Saturday: Jesse and his kids and I celebrate Christmas at my house usually the weekend following Christmas Day. Jesse doesn't like a lot of commotion or too many people, so it hasn't worked very well for us to combine this gathering with other family. Emma isn't much on crowds either--nor is Kaity, for that matter. Hence, this is the way it works for them.
Sadly, though, this year both Emma and Dakota were too sick to come. They have that strain of flu that has been traveling around and are exhausted from it. I was so sad to hear this!
The rest of the family came at 3:00 for dinner. It was a bit of a hodgepodge because ... I was just "off" this year about cooking in general. For some reason, a few weeks ago I settled on a menu of lasagna, corn, and garlic bread (plus muffins and other goodies). But I failed to check with people if that was an agreeable choice or not (the lasagna). It turns out that ... it wasn't the best choice! I didn't actually find this out until two days prior to the date; so I kind of did a two-choice thing. Matt suggested that I make a crockpot full of French toast, like I used to do when they would come over on the weekends many years ago. So ... I cooked up a loaf and a half of cinnamon swirl bread/French toast, and re-heated the honey ham from Christmas Day. I also baked an entire 9x13 pan of lasagna, garlic bread and corn. For some reason, the lasagna recipe was more difficult than I had remembered! BUT ... it finally all came together just fine.
Here are a few pictures:
All the presents wrapped and under the tree, with the exception of Matt's gift (which was $$ that he intends to donate), and Jesse's (which was also $$ and was given to him last week).
Chris insisted that I open MY gifts first! Gifts for me?!?!?! And look! How beautiful is this?
This is a yard flag for the Christmas season. I love it! I will use it next year and every Christmas to come!
This game that Matt is playing with is from Aidan Paul to me. It's one of those water games with the rubber bands that you try to hook together (I'm not describing it very well). Aidan's intention here was for me to show this to Kaity so that she would rather play IT than be on her phone. I passed this message on to Kaity, which raised her eyebrows a bit.
Then it was Matt's turn to open the gift from Chris ...
VERY cool ... can you see it? It's some kind of car, a Ford GT.
Then Chris opened his gifts ... a bunch of different things like car stickers, exercise equipment, a video game ...
Jesse sat in the only comfortable chair that actually fits his size ...
I'm not sure what was going on (below) except Chris was bopping Ella with one of his gifts.
I didn't get pictures of Kaity opening her jacket and her bike hip bag ... but she did like them--they were specifically requested by her. We had eaten prior to opening gifts, and then we decided to play a few games. Jesse had to go, but Kaity stayed with us.
Here we are at the beginning of our Pachesi game, which went on for nearly an hour. When FOUR are playing, it gets pretty crazy. And it is a scream to see how competitive these three are! Kaity didn't want to play, and the others insisted that I play, so I did! I love this game!
Chris finally won, after 45 minutes of play. Ella came in second. I believe I was the losing loser this time.
We played a round of "Blank Slate", which Kaity played too. Ella won!
Matthew. What a sweet person he is--I don't mean that in a weird way or anything. He just has a sweet heart, and I love him very much.
We also played a brand NEW game that was gifted to me by Ella and Chris. It's called "Taco Cat" and it's really FUN. Lots of laughing and ... it gets a little bit violent! A lot of slapping of hands, etc. Very fun game.
I am so so thankful for these dear folks. I continue to pray that each of them encounters Jesus personally, understands what He accomplished at the cross for them, and commits their lives and hearts to Him alone. What a wonderful Savior we have. If only we would truly live for Him, what a difference He would make in our lives. Praying we would sincerely love Him as we should this year.
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