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!!