Christmas Eve 2011

Christmas Eve - the day started out rather cold but with the sun soon out in full force, it actually was quite nice outside and at least some of the side streets started to melt a little bit!!

Evan and Kylan were up EARLY - they couldn't WAIT to play Indiana Jones on the WII - and of course the guys were up early getting ready to go ice fishing again so I relunctantly crawled out of that warm bed and faced the day!!

We took the kids to see Arthur Christmas - or was it Christmas Arthur?? I can't remember - but the movie was cute and I even enjoyed it!! The kids were great during the movie and we headed to Jamba Juice afterwards for drinks!!

Then it was time for me to get busy in the kitchen and make the punch, egg bake and get the beans ready for the next day!! Jessi had been really busy in the kitchen the day before and made this awesome turtle cheesecake!! I wish I could take credit for it but I can't!!

Before we knew it, we were off to church where we met the rest of the family minus Robby and Parker - Parker hadn't napped so Robby stayed home with him!!

After a great soup supper, I got out the guitar - I had practiced with the little ones so they could sing Away In A Manger for their parents (along with the actions!) They did pretty well but of course I had to hand the camera off to Glenn and this was the BEST picture of the ones he took - no points for him in photography!!! I also had bought bells for each of them to jingle while we all sang Jingle Bells and they LOVED doing that!!

After opening gifts from the other side of the family, Jill read The Night Before Christmas and Gary read the Christmas story from the Bible.

By this time the kids were getting whiny and crabby and we knew we had to hurry through the predictions before the meltdowns started!! GUESS WHAT???? Yours truly ACTUALLY GOT THE MOST RIGHT!!! First time ever!!! Glenn and I were SO excited (well, I was anyway!!) and then Jill told us she FORGOT to bring the frog!! I think she was really thinking that her and Robby would win again and it would just stay at her house - oh no, it's coming to OUR house for the next year and I'll have to think of the best spot for him!!

It was a great day - lots of great food, visiting and just being together!! But it was time to head back to Jessi's house to get ready for Christmas Day!!

Christmas 2011

Friday was only a 1/2 day of work - naturally we weren't very busy at the office so spent most of our time packing up! And soon it was time to head out, pick up Glenn and head to Denver for the long weekend!!

The car was jam packed - Glenn had brought his ice fishing hut and equipment so the guys could go ice fishing and with all the presents, clothes and food, I had really wondered if it all would fit! It sure took a lot less time to unload the car than to load it!!

The guys headed out to ice fish - Jessi, the kids and I headed over to Jaime's and the girls decided to go shopping while Rayna watched the boys! We headed to Kohl's and each of us found a pair of black leggings and I also found a couple of long sweaters to go with them - only to find that when I got back home, one was flawed and had to be returned later!

By this time it was getting near dinnertime so we stopped at Wendy's to grab some burgers and fries to take home to the kids! Jessi and I headed back over to her house, along with Kylan who was going to spend the night!

There's just nothing cuter than seeing the kids ready for bed - possibly because that means there will be peace and quiet???

Jessi and I FINALLY got to sit down and watch a Christmas movie, my first one of the season! Don't ask me why I hadn't watched any before because I just don't know!! The guys were supposed to fish late but ended up coming home sooner than expected because they got cold! We didn't stay up very late because the next day had a long agenda attached to it!!

One Last Christmas!

One FINAL Christmas with my boss Gary - we exchanged gifts before I left for the holiday weekend! Hard to believe we've spent 20 years celebrating Christmas as employer and employee!

Christmas Get Together - #4

Last but not least was the get together of the "church ladies". I decided a long time ago that this group needed a name since Arlyne and I are in BOTH groups of ladies and we were always getting mixed up which group we were going to see!! Karen suggested the church ladies since all 4 of us attend church, although not the same one!!

We met out at Arlyne's again - her house sure got a workout this year!! Hot wassail tasted great on this cold night and we enjoyed the shrimp dip and brie cheese for appetizers before our meal of taco soup with all the trimmings, bread and apple salad!!

We all exchanged gifts by the Christmas tree and ended our evening with coffee and delicious cookies as we sat and visited the night away!!

It was a long day for me and an even longer drive home in the dark!! I'll be glad when the days start getting lighter for a longer period of time!!

So my holiday parties are over and now it's time to get down to the business of CHRISTMAS!!

Christmas Get Together - #3

It was ONE busy weekend but we had one more party to attend - the "unchoir" party!! Pretty strange name I know - but this group IS the entire choir that used to sing together but is now disbanded!! Arlyne the director has made it a point to have a get together every Christmas, just so we can all see each other because after all, we're FAMILY!!

We all met at Arlyne's where we chowed down on lots of appetizers and the traditional "red punch" that I always bring (yes, this is mom's recipe!) and as soon as the Broncos game ended, we ate our potluck meal, always delicious!!

After coffee and dessert and LOTS of visiting, the most special part of the night arrives - singing Christmas carols!! We all head into Arlyne's "music" room and it's so pretty with all her beautiful decorations and lit tree, and then we sing!! Trust me, it's a beautiful thing to hear!! No, we might not have the voices we used to have when we sang in the choir, but to just sing TOGETHER once a year makes it so special to each and every one of us!!

And then we reminisce - mainly about the Christmas Eve service where we are singing "Still, Still, Still" (which we didn't know by heart) and someone hits the light switch by mistake!! We're trying to sing in TOTAL darkness, fumbling over the words and trying to remember notes - oh my, one of those things you NEVER forget!!

We all left with smiling faces and happy hearts - knowing that next year we will all meet once again for our special "unchoir" party!!

Christmas Get Together - #2

We call ourselves the "choir girls", because we all used to sing together in choir at Faith Lutheran Church under the direction of Arlyne, the other "red" lady in the picture!! But choir is a thing of the past - and the friendships have remained!

Saturday found us at Clara's home which is not too far from my house (remember the blog where I got totally lost at night trying to get home from her place!!!) Luckily, our get together was during the day and I only took ONE wrong turn getting there!!

Clara served us a delicious brunch consisting of a layered breakfast casserole, apple salad and a rich caramel chocolate chip pie!! We had a great time just sitting around drinking coffee at the table and playing the game "The Art Of Conversation" - we certainly learned a few things about each other that we didn't know before!!

The weather was gorgeous outside and the sun coming in the windows made it difficult for pictures but I wasn't complaining - the nicer weather was wonderful!!

Before we knew it, almost 3 hours had gone by and it was time again to say our goodbyes till next month!

Christmas Get Together #1

The Christmas Festivities have begun!!

I'm blessed to have so many dear friends that I get together with at Christmas!! And I have many great friends afar that I SO enjoy hearing from at Christmas too!!

Friday afternoon after work Joleen and I headed to Brenda's Boutique, a new consignment shop in town - we walked in and who was working but another good friend, Karen!! We looked around and decided we had to come back at another time to try some clothes on since the store was closing by 5:00! After a quick stop at Walmart, we headed to Wines of Colorado!

This place is one of my favorite places to eat! It was all decked out in Christmas attire and soon we were wine tasting at the cute little bar section!! I wasn't finding what I wanted till the guy suggested I try some of their hot spiced wine - oh my, no doubt in my mind that's what I was going to drink - it was wonderful!!

We had a delicious meal and were just talking away when we happened to look at the time! WOW - where had the last hour and a half gone?? We quickly opened our gifts to each other, paid the bill and headed out the door!

We raced back up to Woodland Park and headed to church as we were attending the Christmas program there, On The Home Front! It was a great production set back during World War II and we honored the veterans in the audience after the performance

It was one crisp, cold night as we walked back to our cars, definitely in the holiday spirit!