Christmas 2011

It has been an uneventful week here at the park. We have been preparing for Christmas and planning to go to to Val's house for Christmas over the weekend.

Brenda has been working on Val and Tony's Christmas presents last several weeks. She had been working  diligently on them until she had reached a stopping point where she had to buy more materials to complete Tony's lap blanket. She worked really hard on this all all day Thursday without completing it, and we had guests coming for the evening, so she had to stop and didn't get it didn't get done. We got up early on Friday morning as she worked for about four hours trying to get this completed. She finally finished it about noon and we left for Val's house.

After a short stop at Walmart for Christmas presents and dinner fixings, we arrived at Val's beautifully decorated home for the weekend. Val and Tony always outdo themselves during this time of the year in there decorations .
We visited all afternoon, ate dinner and prepared to go to Chris's house for his birthday celebration. Our baby brother turned 50 this year, boy, does that make us feel old. Of course, we razzed him about his age, but he took it all in stride.

Saturday was kind of a lazy day, laying around not doing too much. Although, we did do some cooking in preparation for Christmas Day. It was a team effort, as sausage balls were made for for our breakfast on Sunday. Val made an apple pie, and Michele's favorite, a pecan pie.

Christmas morning, both Brenda and I got up early only to be greeted by little Danielle, Michelle's youngest daughter. She is 11, and still believes in Santa. She was so excited. She must have looked at every package under the tree at least a dozen times. She she said she got up about 4 AM although she didn't go to bed till after midnight. Little rascal was still going strong, even when they left at about 6:00 PM.
About six o'clock am, she went and got Nana, Da, her mother and her sister up for the distribution of the presents. This year it was all about the children so very few presents were received by the adults. She and Dominique got a plethora of gifts.

Brenda was proud and anxious for Val and Tony to open the gifts that she had made for them. She did an excellent job, and Val and Tony were excited to receive these handmade gifts.

Brenda and  I went to 7:30 am mass Christmas morning, but the rest went to 4 PM mass on Christmas Eve.

About one o'clock, Chris and Linda came over with their grandchildren and a basket full of goodies. Again, the gifts were mainly for the children. Linda did, however, make some delicious treats and placed them in a Pyrex bowl for the adults.

For the Christmas meal this year, it was an Italian meal. We had lasagna, and olive salad, and the bottle of Pinot Noir that we had bought while on a wine tour in the Willamette Valley. There were pies and the fruitcake that Brenda had made for dessert. All in all a wonderful meal.

Brenda and I wish to offer a Merry Christmas and a happy new year to all who read and follow our blog.

Tata for now.

PS: This blog was dictated on Dragon, greatly received from Fred, Becky and our beautiful granddaughters.