Christmas!

Hi friends!  I had a lovely Christmas break, hope your Christmas season was good too.
I thought I'd share some pics of what we did on Christmas.
We had dinner with my extended family.  We used our church as we've done the last few years and it works well for a bigger group.
It was different and the absence of my Dad and stepmom was felt. However, we remembered what a nice day we had with them last year and were happy in knowing they were both having their best Christmas!

Our daughter Laura, along with Alaina and Ruby, finished up all the little houses that Catherine from My Home and Garden had sent for the girls. She used them to decorate our tables. 

She added pretty little vases and bottles with fresh greenery and wooden beads. The houses were lit with battery operated candles.  Everything looked so nice!

Here's the group that was able to be there.  We were missing a few due to travels and schedule issues, but those that could make it enjoyed it.

We played some fun games after we ate.

And we made the guys do a crazy game too.
By mid-afternoon we cleaned things up and went home.

About 4:30 the next round started.  Laura, Aaron, Andrew, Heather and the girls came over. 

They cooperated nicely for a photo and then we had supper.  We had ham and turkey sliders per Alaina's request.

Alaina read the Christmas story with a little help from Cassie.

They had fun opening stocking gifts and then the regular gifts too.
Cassie was very into opening gifts this year!

She decided to see if she could fit into a box!

Before we knew it the evening was done and it was time to go home.  Cassie wanted to stay here and had this sad little face when leaving.
It was such a nice day!