Tuesday, December 29, 2015

Fabulous Christmas with Family and Friends


Chelsea and Chadd set up our tree a few weeks before Christmas.
I kind of like it tucked into this corner with the vanity.

On Christmas Eve day we went to Grandma Ruth's to make gingerbread houses.
They turned into more interesting gingerbread structures.

Chelsea refused to be limited by working on a plate
so her creation turned out the best.
We were all in awe.

Yes, our "gingerbread" is graham crackers.
It was a strategic decision.

This is the only picture I took of Chadd's ginger-wagon.
His creation had gone through a few phases when it was finally
decided that if it had wheels it could definitely be a house on the move.
The red M&M's are brake lights.
:-)


Jonathan's involved lots of pretzels.
Honestly I didn't get it but we had fun anyway.


Chelsea's final creation.



Mom made an adobe house.
She, like me, felt constrained by the plate.
But we worked within our boundaries.


We decided that this was most likely an outhouse.
To go along with Chadd's Mobile Wagon/Home.
My little creation.

It was messy and fun.
Normally this is Chelsea and Jonathan's late night tradition on 
Christmas Eve but we all joined in and made an event of it.

Our friend, John, was with us too but he wasn't crazy about me sharing 
his picture and so I won't.  He made a more industrial looking building.
Funny how we all, with the same materials, made such a varied group of  structures.

After a quick clean up we went to a Christmas Eve service
at Mom's church.  It was delightful.
They included most of the carols as congregational music.

Christmas Eve evening found us opening our stockings.
This is always a good time!
I didn't take any photos though.

Christmas morning we enjoyed breakfast on Georgia's sun porch
because it was very pleasant out there.
What a warm Christmas!

I was still wrapping presents when Mikey and Emily arrived mid morning.
So, I hurried up and we loaded the van with our gifts and went to Mom's
to exchange the goodies.

We took a long time exchanging gifts and even took a break in the middle
to set up Mom's new grill.
It was ridiculous how many gifts there were.
But then, our family is growing and that adds a few gifts.

We followed all of that up with a delicious dinner.
Oh my.

On Saturday we took Allan, Bev and Betsy to see the train museum.
They enjoyed it.
Allan REALLY enjoyed it.
It was fun to see Warren and Allan spend 20 minutes in one spot discussing
gears or some such things.
Others of us spent 30 seconds in that very same spot.
But we all very much enjoyed being there.

I liked the mini cities in the Children's Play Area.
Check out those little old cars.




Of course the large trains out in the main display area are just fabulous!








A pretty vignette in one of the "town" windows.

There is an open walkway overhead which leads to a small art gallery.
I loved catching Warren and Allan enjoying their visit together.
Brothers in law. 
Very good things.


Christmas 2015 was strange in it's weather....
but great in it's content.

We saw family from both of our sides of the family.
Dinner out with Warren's cousins, Aunt and Uncle.
A visit from my brother, Sister-in-law and her sister.
A houseguest friend of the family.
Mikey and Emily's time with us on Christmas Day.
It was simply lovely.

A much better end to a very stressful year.
Tonight?
A wedding!!
Our friend Emma, of Creekside Cottage, gets married this evening.
I predict it will be sweet!!

Last but not least....
HAPPY BIRTHDAY GEORGIA!!

4 comments:

Theresa said...

SO much FUN! LOVE the different looks of the gingerbread houses! They are all great but Chelsea's is awesome:) Have a blessed week ahead, HUGS!

Vee said...

Beautiful day! Ohhhhh....your tree looks so romantical in that setting. Fun "gingerbread" houses! If you start earlier than Christmas Eve some year, you can create the most amazing gingerbread. Looks as if this talented crew could handle it!

Deanna Rabe - Creekside Cottage Blog said...

Great Christmas!

We were so happy to have you join us at the wedding! Everytime I saw you, you were smiling! It was a delightful evening!

Chelsea's next!

Deanna

JD/ Jill said...

Your tree looks beautiful! And the Gingerbread houses are cute and it looks like a lot of fun. (But I don't think I would want to try that in my tiny kitchen...smile... Thanks for sharing all the neat pics!