Christmas Day on the Farm

(Please remember that this blog is written for my family that lives far away.  This is a post that is full of pictures of my family and probably won't be real interesting to the rest of you.  LOL) .

                                             

 I'm dreaming of a White Christmas.... cause  there was only a skiff of snow on the grass.  Can you see the faint trace of white on the grass?  There is some settled on the ice.  The entire pond was frozen over.

We set the kids table up in the living room.  We served buffet style off the peninsula.  This worked well after we shifted the dining room table over.  It worked so well that we did the same thing for dinner.  The cousins seemed to enjoy their table. Everyone is growing up and they are becoming friends, not just relatives. I appreciate that.

These two gals proclaim themselves 'best friends'!  They really enjoy playing together.

T-Bob spent his afternoon shooting his bow and arrows.  He really is enjoying them.

Elizabeth loves being outside.  She really prefers that to hanging out in the house.  She and Levi spent most of the afternoon  playing outside.  They were tormenting the hens.  They had a hen on the end of the pitchfork.  Not impaled, but riding up and down like she was on a teeter-totter.  They were very happy when I got the ATV out and gave them rides out back over our bumpy fields and through the streams.  Things were frozen so at least we didn't get wet, as sometimes happens.

Joel loves his hoodie.  It has changed his image.  He spent the day playing Risk on the ipad with Uncle Nathan and Paul.  I think they spent 8+ hours playing.  And after eight hours I don't think they were any closer to determining a winner than when they started. It was totally equal.  All three had strong positions.  But they had fun doing it!

Michelle and Car had breakfast together.  Car was excited to get to sit at the big kids table.  He spent most of the time during the present opening time sitting in a box, turning his new flashlight off and on.  He showed it off to everyone.  It made noise too, if you pushed a button.  He loved it!

This is my brother and his wife, the other Michelle.  They were late for breakfast this year again, even though they only live five minutes away.  Guess it isn't the distance that makes a difference. Haha! They brought a long an amazing baked blueberry french toast recipe.  It was yummy.  It was the only non-GF thing on the breakfast menu.

Michelle made some amazing GF nut rolls and cinnamon rolls and monkey bread.  Everybody enjoyed them!

Isaac loves to be read too.  He has learned where we keep the board books and gets them right away when he comes.

Mary and Joseph (from the nativity skit) also enjoy time together as friends and cousins.  Ian got his Lego set put together before he left.  He liked his Christmas gift!

Guess what Grandma got for Christmas?!!!  A camera!  She was learning how to use it.  She practiced a lot during the gift opening.

Car kept posing so nicely to have his picture taken.  He is such a cutie.  A very happy boy!

This was the 'hoodie' Christmas.  All the guys, except my DH and Nathan, got a hoodie for Christmas.  This was the industrial model that my brother got.  The metal tips on the strings were like lead weights and could almost take an eye out.  This is a serious hoodie!

My Dad got a T-shirt with a picture of our farm on it.  I got the same thing for my DH and Paul.  I really like them!

Here is T-Bob in his new hoodie.  He has worn it almost non-stop since he opened it. He says it is super warm.  He has been wearing it outside as his jacket and seems to stay warm even though he is outside for a long time.

My sister in law is a happy lady.  She is a good mom and wife.  I am glad she is in our family!

Dad and Sadie looking at the calendar he got from my sister in the Philippines.  We did get to chat with them on facetime before breakfast.  It was good to see and hear from them.  So nice to see family even if it is only on the computer.  They had to sign off and head to bed as we sat down for breakfast.  There is a 13 hour time difference currently.

Miss Sadie and Isaac spent a long time playing with our plastic nativity set.  They kept fighting over baby Jesus.  Something is just wrong about that!  We got this set about 20 years ago when our oldest two kids were little from my Aunt Vernice.  It is neat to have toys that have  long term play value.

In the evening, some people played pinochle, and others played Big Boggle, and of course the Risk people kept going right up until they had to leave.  It was a lovely day!

We had a very Merry Christmas!