Christmas Day

This year we had my side of the family at our house on Christmas Day. When we are all together there are 19 of us, so it is quite a group. Here we all are eating dinner. We put tables up in our family room downstairs where we had room to set up 3 tables.

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Those of you that know my family have probably heard about the "Santa letter" tradition. Anyone who has done anything unusual or to tease someone during the course of the year is a candidate for one of these letters. It is a letter that tells the person how disappointed Santa is in them and often contains a gift that may help in the future. These are handed out after the regular gifts are done and if you peeked in at us during the reading of a letter, you would most likely find us laughing so hard we have tears running down our faces!

Andy received a letter reprimanding him for not telling Santa where he would be on Christmas Eve. Santa feels that ever since Andy joined the army he has been moving all over and not leaving a forwarding address.

Here is my Dad's new wife, Ann. She was initiated into the family by receiving a maternity shirt to wear. Santa thought perhaps she could use this, after that quick wedding occurred. (It's a good thing she has a good sense of humor!) My niece Katelyn also received a gift from Santa, but I don't have a picture of her. She got some brown hair dye as she has been observed doing some "blond" things lately.

Here is Laura opening a gift. She was suspicious of this gift and was very careful when opening it. She has been a frequent receiver of Santa gifts, in part because she is easily teased but also because she is often the instigator of pranks on other people!

There was a stuffed squirrel in the box. She got this as a pay back for a squirrel incident that happened to my sister Cheri last year. (we went away for a weekend as a family and Laura and Aaron propped a dead squirrel on the top of Mark and Cheri's van) We do have a strange sense of humor, but we sure have fun when we're together!

It was great to have the whole family together to celebrate and have fun.