The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

We had a fabulous Christmas.  It was such a joy to gather all of our children around us and celebrate the birth of Christ!  It was hectic and crazy, but there were no huge breakdowns and a good time was had by all!

We had our large meal of turkey, ham and assorted side dishes buffet style for lunch on Christmas ever, followed by the fun of opening gifts!

It was totally crazy with 14 people in my living room opening presents, talking, laughing and having such a good time!  I think the gifts may have equaled the height of the tree if they were all stacked together!

We all were excited to see Tracy open her gift, which was a teaser for the barbell set we had all chipped in for!  It definitely made her Christmas!  Now, she will have to wait for it to arrive at her house :)

I had a great surprise gift as well!  My husband asked my friend Candy to make a family picture quilt for me! I will take some nice pictures and post more about that later.  Sorry, Candy for the picture - your smile is beautiful even if your eyes are closed :)  This was such a special gift.  You could have knocked me over with a feather when he brought it out for me!  

After that we went out to the church for the Christmas Eve Service.  My husband was asked to sing, so it was very special to all of us to see him on the worship team that night!  It was a lovely time to sit there with all of my girls and see my husband use his gift of song to bless us all.

On Christmas day we drove to the vacation home that the kids rented.  Such an awesome idea, we were able to all be together without the stress of all being crowded into one home!  This house was great for the group, with a large living room looking out onto the beach, a small dining room for the crossword puzzle fans, a small reading room for those that needed to get away from the hustle and bustle for a bit, and did I mention the view?  

We ate a delicious soup for lunch made by Joellen, spent the afternoon playing, then drove out to see the lights at Shore Acres.  Thankfully it was a good night for it, no rain!  It was quite cold out and afterwards I felt a little head-achy, but I figured it was just the cold and the busy day.  I took a couple of ibuprofen and continued on with helping prepare the evening meal of leftovers from the day before.  We all ate, and visited and played a bit more before my husband and I decided to head home as it was getting late and the temperature was nearly freezing.

I didn't sleep well all night, my throat was bothering me. I still thought it was just from being out in the cold and wasn't too concerned about it.  We went out to breakfast with Joellen, Catie, Mark A and the kids.  Naomi had to leave earlier because she needed to return her rental car, and Tracy, Mark C and Emelia also left before breakfast because they had a longer drive home.  We went to Cozy Kitchen and had a good time with the kids and ate a delicious breakfast.  We then said our good-byes and headed back home.  Our house seemed so quiet and empty!  We put on our PJ's and settled in for an afternoon of TV and I started catching up on my blog reading.  Around 3:00 I decided I needed to take a nap, so laid down.  When I got up, I felt achy all over and discovered I had a temperature of 101.5!   

So, I guess I get to spend a few days relaxing.  I might get out a jigsaw puzzle to work on, but I don't think I'll do any quilting until my head feels a little better!  Hopefully I didn't give any of my crud to the kids or grandkids.  Hopefully you are well, and stay well!