12-26-2014 We had the Merriest of Christmases

Christmas 2014 was a good one. Maybe one one of the best yet! Lily woke up around 5:00 a.m. and came to our room suggesting we go downstairs to open gifts. Uh, no….we are not getting up at 5:00 a.m. to open gifts. So she snuggled up in bed with Charlie and myself and dozed off and on until 7:00a.m. Then we all got ourselves ready and headed downstairs. Luke actually didn't come down immediately, the first time we ever did not go down all together. Since he did not have any presents to open other than a little gift box holding a $100 bill, I didn't see the point in forcing the issue. What was the sense in making him sit there and watch Lily open her gifts. He timed it perfectly and came down just as Lily was opening her last gift. She got: a pair of fashion boots, an under armor sweatshirt, leggings, a batman tee shirt, a batman sweatshirt, and Uggs sheepskin lined shoes. I know the shoes were a surprise and I have a feeling she snooped and knew about the batman items and leggings. She picked the boots and under armor sweatshirt herself.

Ben Z. who works with Charlie quite a bit as a subcontractor got him 2 fleece lined sweatshirts which Charlie opened Christmas morning. Both are very nice and should keep him warm this winter. Weather was not a concern yesterday. It was very mild with temperatures in the 50's I think. It felt like a spring day!

Mom and Dad arrived around 10:30-ish. Gram Ada fell getting out of her shower and they had to get her up and squared away before coming to us. They brought the chocolate cake with peanut butter icing that we always have for Baby Jesus' birthday.

Next we played a rousing game of Christmas trivia with a deck of trivia cards I'd bought at the Dollar Tree. That was a lot of fun! We were quite competitive and blurted out answers, much to Lily's annoyance as she was the one asking the questions for the most part.

After that we played Reindeer Rummy with cards Mom had brought. That was fun as well. Lily won several hands right off the bat with the cards she was dealt. That often happens as she is really very lucky in gaming.

We eventually made our way in to the living room where Mom handed out cards from Gram, Gayle, and Jill with money for the kids. This was per their request. They were very pleased with their final totals and are planning/plotting what to purchase.

For lunch we had Screpsie's hoagies, chips, fruits and veggies, cheese cubes, mulled cider with apricot brandy, chocolate covered pretzels, cream cheese with hot pepper jelly, and homemade cranberry relish. We all were stuffed by the end of that feast!

After lunch Dad, Charlie, and Luke loaded buckets with wood for the furnace. Grandma, Lily, and Luke did a gingerbread house and tree, I took photos and flittered around the house tidying up a bit. The afternoon ended with games of Battleship and Connect Four.

P&J left around 3:30. Mom fretted that they'd be getting home just in time to help load Gram Ada into the car to go to Paula's for Christmas.

We left around 4:30 to go to Kathy's house. George, Denisse, and Brendon were in from Utah. We haven't seen them for a few years. Because they flew in the night before, they slept in and didn't feel up to coming to our place. We were perfectly fine with that. I must say, this worked out perfectly for all. Perhaps we'll do Christmas this way every year. Wehrys in the morning and Crowells in the evening. We visited and played a round of Farkle before leaving around 8:15.

Of course, by the time we got home we were all quite tired. The kids went to bed with no fuss at all. I think we all were in agreement that it was one of the best Christmases ever!