Christmas arrived! ~ another look back...

The reason for the season

We talk about Santa Claus and have fun but we are very aware of what Christmas is all about.  We are forever grateful for the ultimate GIFT that came as a baby all those many years ago.

Traditional pjs

The right and left pictures above are the pajamas that the west Portland grands got on Christmas eve.

Krystle braided Danika's and her own hair to create matching hairstyles for Christmas Eve day. She also loved her new soft fuzzy nightie.

New robes :0)

Anabelle and Henry exchanged gifts after getting their new jammies on. Having a new thing to play with for a bit helped to ward off some of the anticipation of the presents in the morning. 

Snuggly and ready for "The Night Before Christmas" and dancing sugarplums.

Both Hayden and Cherise received Gerber products.
Christmas brunch at Elmer's

Harlan called ahead at made a reservation for the 18 of us. The had a lovely private dining room all set up for us. The carpools started arriving and we had a great breakfast.

Fun times making memories ;D

Back at the home front more gifts were exchanged

Courtney & Charlie, Jess & Joylynn and the kids all came over the house to open the presents that were there for them. The cousins enjoyed playing together and running around.  Then that whole gang left for the rest of their Christmas day festivities and it was just 11 of us that sat down for a holiday feast. 

Friends from California

We were treated to a visit from our friend Jenny, her son, and her fiancé, Abe. Jenny and her family spent time with Cherise and hers when they were all in San Diego. It was great to meet Abe and see how much Nicolas has grown.  It's always good to see Jenny too. She's a sweetheart. 

Merry Christmas to all, it was a good night!

Cookie makin '- revisting holiday memories

Cookie Monsters :0)

A lovely Christmas gift of cookie cutters and a promise to use them when Henry and Anabelle got to Gramma's was all it took to kick off a day of baking here.

Having cousins around made it into a fun, fun time.

Genevieve and Danika display the finished cut outs. I even brushed off my rusty skills and managed a batch of kiss cookies. All I had were candy cane and almond kisses but they disappeared fast enough, I don't think that anyone minded they weren't traditional milk chocolate.

The baking was done in the "Nick" of time

Cookies and eggnog was left for Santa.

HE CAME!

My early morning wandering had me with camera in hand to document the fact that the cookies and eggnog were gone and there were lots of presents and filled stockings waiting for the family to wake up. 

It really is the most wonderful time of the year!

Welcome 2014!

Not a lot of hoopla

There is a cheesy grin on my guy but this is what we looked like on Dec 31st, 2013 and the other photo is from Jan 1st, 2013. What a difference a year makes!

In our old age we've taken to watching the ball drop in New York City on CNN at 9 p.m. our time. We turn in at our regular 10 o'clock bedtime. Yup, we are pretty boring.

We left the partying to the youngsters. Krystle had a friend over and the boys had their cousin spend a few nights so between the bunch of them they polished off the hot wings, sausage and kraut, spinach dip, humus, chips and salsa, and bbq little smokies that comprised our New Years Eve buffet.

Putting our best foot forward

 We both have new apps on our phones that will help us track our exercise times. We took a little 3 mile walk on Jan 1st and I burned 330 calories doing it. Har is keeping track of his bike miles and his walking miles. I have walking, water aerobics and biking in my workout portfolio. I tested the app while shopping at Freddies today and found out I walked .67 miles inside the store. This is going to be a fun year keeping track of stuff like that.

GO GREEN!!!!

"My" Spartans played in the Rose Bowl yesterday. They WON!  I'm pretty happy to have this spiffy new Michigan State hoody to proudly wear around town.