Sunday, January 13, 2013

Christmas Eve & Christmas Day

We had a wonderful Christmas!   It was wonderful to be home and wonderful to have ALL my siblings in town to spend it together!

We had some beautiful snow on the 24th and we were so grateful to have everyone safely arrive and return home!
 
The kids played out in the snow and loved it!   Jon made pies and I made 2 loaves of cardamom bread, which seemed to take all day!
 
For dinner on Christmas Eve, the kids talked me into ordering a platter of Chick-Fil-A nuggets and it ended up tasting spectacular!   We had the Cowden family, Richard Olsen and my friend Julie over for dinner, a white elephant gift exchange and games.  Misty's mom, Diana, also came!  It was a fun crowd!
 
Unfortunately, Jon had to leave before dinner to go to work, so we missed him, but as usual, there were some great white elephant gifts (an old blow dryer, an ugly purse, i-tunes gift card & book, pink tool set, a framed picture of Fred Savage that was autographed (by Mike),  a plunger & a beautiful unicorn cross stitch). 
 
After putting the little kids to bed, we played Psychiatrist & Mafia and we were all laughing so hard! 
 
Peter, Mike, Becky & I ended up staying up until about 1 (at which time Jon got home from work).  We laughed and laughed and had a great time!
 
The kids (and Pete) didn't sleep extremely well, but they managed to not bother us and came in at 7:00.  We all met in our bedroom and went down to see if Santa came.  We had my parents watching us via FaceTime and everyone had a wonderful day!
 
We had breakfast together and then Richard, Misty, Sophia and Aunt Camille came over for Christmas dinner around noon and then gift opening from each other.  Everyone was so kind and thoughtful!
 
We slept, played games and visited until about 5, and then I started folding laundry and trying to get ready to leave town the next morning for Oregon (we ended up delaying it a day because of the weather).   
 
I was exhausted and happy that Christmas was successful, but more happy that it was over!  It is a magical, wonderful time of the year and I'm so grateful for it and for those that I love so much!
 









Hannah & I won the plunger
 

Emily got the purse
 


Mike got the bald man's comb
 














2 comments:

john + becky said...

That was such a fun day! Thank you so much for having us and for ALL your hard work - you are a busy woman!!

Those were fun games of psychiatrist and mafia. I will always remember staying up late with you, Mike, and Pete too - soo fun!

Unknown said...

Hi I wanted to ask you if your daughter Emily Bowen would remember me. I am not going to put my name but tell me if she remembers going to greensview? tell me if she remembers a friend that was in her class before she went to a different school. I remember I was with her in the school bus. I also remember Abagail. One more thing. Does she go to Hastings. (I am a person who does not live in Ohio anymore. I left in 5th grade.) I was the one who was quiet. Thanks for listening to me.