opening presents brought many laughs! My kids had a "Christmas Store" at their school this year. Everything is a dollar. They went to the store and no parents were allowed to help. Each gift was picked out by the child, and wrapped by a helper. My mom opened her gift from JR first. He had given her an orange squeeky pig shaped dog toy! My parents don't have a dog!!! the ironic thing was, my parents were dog-sitting my brother's dog, so JR said it was so grandma could play with Dobee when he was at their house. We all laughed so hard we cried! (You had to be there to truly understand!) Then my dad opened his gift from JR. He received a little California Raisin figure... JR's reasoning was because Grandpa already had 3 in his toy box so he needed this one, too! :) ( original's were on my sister's birthday cake when she was a teenager.)
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| Grandpa has a singer, a sax player, a guitar player (I think) and his newest is the one on the skateboard. Image from http://www.thecaliforniaraisins.com/pages/toy.html |
The rest of the presents weren't quite as humorous, but all wonderful gifts. To end the evening, I had been given 11 board games/activities from a friend. My dear hubby had suggested wrapping them and then using them like "White Elephant Gifts". We started with the youngest kid, he picked the first game and opened it. We went up to the next, and so on, until all were opened. Games like Don't Break the Ice, Scrabble Jr, Whack a Mole, Cranium Whonuu, Cranium Cadoo, Trivial Pursuit Jr and Activities such as a magic kit and K'nex Roller Coaster. We played several games that night.
Christmas Day was another fun family day. The kids played dress-up and with many of the new games. Galen fixed my Kindle. And then after a wonderful lunch of Roast Beef and the fixings (including lefse) we bundled up and enjoyed the warm weather sledding at the Old Mill State Park. We used to do this nearly every weekend when I was a kid, so it was a blast to take my own kids. My daughter is much like me, not crazy about the speed going down the hill. Instead she parked her self by a tree near the bottom of the hill and hosted "Tree TV", interviewing the sledders when they reached the bottom. JR loved going down the hill... his little legs struggled with the trip back up, but he made it up and down the hill for an hour! Went back to the house for Cocoa and Christmas goodies. Everybody played more board games after supper. All except my poor hubby who had to go home to be to work the next morning.
This post has gotten long, so I'll share the rest of our memories later. Thanks for sticking around! :)
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