I think I take the cake for a late Christmas posting!! Do I win anything?  

It seems as if December is one of those months that is halfway over as soon as it starts. Partly because it’s full of activities, partly because I have a few deadlines to meet, and partly beacuse the last week of December is spent out of the office. So, we got ladies’ movie night, company Christmas dinner, youth Christmas dinner, church calendar printed and bound (I’m always determined to get it done earlier in the fall but it never seems to happen!), and then nothing was left to do except have fun with my family!

This was the first time we were together in 2 1/2 years. The first Christmas together in 5 years. We had a lovely time together, lots of laughter and fun and good food.

Christmas Eve we had a wiener roast at Marv and Hannah’s house. That’s become a tradition when the family comes home. We had a delicious supper and sat around the fire for a while. It was warm enough that no one wanted to huddle by the fire. 

Marv cooking some good Nathan’s Famous hotdogs.

Roasting some marshmallows by the fire.
 

Doncha love the “licking” flames? (fast shutter speed)

Henry and Marv have had a “battle of the colorful fire” going on the last year or two. It started with Marv adding something to the fire to add color. He wouldn’t tell us what it was which drove Henry nuts. So this year he dumped something on the fire and this is what we got:

Mama kept things farily simple for our Christmas dinner. 

We played games over at the church for a while in the afternoon.

 

Spying on the neighbors playing football in their back yard:

We got kinda carried away with our snack/supper in the evening. We had several delicious trays of candies, one that Andrea brought along, as well as a tray my parents’ landlady gave them. Lois made baklava, a family favorite that was introduced to us by my aunt Mary years ago.

 

These pecan pralines have to be about the best waste of calories I can think of. It’s good we only have them around at Christmas.

I made Pioneer Woman’s stuffed jalapenos  and some stacker thingies (can’t think of the proper name) that my friend Beat makes:

On Friday everyone came to our place for brunch. Since all the nieces were staying out our house, we got some extra help in the kitchen. Vicki made biscuits for us:

And Beth must’ve stirred this gravy for 45 minutes or more. Good thing I discovered after the first 20 minutes that I had left it on low when she took over, or she would’ve been stirring for 2 hours.

The family helped clean up the brush growing up in the strip of trees we have on three sides of our property. They moved a lot of stuff in the 80* weather. It looks so much better!!!

Daddy and Robin tilled up our raised garden.

We ate a Creole chicken and rice and beans supper by Laura’s family. Afterwards, the kids stayed out our house while the rest of us went to the church to enjoy a dessert party with a bunch of others who had grown up here and were back home for Christmas! It’s about every 2 years when several of the families are here at the same time and it was fun to catch up with people again!!

Saturday we ate a delicious brunch that JoAnn made. While we were doing dishes, Mama took the grandkids down to the little red store, a part of a rather interesting campground. They have done this for years, and Mama had always given them $1 to spend. Well, this year they went for sentimental reasons.

Showing off the purchases (sheepishly, this time!) since this is a part of the tradition. They said that the uncles bugging them about their purchases is in order as well.

We headed out for Jekyll Island, stopping first to see the little (tiny) house that Chip will be moving into soon. This is from the kitchen looking into the living room. I think total it’s about 600 sq. ft.

A little backyard football.

A little backyard scuffle.

Some left to bike for a few hours, the rest of us went putt-putting.

Out of the three teams that played, each team had a winning tie. Wonder what was up with that? Beth and I tied on our team.

Just before we left the island for supper, we quickly pulled off a family picture.

We had reservations at Captain Joe’s for supper.

After that Robins headed south and Phil headed north. My niece Krista came in time for lunch on Sunday. She stayed for two days, overlapping with Garys family and Henry for Sunday afternoon.

If you want to see more pictures or get more details, JoAnn and Vicki have some posted.