December Photo Dump

 The end of 2025 - the end of December!!  It's flown by and now we're in mid- January so it's time to finish up the year and head into the new one!

I think every photo dump I blog includes full moons and sunrises or sunsets!!  This one is NO different!!

I love the December sunrises!

My baking skills have certainly not improved I guess!!  I don't make pumpkin bread very often but this is my 2nd batch this season and look at the results - gosh!!  I know it tastes the same even if it's split in 1/2 but it sure is hard to give away to friends and neighbors when it looks like this - so guess where it's at - yup, my freezer!!!

A nice picture of Glenn and I that didn't make the Christmas Eve blog!

Making the 2nd batch of cracker mix for the family get-together!!  Yes, it's made in a trash bag!

The snowman that Glenn made me - he sure looks cute on the front porch!

And once again we spent New Year's Eve at home watching TV - I did catch the 9:00 fireworks off the peak - they only shoot off 5 of them and I was lucky to catch one!   No, we did NOT stay up for the midnight show!

And that's a wrap for December and 2025!

Christmas Day - 2025

 Merry Christmas To All - Gwyn was super excited for Christmas morning to arrive - she's old enough now that she knows that Mom and Dad do the stockings but she was still very excited and it's so fun to watch them!

The kids do the traditional march down the steps as Jessi records it and they they open their socks!

There were lots of smiles!!  And then into the kitchen for the traditional homemade cinnamon rolls that Jessi bakes and fruit dip with lots of different fruit - it was all delicious with a cup of coffee!

Time to open presents!!  I usually give Jessi money for all the adjustments that she gives us during the year but this time I decided to buy her presents - all gifts relating to reading books!!  She loved them all and I do believe this sweatshirt is her favorite!

Glenn got a nice Columbia sweatshirt (which he needed!!) and I got a really cute Christmas shirt that I needed!

The annual photo after all the presents are opened!

And this picture should have been before the last one - it's always a crazy mess after everyone has opened their presents!

It was a nice relaxing day - we took a walk - relaxed - had a wonderful early meal of tri-tip roast with potatoes and green beans - guys watched some football - we read - just a nice, nice day!

Jessi and I headed out fairly early the next morning to stop at Walmart to do a little shopping for next year - I always buy my round cracker tubs when they're 50% off and a few other things - we weren't amazed at what Walmart had to offer though - probably should have went to Target but oh well.......

The main thing was to get COFFEE!!!!! And Jessi has found a new spot called "Black Rock" and it's a super nice big place with plenty of seats and great coffee!!  We both enjoyed it!

And then it was time to head home again.............Thanks for an awesome Christmas Jessi and Gary!

Christmas Eve

 Christmas Eve 2025 - a nice drive to Denver through all the traffic and we arrived at Jessi's early afternoon - it was fun to catch up with Evan who was home from college!

We ate a very early dinner of lasagna soup and homemade bread - excellent!  And then quickly cleaned up to go to the 5:00 church service!  Gwyn was still recuperating from being sick and was running a slight fever so Glenn stayed home with her and the rest of us went to church!

It was a wonderful Christmas Eve Service and I sure enjoyed singing the traditional carols and participating in the candlelight song at the end - that's what Christmas is all about!

And next up back at the house was game night!  OH MY GOSH - Jessi had some great ones planned!!

The first game she divided us into 3 teams and I was with Kenzie, Glenn with Evan and Gary with Gwyn - Jessi stayed back to clean the kitchen!

She gave us a piece of paper and we were to either walk or drive in the neighborhood and take pictures of ourselves WITH the items listed!!  Here's the list!

Jessi said we HAD to have Christmas decor on so we all grabbed Christmas stuff to wear and a jacket and ran out the door as fast as we could!!  Kenzie and I hopped in the car and she drove and I would be on the lookout!!  It was absolutely hilarious as we drove around the neighborhood looking for the items we needed!!  I would yell out and she would hurridly pull to the curb and we would race out and take photos of us beside the item!  We laughed and giggled and sometimes were right in the peoples' yards taking these pictures - what a hoot!!!

We thought we were doing SO GOOD by the time we finished and we raced back to the house, only to discover Evan and Glenn already sitting on the couch - completely done and relaxing!!  Now how did that happen????  Probably because Kenzie and I took individual pics of each other at each item and they did selfies at each place - oh well!!!  Gary and Gwyn were right behind us!!

What an awesome game!!!  Later Jessi put all the pictures together from our phones and made these cute pics of us at each place!

And if that wasn't fun enough - we did a minute to win it game (Jessi was keeping score for all of us as everything had points) and a word search (where I was with Glenn and he didn't get a one and I only got a few) where we did awful and then the FINAL GAME!

She divided us up again - I was with Evan, Gary was with Gwyn and Kenzie, Cam (her boyfriend who arrived for the minute to win it game) and Glenn - and we had to produce a video of singing or dancing to a Christmas song and we only had like 15 or 20 minutes to do it!!

OH MY GOSH - Evan and I chose "Rockin Around The Christmas Tree" and made up a dance together - it turned out just fine and what a fun memory I will have someday of dancing with my grandson!

The other 2 teams' videos were cute as can be and we all laughed and laughed at Kenzie's video!!  I have copies on my computer and occasionally look at them and just smile!

And in the end, Kenzie took 1st place - Evan took 2nd place - and I took 3rd place!!  WHAT FUN!

Christmas at the Smiths' and Savages'

 Each year Glenn and I take turns going to the different girls' homes for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day - this year it was our turn to go to Jessi's place so that's up next!  But the girls sent such cute photos that I wanted to do a quick blog on THEIR Christmas!

Rayna works at The Wolf Center (which is right across the road from Jaime and Brad's property) and is now an official tour guide!  For her present to her folks, she gave them an up and personal tour of the wolves inside the cages!!  They said it was such a special experience and they so enjoyed meeting the wolves and petting one of them!

And their picture in front of their tree!

Here's Aleah and Parker opening presents at their place in Ft. Collins!

Jill has a really fun game (we played it with them last year) and they had a great time playing it with prizes!!

So both families had a great Christmas!

Lefsa Making

 YES - I found time to make a batch of lefsa on my own!!  It came out beautiful and tasted SO GOOD!

And then Jaime called and wanted to make a batch too - even though she is gluten free!!  So I told her and Rayna to come on over and we would make another batch!

The Smiths were actually going to a Christmas party that night so Rayna brought over all the ingredients and made fancy muffins while I made lefsa!

I had my dough all cooled and ready to make balls out of it and then fry it - so I started frying and Jaime finished up her dough and set it outside to cool!  She was quite eager to check out the gluten free flour and see how it would do!!  Unfortunately, it sure wouldn't roll out like regular flour so she ended up just rolling out small pieces and then cooking them - she was happy with the results and that's all that mattered!

It was a fun day but a tiring day after making the lefsa and doing clean up!!

And I am enjoying 1 or 2 pieces everyday with our homemade jam!